The biggest reason I’m a financial coach specifically for moms is because motherhood comes with so many other, life-changing responsibilities, and money is the last thing on your mind. The overwhelm and fear of the unknown women feel about money, especially when it comes to unburdening their children, modeling positive financial behavior for their children, and actively teaching and showing their children dollar-bill best practices, is quite shocking.

When a like-minded, fellow mama will drop in and help you get organized, see the big picture, teach you how to dream again, and then lay out a strategy to help you achieve those dreams, the overarching stressors of motherhood are forever-changed for you and the entire experience of being in that family is changed for all the members. Beautiful, right? 

Listen on iTunes | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Stitcher

Mamas seeking financial guidance might come to me for get-out-of-debt coaching, with questions about what to pay off first or second, or even for help making sure they are on track to retire when they think they want to. The biggest gaping hole I typically see that leads to so much questioning and confusion though, is lack of financial organization. 

There’s unopened mail drifting around the house somewhere, nobody knows when the due date to this bill is, they can’t remember why they opened this account, or worse, there are late fees and interest stacking up and they don’t know why. 

It doesn’t have to look like total chaos to trigger the need for an organization overhaul, either. It’s all about the feeling you have around your money. If you have a solid grasp of what all the moving parts are doing and why, then great! If not and you fear you “don’t know what you’re doing,” then I want you to know 2 things: 

1. It’s okay, most people (upwards of 70% according to surveys) feel that way, even if they won’t admit it. 
2. All you have to do to sure-up your financial foundation is get organized. 

I have good news for you too, in just 5 simple steps, you’ll be on your way to financial confidence, and who knows what that could do for you!?!? 

Physical Files, Like Your Grandma Had

Laugh all you like and shout that “we’re in the digital age! Duh!” but you still need to maintain physical records. There are still documents that come in the mail, even if you’ve opted for email statements only, and there are always receipts and other random paperwork you’re shuffling even though it’s 2020. 

So, you need physical file folders with each creditor and account information clearly labeled, and a safe place to keep them, whether that be the prettiest file box money can buy at Staples or if that’s an old-school clackety drawer filing cabinet. 

Basically, you need a file for each account (think credit, banking, insurance, and even animals and family members) so when a new card, or a year-end summary, or a doctor’s bill comes, you have a place where it belongs after it’s taken care of. 

I also recommend having a “receipts” file where every receipt for every purchase goes. This way, we can find the receipt and return the item, look up how much it was, compare it to what’s on the bank statement, etc. 

These files all get cleaned out and deemed a fresh restart each year, although certain documents may remain in the files until I feel like I no longer need them.

Inbox Folders for E-Statements and Online Bills

You’ve opted for e-bills and e-statements only? Good for you! How’s that workin’ for ya?

Seriously, how’s that working? If you have a system in place for opening, handling, and then filing all the personal financial emails you receive, then I bet it’s quite picturesque. If not, let’s get that set up so you can manage your inbox as well as you do the carpool coordination. 

Inside your email inbox, create folders with very broad names (think bills, investments, kids stuff, travel, etc.). When you receive an email in your inbox, you open it, take care of it, and then file it in one of the folders. Of course, this is customizable – make folder names that make sense for you. 

I suggest making very simple folder names that cover a large category of the business you handle in your inbox, so that this is easy to keep up with. If you get too granular, it will take too much time to sort email each day and you’ll drop off. 

Create a System for Your Finances

Once you have physical file folders and inbox email folders created, every bill or statement or receipt or document has a perfect little place where it belongs, congratulations! This is a huge step!! 

Now you need a method for making sure mail and email actually get opened, handled, and then filed. Make sure you’re checking your physical mailbox at least twice a week, and since we receive an average of 121 emails per day, make sure you’re checking your inbox every other day at least! 

Establish a system where, for example, you check your email and mail on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then pay bills and handle financial business for the week on Saturday, followed by filing each item in its new home (inbox folders or physical folder). I also strongly recommend marking email items as unopened in your inbox if there’s still something needed or pending. 

If you open an email, look at the bill, but don’t pay it yet, don’t file that away! Even an opened, yet unhandled email will sink to the bottom of digital no man’s land and get lost, which will likely result in a late fee, ugh. Instead, after you look at the bill and decide to pay it on Saturday, mark it as unopened and leave it in your inbox. 

This way, on Saturday in our example, you’ll have easy-to-find unopened emails at the top of your inbox ready to be taken care of, and all the other stuff will have already been deleted or addressed and filed away

Create a routine that works for your lifestyle and schedule where you’d able to open and address physical mail and email, and then file each item away when it’s been taken care of. 

Don’t make yourself crazy and printing off e-statements to file physically or scanning in paperwork to store in digital folders, I’ve tried that personally and it’s impossible to keep up with. Financial coaching mamas and I have discovered it’s easy to keep up with this financial organization system, though, if most items are directed to email and then you only have to deal with the few resulting physical documents. 

Streamline Your Money-Management Apps

Take a step back and think with me for a minute. If you have an app on your phone for every bank or account with notifications, plus e-statements in your inbox, plus a budgeting app or two, I’d venture to say that’s probably a bit much and you might be teetering on the edge of the overwhelm spiral. 

Take a step back and think with me for a minute. If you have an app on your phone for every bank or account with notifications, plus e-statements in your inbox, plus a budgeting app or two, I’d venture to say that’s probably a bit much and you might be teetering on the edge of the overwhelm spiral. 

I want to invite you to think about what you’d LIKE your system to look like. Are you a desktop or an app gal? Do you actually sit down to a computer ever or do you handle all-the-things on your phone? Whichever you are, log in to each of your accounts and set up the notifications and document communication settings so that you’ll actually get them. Maybe you don’t need or want a notification at every transaction but you do need a ping 3 days before the due date. Set that up. 

Every client does this differently, but I’ll tell you what I do and what system works for me. All my accounts are set to send me e-statements only, and I have zero bank or card apps on my phone because I do everything via desktop. I’m at my computer most days for podcasting or financial coaching anyway, so I prefer to keep finances off my phone if at all possible. 

The two budgeting apps I use also have desktop versions, so as you can imagine, that makes me very happy! Mint and YNAB are my go-to’s, and yes, I use both because they do very different things for me.

I use Mint primarily to see the big picture and keep an eye on my overall situation, including key indicators like my credit score and, the greatest indicator of financial health of all, my net worth. These are also key indicators I look at for clients as well. If you ever want to know how you’re really doing financially, calculate and focus on increasing your net worth. 

You Need A Budget is the best budgeting app around, in my opinion, because it actually prevents you from overspending by reducing your “available” cash as it accounts for upcoming bills due, what you just spent on your card, and fees owed. Most other apps do have a budgeting feature where you set categories and corresponding amounts, but none I’ve found really help you remain within that set budget. YNAB really helps you live within your means, which is really hard to do, even with most other budgeting apps. 

Create a Master List and a Bill Calendar

Now that you’ve created systems for when and how you check and address email and mail and each of those items has a place to belong, plus you’ve streamlined your notifications and narrowed your focus to just one or two apps (fingers crossed!), you still don’t have a clear picture of every account, how much you owe, and when things are due.

Yes, this information is in Mint and YNAB, but I really like to have a physical document I can glance at, like a 1 page summary or table of contents to your finances. I suggest creating a document where you write out and record detailed information for each account. You can use the pages provided in the Free budgeting workbook below:

Create a column for each of the following: Account Name, Account Number, Account Holder’s Name, Username/ Password for online access, Balance, Rate, Promotional Details, Credit Limit, Description, Payment Amount, and Due Date. Then log in to each of your accounts and fill out the sheet with as much accurate detail as possible. When complete, you’ll have a really nice, one-page document with everything on it. 

I hope this goes without saying, but there’s a lot of personal and account access information on this page, so guard it well. Lock it away in a lockbox or slide it in the drawer with all your files so you can access it easily when sitting down to do your banking, but whatever you do, don’t leave it lying around, don’t put it in your purse, and don’t lose it!

From here, you have a list of everything you own and all the due dates. For an even clearer visual, I like to really take “use the calendar as a tool” to heart, and take a paper calendar and write the bills and amounts due on the due date. This way you can really see how your money flows throughout the month and you’re able to notice if there are clusters of bills due at once or if one particular bill falling before a pay date consistently causes turmoil. You have the power to call and change those due dates if needed, and thanks to this Master List and Bill Calendar, the clarity to see what needs to be done. 

Conclusion

Each of these 5 steps might take a long time or might be easy. It’s completely circumstantial and depends on how detailed you want to or need to be, and I encourage you to approach this entire financial organization with curiosity instead of expectation or judgment. 

Instead of expecting that you can accomplish the whole deal in just a day or a weekend, approach it with genuine curiosity, wondering how long step 1 will take and wondering what you’ll discover along the way. 

By taking the time to value your finances, you’ve already improved your relationship with money, and by building a routine in which you dedicate a couple hours each week to looking at, thinking about, and working on your finances, you’re investing in yourself. I’m so proud of you for reading this far, you’ve already taken a giant step into the open-minded, curious, problem-solving side of money, which is a great place to be. 

If you get stuck, have questions, or need help, please do reach out to me. You can message me on social media or book a free call with me. You’re setting the foundation for strong, prosperous financial management for yourself and your family and I’ll be happy to continue to guide you further.