Top five ways to spring clean your finances

With less than a month until Spring, you might be thinking about cleaning out that wardrobe or joining a gym. But the change of the season can also be an opportune time to get your finances in shape too.

1. Brush up on your budget

Over time, your income and expenses change, so it’s worth doing an audit of your incomings and outgoings to keep your savings on track. Identifying where you are incurring unnecessary costs can make a big difference.

2. Dust off your debts

If you’ve let debts mount up over recent months now is the time to do something about it.

A consolidation loan might be a simple way to help better manage repayments so that you can be debt-free sooner and put a spring in your step as summer nears.

3. Check you have everything covered

While cleaning up and clearing out, you’re likely to hold on to a few things of sentimental – and economic - value. Updating your insurance policy means you can face the warmer months with peace of mind.

4. Review and refinance

After achieving the above, you’ll have a clearer idea of where you sit financially. So, it might be worth looking at your current home or car loan to see if there is a more suitable product out there. Online comparison sites, calculators or your local broker can help.

Refinancing to a solution that better fits your current situation could free up extra cash for that summer holiday or help pay off your loans sooner.

5. Clean up with confidence

ASIC's MoneySmart Site has more handy hints and tools to help, and a Liberty Adviser will be able to help get you on the right track.