How Can a Mid-Year Financial Clean-Up Boost My Peace?

Speaker A00:00:00

Does your financial life feel a little cluttered? I'm talking about piles of statements, those forgotten subscription or hey, maybe counts you barely remember.But what if a mid year spring clean for your money could unlock some surprising peace, some surprising clarity and hey, maybe even some extra cash? Well, stick with me because that's exactly what I'm going to show you how to do on today's show.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Hey there.Welcome back to Financially Confident Christian where we try to answer that big question, how can I become a financially confident Christian? I'm Ralph and I'm so happy that you've chosen to join me today. We're continuing our series today Smart Money for Back to School and beyond.Now if you missed yesterday's show, we talked about unleashing a roadmap to set some powerful financial goals for the rest of the year for intentional progress. So if you missed it, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out. You can find that right at our website. That's financiallyconfidentchristian.com.hey, we had a great time talking about building that roadmap for the rest of the year. But today we're going to talk about a spring cleaning. Yes, a spring cleaning as we head into the fall.But today it's all about organizing, optimizing and streamlining your money. Why? For greater peace. So today I'm going to answer this question. How can a mid year financial cleanup boost my peace?Hey, we all need some peace in our lives. If you're like most people, you've got scattered financial documents all over the place.Hey, listen, so much today is not just in paper, but it's digital. You got this email and this document just all sort of sitting around. You've got those forgotten subscriptions.Man, I can't remember when I subscribed for that. Ralph, maybe you're getting bank statements, but you never bother to open them up and take a look at them.Or hey, maybe you've got bank accounts you don't even use anymore. And here's the problem. That's what I'm going to call financial clutter. Well, that financial clutter leads to disorganization.You completely disorganized. You miss opportunities. Hey, maybe you've got a CD that's getting ready to renew and you don't even realize it.It's going to renew at a much lower rate. So you're missing opportunities. Hey, another big problem. I just Dealt with a client the other day that had a major fraud on their account.They hadn't even opened up their statements to look or they would have seen it. Maybe you've got potential for fraud. Or hey, maybe in general, you just feeling overwhelmed today. And this breeds stress.It's stress of a messy financial life, and it hinders clarity and it truly hinders efficient management. And here's the thing you need to understand today. Organizing your finances is an act of diligent stewardship.You're thinking, Ralph, are you kidding me? Are you actually saying today? And listen to me, stop what you're doing for a second.Yes, I'm saying to you that organizing your finances is about being a good steward. Because here's why. This is a big principle for today. This brings order and clarity. It reduces stress, and it unlocks efficiency.Let's get right to God's word and talk about some of the main biblical principles that I want to cover today. The first one is orderliness. That's a big word, but it's so important. Let's look at the book of First Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 40. It says this.You can't get much clearer than this. Talk about orderly. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. Yes, I found the perfect scripture talking about orderly things.What does it say? First Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 40. Paste this on your wall today. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.I can still hear my mom saying when I was a kid, kids, you need to do things in a fitting and orderly way. Now, she didn't use exactly those terms, but she lived that biblical principle. She knew that there needed to be order.That's the way my mom managed her life. Everything had its place. She had beautiful files. Everything was kept in its place. So that's our first biblical principle, orderliness.Let's talk about this one. Now, this one was a bit of a stretch for today, but I think it's so important. And it's basically the principle of light over darkness.The book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 8, reminds us, Walk as children of light. Now you're thinking, Ralph, you got to make this connection. I don't get it. Well, here's how we connect it. Think about orderliness.If all your stuff is disorganized, what is it not? It's not in the light. You're not able to see it. You're not able to act on that. You're not acting as a good steward.Yes, I'm giving you A little judgment, little tough love today. Because what does the book of Ephesians, chapter 5 say to us? Chapter 5, verse 8 says, Walk as children of light. Make things transparent.Make them able to be seen. So now you're thinking, Ralph. Okay, I'm ready. What can I do? How do I transform that overwhelm? Because right now I'm feeling overwhelmed, Ralph.I got all this financial clutter. Now, maybe it's not in big old bulky files, it's all over the place on my computer and in PDFs.But how do I transform that overwhelm, that financial clutter into renewed peace and powerful efficiency? Well, I've got the solution today and again today. It's the last couple days. It all comes down to intentionality.But this isn't going to be like a Herculean task. You just need to dedicate a short, focused block of time this fall to conduct a targeted financial cleanup. And listen, I don't want to overwhelm you.Just pick one area. 1. Organize documents, identify unused accounts or subscriptions, and optimize for efficiency.Because this proactive organization is going to lead you to financial freedom. Hey, as you're listening right now, do you want financial freedom? I know I do. So here's your one action step for today.With the goal to conduct a mid year financial cleanup. Yeah. The spring cleaning in August starts with this. Choose just one area to tidy up. I don't want you to pick. Hey, Ralph, my whole life is a disaster.It's a mess. It's a disorganized no. Because you won't do do it. Pick one small manageable financial area to organize. I'm gonna give you some examples.Maybe you've got this stack of financial papers that's been sitting on your home office desk, but seems like a millennium, but maybe it's been there for a year or two. Yeah. When the bank statement comes in. Yeah, Ralph, I know where they are. They're over there in the envelope.Listen, I'm gonna share something with you right now. I'm an account. That's what I do for a living.If you went into my office and you look behind my desk in my credenza, I'm unfortunately, I've got that stack of financial papers. So I'm going to take my own word of lesson today and I'm going to get to that. But maybe for you, it's that one stack of financial papers.Maybe it's your online banking login list. You go through that and say, wait a minute, why do I still have this bank account. Why do I need this? Hey, here's something you can audit.And I think it would be very beneficial for you. Look at your subscription list. Ask your. And I've done shows about this. Ask yourself that. Tough question. Do I even use this anymore? Do I need this?Do I have any value in this? Or maybe for you it's go look through those old investment statements. I don't know how many times I've worked with clients.Maybe somebody's mother or father passed away and they'll come into me. I remember this one particular client. Tell you a quick story here.This client, her husband had passed away and he was the most organized dude in the world, but man, he had bank accounts everywhere. He was one of these guys that didn't want to put all his money in one bank. Well, I remember when he passed away.She says, Ralph, she came to my office. She actually lived like maybe 3 or 400 yards from my office in a townhouse.She walks up to me one day and she goes, hey, do you help people organize their finances? I said, well, maybe. Let's talk about this. Well, she says, I'll be right back. Well, she came back with one of those banker boxes full of documents.She goes, I have 10 more boxes, Ralph, Can I bring them to you? Hold on a second. Wait a minute. We're not going to get all this today.But the whole point of that story was, you know, it's time to organize those things. So just pick one tiny area, one small manageable financial area. You got that in mind? Let's move on to the second thing. Now's the time to organize.That's physically or digitally. If it's papers sorted in the folders. Think about what my mom did. She had everything in its place. Hey, or maybe you don't even need them anymore.It's time to shred those things. Don't leave them on some shelf somewhere where somebody can grab it and steal your identity. You know, sort them or shred them.And listen, if they're digital, this is the time to really organize your digital life. You can create some folders, maybe get a subscription to an online service where you can store all that stuff and maybe use a password manager.So organize those things, Pick that one area, organize it. And then next thing I want you to do, and this is like the low hanging fruit thing for today.I guarantee if you do this, you will find some things you're not using. This is a great time to look at those subscriptions that you're not using.Or maybe you've got that checking account or that credit card that you don't even use anymore. But maybe you know that, that, that subscription you're not even using anymore, it's costing you money.You look at your banks and be like, they're charging me every month for this, Ralph, but I never use it.So just identify one that you no longer use, or you can consolidate and then commit to canceling or contacting them today or this week to adjust that. And while you're there, check for unused accounts. I don't know how many times I've worked with clients in the same situation.Let's go back to the lady that came up to the, to my office from down the street. Her husband had CDs all over the place. It took us, and I'm not, I'm not overestimating this.It took us almost a year to try to figure out where all his money was. It was a disaster. Could have all been prevented just by checking to see if you've got those unused accounts or maybe an unused credit card.Because, hey, that's an area where you can have fraud. Because if you're not using it, you're not paying attention to it. So this is the time to look at those things and close them out.If you don't use them. And you might say, why does this help? Well, Ralph, this is all about helping you break that financial disorganization and find those hidden costs.And because I'm going to help you create immediate clarity, I'm going to help you reduce that stress and truly identify and eliminate unnecessary spending. Because, hey, in the end, I want to empower you for greater control and peace over your financial life. Hey, do you want peace?Do you want control over your financial life? Then do what I propose today. Why about we pray together now? Father God, we just thank you for the blessings that you entrust to our care, Lord.And we confess, Lord, that our financial lives can sometimes become cluttered and disorganized. And. And we know that leads us to a place of stress and a place of not being in peace with you.So we would ask that you would grant us wisdom, Lord, and diligence as we really work to organize our resources, help us to see clearly, help us to identify waste and help us make wise choices. And may our financial lives reflect order and clarity, just like your word says, bringing you glory and bringing us greater peace.And we ask this in confidence in Jesus name, Amen. Listen, a financial cleanup isn't just about tidiness. That's a good part of it. But It's a powerful step towards clarity.It's a powerful step towards efficiency. And, hey, listen, it's a powerful step towards peace. So I'm going to encourage you one more time, take that step today.You can see those steps today in the show notes. Get to it today. And while you're there, I want you to consider sharing this show with somebody who might need to hear it.Maybe, you know, somebody in your life. Man, they are really unorganized.I wouldn't say that way to him, but you can send him a text or send him an email, say, hey, this guy Ralph, he's got this show called Financially Confident Christian, and he was talking about how to organize your stuff. And I think you could really benefit from that. Just send them to our website.That's financiallyconfidentchristian.com now, tomorrow we're going to reflect on your fall blessings and financial growth, and I'm going to help you prepare your heart for the coming winter with gratitude. Yes, it's all about being intentional and. And it's all about reflecting on our blessings and preparing our heart for what is to come next.So you don't want to miss it. So make sure you join me tomorrow. Now here's your charge for today. Let's all go out there and be financially confident Christians. You can do this.I have complete confidence in you. Have confidence in yourself. Stay financially savvy. God bless you, and you have a great day.