Day One: Getting Started

It’s Day One of my plan to reorganize my finances and improve this website.  Today’s tasks took just a few minutes each to complete – and set the groundwork for future steps.  Here’s what I did –

I checked our credit scores.  We are considering a mortgage refinance in the new year, after we file our tax returns, and I wanted to be sure that all of our credit information is up-to-date and correct.  I was pleased with what I saw – but will look for opportunities to improve our score.

Side note:  I mentioned this in a post several years ago:  While we do not routinely carry balances on our credit cards, we will use them from time to time, just to keep the cards active and in good standing.  I am not a credit score expert – but I assume that this helps to improve our score.

I sorted, paid, organized, and filed all available bills, through the end of 2017.  Our paychecks arrive near the end of each month.  Our most recent arrived, today, and our next paychecks will go towards bills in January.  I like the idea of a clean-slate, so I went ahead and paid all of our December bills, today.  Obviously, new bills might arrive over the next month, and we will pay them, but I’d like to start January with as little baggage as is possible.  Plus, it will be cool to enjoy the holidays without stressing over the writing of checks or the sending of payments.

I updated our financial accounts information spreadsheet – with information about current balances, web addresses, contact numbers, and logins.  My wife and I can use the information spreadsheet when planning our budget.  It’s also a great tool for measuring our progress throughout 2017.  We keep the information sheet in a secure location.  By the way, I’ve used various programs, websites, and apps for keeping up with all of our various accounts – and I still prefer a simple spreadsheet and printout.

I own and manage several websites.  Some are active, while others are inactive.  I need to decide, long-term, what to do with each.  Today, I took the first step towards consolidating and organizing my various sites.  I logged into my various domain registrars and web hosts – and made a list of when each domain will expire, how much each domain costs per year, and when future website-related payments are due.  I need to consider what to do with each of these domains and sites – but organizing this information was a good (and necessary) first step.

Side note:  I have a couple of domain names that might be of some value.  I have no idea how to sell a domain name.  I should research this process.  Add that to the list!

Today was Day One – and I’m excited about what I was able to accomplish.  The tasks themselves were relatively simple, but I now know where I stand and I am more prepared for 2017.

Please consider subscribing to No Credit Needed via email or rss – and follow me on twitter.com/NCN and facebook.com/NoCreditNeeded to keep up with my progress.  I’d love to hear from you via social media or here in the comments.  Have a blessed day!