People have financial problems for all sorts of reasons: overspending, not planning, losing a job, family problems, business failure, and the list goes on. While any one of these issues may seem to be the cause of someone’s financial problems, all too often the root problem is much more basic. The simple truth is that many people’s finances are completely disorganized. If you can’t find your bills, how are you supposed to pay them on time? If the tax man or a creditor request financial information from you and you don’t know where it is, you may end up with even bigger problems.

Keeping your finances organized is much easier than most people think. Take a box, a simple banker’s box with a bunch of folders is perfect. As your bills and statements come in, after you look at them, just throw them in the right folder in the box and you are organized. It can be as simple as that. Then whenever you need a bill or a statement, you know where to look, and you will probably be able to find it within a few minutes.

There are some other things you can do to keep your finances organized and prevent a lot of problems that people unknowingly walk into:

• Provide your bank and creditors with your new address when you move. Then follow up to make sure that they correctly update your address.
   
• Keep your creditors up to date if your financial situation changes. They may be able to suggest ways to improve your situation before you end up in a tight spot.
   
• Check your statements to look for any obvious signs of fraudulent activity. If you are the victim of fraud or identify theft, the sooner you catch it the better.
   
• Mark due dates for payments on your household calendar where you can’t forget about or ignore them.

Keeping yourself organized isn’t as hard as you might think. All it takes is a simple system that works for you. It doesn’t have to work for anyone else – that’s their system. Getting yourself organized financially can make you feel happier as well…and before you think up another reason not to try it, what have you got to lose?

Q: Why does it feel like managing my money is so much work? It's hard to stay focused. What can I do?

A: It takes work to manage your money, but sometimes all the motivation you need is a fresh perspective. Take the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympic Games. How did these athletes win the right to compete? Now think about it terms of your money:

DREAM: Your specific financial goals and what's important to you. Assign them due dates, dollar amounts and steps needed to achieve them:

• Short-term goals (within the next two years -- household or car repairs, a small holiday).
• Medium term goals (two to five years from now -- debt reduction, cars, school).
• Long-term goals (five years and beyond -- home ownership, retirement).

TRAINING: Build your skills and confidence:

• Get all the members of your household playing on the same team. Include them in setting and carrying out family goals.
• Gather money management tools and resources, like expense-tracking booklets or software -- a plain notebook works fine too.
• Seek advice from qualified financial experts or attend a budgeting seminar.

STARTING GUN: Time to just get started. Pick your date and try out what you've learned.

RACE: You win when you reach your goals!

RESULTS: Stop for a monthly "podium check." Is your bank account growing and your debt shrinking? Keep your spending in line and set money aside for emergencies.

THE CEREMONY: Reward yourself for achieving even small goals. Success can be very motivating.

You can be a financial athlete -- pull out all the stops and go for the gold!

You can take your first steps towards gold by attending one of our budgeting workshops. Click here to see our workshop schedule (they're free).

A lot of people find it hard to pass up a credit card offer that says that they are preapproved for a certain credit limit. These kinds of offers can be misleading to a lot of people. Just because you are offered something does not mean that is a good idea to accept. Preapprovals are usually generated using very broad criteria based on the area that you live in or a company that you may deal with. No one actually takes the time to look into your situation to see if another credit card will make sense for you. This is your responsibility.

Before accepting any credit card offer you should ask yourself a few questions. Do I need another card? How will this card benefit me in the long run? Does this card have the features that I want, or do I just need the money? The bottom line is that you can only “afford” a credit card if you have the ability to pay off your full balance every month. If you aren’t paying off your current credit card balance every month, then you probably can’t “afford” another card—even if it is preapproved.

For tips on how to use a credit card and not end up in debt, click here.