Simple ways to spring clean your finances

With the winter weather starting to retreat and blossoms beginning to bloom, spring is clearly upon us which - for many Australians - means that it's time to clean house.

Sure, that might mean breaking out the vacuum and mop to physically clear away the dregs of winter, but it's also an opportune time to declutter, consolidate and freshen up your finances.

Whether it's saying goodbye to your uncompetitive banking products and unused services or setting some new savings goals for the future, the start of spring's a great time for a financial reset.

So block out a morning in your calendar, make yourself a cup of coffee, crank up your laptop and use some of these ideas to get your 2024 financial spring clean underway.

1. Take a look at your mortgage rate

More than three million households are paying off a home loan, but it's fair to say that many don't regularly check in on the competitiveness of their interest rate. Given the size of many mortgages and the impact that even a small difference in rate can have, it can be worth the effort though.

So where to start? If you're planning to do it yourself, the first step is comparing your current rate to similar offers on the market. You can do that by heading directly to a few different lenders' websites to get a lay of the land, or by using comparison websites which aggregates loan offers.

If your rate looks competitive then great, your work's done. But if it doesn't and you're ready to take action, you have two options: you can use the information you've gathered to ask your lender for a better deal, or refinance to a new lender.

It's worth saying that not every borrower will be able to get a better deal though. Some won't meet the serviceability requirements of a new lender, while others on a fixed rate might find that the cost of breaking the loan doesn't outweigh the savings on offer.

Did you know: A homeowner with 20 years left on a $500,000 loan would save $35,288 ($68 per fortnight) over the life of their loan if they could switch their rate from 6.75% p.a. to 6.25% p.a. by renegotiating or refinancing their loan.

2. Check in on your energy plan

It may be time to pack away your heater for another year, but as the weather warms up, we all know that it won't be long before the air conditioner needs to kick into gear. So before summer hits, now could be the time to take a look at your energy plan to ensure that you're not paying over the odds.

After significant rises in recent years, the good news is that some customers are expected to start seeing their electricity prices fall. At the same time, government energy rebates will also come into effect. However, that doesn't mean that it isn't worth comparing plans.

Thankfully, the likes of the government's Energy Made Easy tool have made the process of comparing electricity and gas plans simpler than in years past. Users can plug in their current provider, address, household size and energy usage, then the tool will showcase alternative plans and the savings available.

Did you know: Research published by the Australian Energy Regulator last year found that many customers in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia could save from $120 -$221 a year by moving away from their existing, uncompetitive electricity plans.

3. Tie up your superannuation loose ends

Like the dust accumulating under your sofa, it's easy for superannuation to become out of sight and out of mind - especially for Australians who aren't set to retire for decades. But a little action now can make a big difference in the years to come.

One of the first options that could be worth considering is consolidating multiple super accounts - if you have them - into the one fund in order to avoid paying multiple sets of fees. Although, there are some consolidation traps to avoid.

Next up, when was the last time you checked in on your investment allocation and insurance situation within your super? If it's been a while, it won't hurt to take a look at both to ensure that they're still in line with your risk appetite and coverage needs.

More broadly, it could also be worth checking in on how competitive your fund is compared to other super funds. If you're on a default option, you can to that using the YourSuper comparison tool.

Did you know: The Productivity Commission released research (prior to the introduction of super stapling) which found that a 21-year-old on a starting salary of $50,000 whose super was split across multiple funds over their working life would be $51,000 worse off at retirement.

4. Prepare for your insurance renewal

Whether it's home, contents, health or car insurance, the cost of cover has risen sharply in Australia over the last few years. In fact, customers are reportedly being presented with premium increases in the region of $400-$700 when they reach renewal time.

While it might not be time to renew your own insurance policy just yet, doing some early preparation could pay off. Both by putting any premium increase you are presented with by your insurer into context, or by helping you negotiate a better deal with your existing insurer when the time comes.

So how can you prepare? Again, getting a sense of the competitiveness of your existing insurance policy from both a cost and cover perspective can be useful.

Fair warning though, jumping online and comparing multiple insurance options does take a bit of effort. That's because in order to get a proper sense of the cover you'll get and the price you'll pay for it you'll need to go through the quote process with each insurer, which can take around 5-10 minutes.

Did you know: A recent analysis of home insurance policies by Finder found that pricing between insurers can be substantial. For instance, the difference between the cheapest and most expensive annual premiums on the market for a building worth $600,000 was $2865.

5. Reassess your subscriptions

With those cold winter nights now behind us, you've got to ask yourself: are you quite as likely to curl up on the couch every evening binging your shows? The answer might be yes. Even if it is though, it's still not a bad time to audit your subscriptions to make sure that they're still worth the cost.

And we're not just talking about Netflix and Disney here, but your music and sports streaming services plus any food, fitness or other subscriptions you may have.

Once you've made a list of all the services you've signed up for and how much you're spending on each, it's worth going through one-by-one and asking yourself a few questions.

First of all, are you actually the service? Or even if you are, is there a cheaper plan available? Beyond that, it could be worth considering cycling through one streaming platform each month to cut down costs or even checking out some of the free streaming services available.

Did you know: A survey conducted by NAB earlier in the year found that more a third of Australians had recently been cutting back on subscriptions, saving $670 each year on average by doing so.

6. Take stock of your goals

It's never a bad time to check in on any financial goals you've already set to see how things are progressing, or to start planning some new ones for the months ahead.

The benefit of doing it at the start of spring is that you can benefit from a psychological phenomenon called the Fresh Start Effect. In short, this based on the idea that people are more motivated to change their behaviour if the start date for that change is significant - like a new season, month or week.

Of course, there's also plenty more to successfully setting and achieving financial goals than just choosing a beneficial start date.

So whether it's short-term goals like putting money away for Christmas or an overseas trip, or it's something larger like saving up for a home deposit, there's no time like the present to start planning.

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