How to Organize Household Finances: A Canadian's Guide
With the cost of living in Canada being so high these days, it's common to feel like organizing household finances is a challenge.
This guide teaches you everything you need to know about:
Balancing the financial responsibilities between partners
Managing overspending & not paying bills on time.
Learning the ins and outs of Financial literacy
Coping with the rising ‘cost of living’
Dealing with fluctuating incomes
Handling the financial impact of unexpected life events
Organization is the key to living a healthy financial life. If you’re on top of your bills, pay them on time, and understand where your money is going, your finances are easier to manage.
It’s common to hear people that aren’t successful with their money talk about the lack of time they have to organize their finances or the lack of money available at the beginning of the month, letting interest stack up or even letting bills go to collections.
Get away from these individuals. This is not the norm. 🙅
Financially successful people take the time every week to input their ‘financial data’ or income and expenses for that week.
They never let interest stack up and if they find themselves in a situation, they get help right away before their finances get out of control.
CC& Associate can help! We can get you on the right track.
Before we dig in, we’re CC & Associates, a financial service provider helping women and families prepare for their futures and get their finances organized so they can make big purchases, save for retirement, and stop worrying about money.
Book a call with us here for 15-min a Q&A call, where we will answer any question you have about budgeting, investments, or insurance.
Now, let’s get into it.
How to organize household finances:
1. Review all your finances weekly
At CC&Associates, we encourage Finance Fridays &/or Sit Down Sundays.
Sit down with your partner at a coffee shop or at home and review all of your finances. Make it an *experience* with snacks, comfy clothes, and your favourite drink of choice.
During this time, review all your credit card statements and bank statements and make sure everything adds up. You’d be surprised how many people are paying extra for subscriptions.
2. Make a realistic budget
If you want to get organized with your household finances, you need to be intentional. Create a budget that keeps the following factors in mind.
It’s important to allocate more than you think you will spend so it doesn’t lead to overspending.
Intentionally work on impulse buying
Give yourself 7-days before you buy a big purchase to prevent yourself from making impulsive decisions
Write out every bill & debt payment and put it in your calendar
If possible, set up automatic withdrawal so that you don’t miss payments.
3. Check your credit score
Once a month use a Credit Application, like Credit Karma, to check your credit score. Don’t worry, this doesn’t hurt your credit score.
4. Monitor your grocery spending
When you grocery shop on an empty stomach (especially without a list!) you buy food you don’t need impulsively. By making a list in advance, you’ll eat healthier and save money. It’s a win-win.
You can download apps that help save on groceries to cope with inflation & rising living costs, like Flipp Weekly Shopping.
5. Save on household utilities
You can make a conscious effort to save on household utilities with these simple actions:
Wash your clothes at night and on weekends.
Run the dishwasher at night
Keep your thermostat at 68 degrees and lower it when you’re sleeping.
If you’re Canadian, call us, and we can help! We can help with budgeting, improving your credit score or just with tips on how to decrease spending!
A note from our founder, Cheryl Campbell:
It’s important to remember that shame will creep in. Give yourself compassion and work on ‘embracing’ that feeling rather than ignoring it, or pushing the problem away because it will only get worse.
An embarrassing story on my household finances:
When I first got married, the bill payments and chequebook balance fell on my shoulders. I really didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew well enough that I had to pay my bills on time if I didn’t want the electricity turned off. Bookkeeping wasn’t as easy back then. I couldn't just go online and pay my bills. I had to write everything down, write out a cheque and either deliver it or mail it.
I tried to be very disciplined with my accounting as I never wanted a cheque to bounce or a payment to be missed. I lived in a small town, and I knew if that happened, the entire town would know - small towns have no boundaries.
So, although I tried to be very diligent, I got a call from the power company one Monday morning letting me know that my payment did not go through. Of course, I was mortified - the shame set in. I grabbed my chequebook and redid the numbers to make sure that there was enough in the account.
Thank goodness there was, so I immediately called the bank, and it was actually their mistake. The bank called the hydro company and let them know. Problem solved, and no one needed to know, right…?
Well, at the time, I lived in a very small town, as I mentioned, and nothing was kept private as expected, my dad found out this happened. The moral of the story is don’t let shame dictate because when something embarrassing happens. Give yourself lots of compassion to make mistakes and correct them.