SIMPLIFY your ADMIN

Try a new year financial blitz! Set your timer and sort out your finances in under two hours…

SWITCH IT

With receipts, household bills, bank statements and even MOTS, make 2019 the year to go paper-free. It could even save you money, as many companies offer discounts and rewards if you opt to receive bills via email and set up direct debits. Many retailers now also email receipts rather than print a paper version. Not only does this save paper, it also makes them easier to keep track of. Set up a separate folder – or email address – for receipts to make them easier to find and to avoid congestion in your inbox. GHI TIP: Make sure you keep one utility service non-digital so you have proof of current address when needed.

SAVE IT

Store important documents in the cloud so you can access them wherever you are. ‘Take photographs or scans of documents and upload them in a secure place like an external hard drive or password-protected free cloud storage, such as icloud, Dropbox or Google Drive, so you can access them anytime, anywhere,’ says GHI tech expert Carrie-ann Skinner. ‘Make sure your password is unique and strong (a combination of lower and uppercase letters, numbers and special characters), particularly if storing personal information such as your address. Also, be wary of phishing scams for these services.’

SHRED IT

You should now have a big pile of paperwork you don’t need. Never just throw old financial documents in the bin! Shred. We rate the Fellowes Powershred 63Cb Cross Cut Shredder (88/100, £123.99, Amazon) for the job.