Spring Cleaning Should Start With Your Finances

After cleaning the garage and giving the household a good scrub, you may think you're done with spring cleaning.

Before you rest in your newly cleaning backyard lounge, have you thought about your finances?

Everyone thinks about taxes during the month of April, but how about bank accounts, bills and credit cards and other payments?

When was the last time you took a look at what fees and surcharges were being taken from accounts or being issued when you access your money? Does your wallet look like George Costanza's?

Mobilicity is asking consumers to take time to look at their finances and make sure your money is benefitting you.Here's five tips to focus when giving the personal finances a spring clean:

1. Planning - put bill due dates and payment schedules in the digital calendar, so you know when bills, rent/mortgage, utilities or other payments occur to help balance the personal budget. This way you can avoid late payment fees and save those pennies.

2. Reduce bills - examine all the bills and figure out what is necessary and what can be cut - make a point to call or contact to see if there's a way to reduce the bill, ie. a transfer to e-billing can save you money with several companies.

3. Set up pre-authorized payments - for those costs that are standard each month, pre-arranged payments can make life simpler and help you save money for the vacation fund or new to the house fund.

4. Streamline credit cards - how many credit cards do you have? Figure out what's needed and see if its worth it to have several cards, or pick one or two to get the best rate and the points.

5. Check out the apps - downloading apps from banks, credit card, PayPal and Mint.com can help to streamline banking needs as well as help in managing budget and allow you to keep finances in check while on the go.