Spring is here, and it’s time to give your house—including your financial house—a good spring cleaning! Managing your finances can help set the stage for less stress over your money woes and more money in your bank account. Cleaning up your finances early in the year will also help you reach your financial goals more easily—so you can budget better, save more and start building generational wealth for years to come.
EBONY spoke with The Broke Black Girl founder Dasha Kennedy, author of Moving Beyond Broke, who shared six smart tips to get your finances in order and your money right for the rest of your life.
Assess Your Credit Report
This is non-negotiable. As part of your everyday money habits, you should check your credit report every so often. You should care more about how your name and credit are being used than your credit score. Check for anything that doesn’t seem right, make sure that accounts that are closed are really closed, and make sure that your information is correct. Mistakes happen more often than we believe, affecting everything, including housing choices and interest rates.
Pulling reports from all three bureaus at this time is a wonderful opportunity to check over each one closely. Highlight everything you do not recognize, verify and dispute any inaccurate information straight through the bureaus or the creditor’s website. Remind yourself to review your reports once more in six months to keep up with changes.
Shred Old Financial Documents
Clearing physical clutter is helpful, but I always encourage people to think about their digital money clutter. That means deleting old account logins, removing saved cards from shopping apps, and organizing your digital files so you know where everything lives. We carry so much emotional weight around our finances and letting go of old paperwork or digital debris is one way to release some of that.
Block off an hour on your calendar to review your folders, emails and paper stacks. Keep what you genuinely need and scan anything you want to store digitally. Once it’s organized, label folders by year or category so you’re not digging through clutter every tax season or any time you need a financial document.
Review Your Budget
“This is the perfect season to ask yourself if your budget still fits your current lifestyle. Are you trying to budget for a version of yourself that no longer exists? Maybe your income has changed. Maybe your values have changed. Either way, your budget should reflect how you actually live, not how you think you’re supposed to live.
Give yourself permission to adjust things. Prioritize what brings ease to your financial life, not just what looks appealing on paper. Start by reviewing the last two to three months of spending and highlight where your money naturally goes. Use that to rebuild a budget that works for this season of life, not the last one.”
Tally Up Outstanding Credit Card Balances
“This step can be uncomfortable, but it’s a necessary one. Many of us avoid facing our debt since it makes us feel ashamed or afraid but adding it up helps you to take control. I recommend writing everything down in one place. Don’t just think about how much you owe. Pay close attention to the terms, the interest rates, and how these loans make you feel. Pick out what to do first from that list. You could pick the amount that costs you the most or has the highest interest rate. In either case, the goal is to face the debt and come up with a clear plan of action. This could mean making an extra payment or negotiating with the loan.”
Add to Your Roth IRA Before Tax Day
“When you can, putting money into an IRA is a smart thing to do to help you in the long run. I want to be real, though. Keeping track of daily expenses can make this seem impossible. So, it’s still a win if you can only add a small amount. For many in our community, especially first-generation savers, even opening a Roth IRA is a big milestone. Don’t downplay that. Set the goal of opening one if you haven’t already done so. Check your contribution cap if you have one and choose a number you can stick to before the deadline, even if it’s just once a month. Every payment you make helps you get free in the future.”
Revisit Your Financial Boundaries
“Financial support is deeply embedded into our relationships with our family members. It’s not always something we talk about out loud, but it’s felt through expectations, obligations, and the “silent” understanding that you should be there for family members in need. However, that care can sometimes stretch us beyond what we can realistically carry.”
Revisiting your financial boundaries requires you to take an honest look at whether your financial support is sustainable or coming at the cost of your financial stability, Kennedy explained. “Ask yourself what support you’ve given recently, how it made you feel, and whether you’re still carrying its emotional weight. If needed, create a set limit for how much you’re willing or able to give each month.” She also suggests that you script kind, clear responses ahead of time so you’re not making emotional money decisions in the moment. This helps you create a space to care for others and yourself without losing one to save the other.
