Clean Up Your Money Mess and Start Building Real Wealth

You’re staring at three different retirement accounts from old jobs. Your insurance policies are scattered across three different agents.

Last month, you missed a credit card payment because the bill got lost in your email. And when your accountant asked about your investment strategy, you mumbled something about “diversification” while frantically searching your phone for your brokerage password.

Sound familiar?

If so, the state of your finances is probably in what I call the financial “junk drawer.”

You know that drawer in your kitchen? The one with batteries, takeout menus, random screws, and who knows what else? That’s your junk drawer. It serves a purpose, but it’s chaotic and inefficient.

Your financial life might look the same way right now. You’ve made different financial decisions over the years from different people, for different reasons, under different circumstances.

And now you’ve just got a bunch of stuff. Not really sure how it works together. Not sure if it’s still the right thing to do. No coordination between the pieces.

I see it all the time when families first come to us. They’re stressed, confused, and worried they’re missing something important. They bought different things from different people at different times. They aren’t tracking money coming in or going out. Everything’s filed away in this big financial junk drawer.

The Cost of Financial Disorganization

Living in a financial junk drawer isn’t just annoying—it’s expensive. When was the last time you saw your entire financial life on one page? Most people never have.

This lack of organization leads to missed opportunities to grow wealth, wasted money on unnecessary fees and interest, and stress about whether you’re making the right decisions. You have no clarity on whether you’re heading in the right direction, and your products might be working against each other rather than together.

We find that most people are losing 5-10% of their income through these inefficiencies. That’s money flowing out of your world unnecessarily.

Think about that. If you make $100,000 a year, that’s up to $10,000 gone. Just disappeared.

Signs You’re Living in a Financial Junk Drawer

Not sure if this is you? Here are some telltale signs:

You can’t quickly say how much money comes in each month.
You don’t know your exact monthly expenses.
Your financial products were purchased at different times from different people.
You feel anxious when making financial decisions, and you have no way to test if a new financial product fits with what you already have.
Your income and expenses run together in the same account.
You have no system for tracking your savings rate.
You feel like money disappears but don’t know where it goes.

If any of these hit home, you’re probably living in a financial junk drawer.

Why We End Up with Financial Junk Drawers

How does this happen? It’s actually pretty simple. Life gets busy. You make decisions as needs arise. Someone pitches you a product. You buy it. Years later, someone else pitches something else. You buy that too. Before you know it, you have a collection of financial products with no coordination between them.

Each decision made sense at the time. But when put together, they create a mess. It’s like grabbing ingredients at the store without a recipe. You end up with stuff that doesn’t make a cohesive meal.

Steps for Cleaning Up Your Financial Junk Drawer

Step 1: Dump Everything Out

The first step to organizing any junk drawer is taking everything out. The same applies to your financial life.

You need to take inventory of what you have: all bank accounts and current balances, investment accounts and what’s inside them, insurance policies and coverage amounts, debts and interest rates, income sources and amounts, monthly expenses and categories, and estate planning documents.

Pull it all out and look at it together. This gives you awareness. And awareness is the first step toward change. This can feel overwhelming. But like cleaning any junk drawer, it feels worse before it gets better.

Step 2: Create a Cash Flow Structure

Once you can see everything, we need to organize your cash flow. This is the foundation of your financial house.

Most people have a cash flow structure where income and expenses mix together. Your paycheck lands in your checking account. Then you spend from that same account. This creates constant tension between spending and saving. Saving becomes manual. Spending becomes unconscious.

Here’s a better structure:

Start by setting up our cash flow management software.
Then set up an Income Reservoir where all income flows first.
Automate a transfer of your spending baseline to a separate account.
Keep what’s left in the reservoir for wealth building.

This simple change makes saving your default. You have to consciously choose to spend extra money rather than unconsciously spending everything.

Our clients average a 28% savings rate with this structure. That’s compared to the national average of just 4.8%.

Step 3: Define Your Goals and Priorities

With your cash flow organized, you need clarity on what matters most. What do you want life to look like? Why do you want your finances to be in order? Without a guiding destination, how do you know if you’re heading in the right direction?

Most people think they just want a big nest egg. But what they really want is income, security, and freedom.

Get clear on your real goals: What’s your “just enough” number? What’s your lifestyle number? What’s your freedom number? This clarity simplifies decision-making moving forward.

Step 4: Coordinate Your Financial Products

Now look at all the products you have. Do they work together or against each other?

Think about your three favorite drinks. Each tastes great on its own. But pour them all into the same cup, and it’s probably not so good. The same applies to financial products. Each might be great individually. But together, they might create inefficiencies.

For example: life insurance that doesn’t coordinate with your retirement plans. Investments that create tax inefficiencies. Debt payoff strategies that leave money on the table. Insurance coverages with gaps or overlaps.

Reorganize these products to work together toward your goals.

Step 5: Implement a System to Maintain Organization

Cleaning your financial junk drawer isn’t a one-time event. You need a system to keep it organized. Implement a process for regular cash flow tracking, quarterly financial reviews, testing new financial decisions against your existing plan, and tracking progress toward your goals. This doesn’t have to be complicated. But it must be consistent.

That’s why we recommend using cash flow management software.

The Power of Financial Organization

When I show clients their entire financial life on one page, you should see their faces. Relief. Clarity. Sometimes alarm at what they discover. But above all—empowerment.

They finally understand how everything works together. They can make confident decisions knowing the impact on their overall plan.

This is what happens when you clean up your financial junk drawer. You gain control. You stop living by default and start living by design.

Ready to Clean Up Your Financial Junk Drawer?

Getting organized isn’t fancy. There’s no magic bullet or exciting investment strategy. But it’s the foundation that makes everything else work. Don’t let another year pass living in financial chaos. The time to get organized is now. Your financial success depends on it. Your peace of mind depends on it.

And here’s the best part: once you organize your financial life, you’ll find money you didn’t know you had. You’ll discover opportunities you couldn’t see before. And you’ll feel confidence you’ve never felt.

Stop living in a financial junk drawer. Start living an organized financial life. The results will amaze you.

Ready to take the first step? Schedule a Discovery Call today. Together, we’ll dump out your financial junk drawer and organize what you have. We’ll build a system that puts you in control of your financial future.

Don’t wait another day to get your financial life in order.

Schedule a Discovery Call