Declutter Your Finances NOW for More Peace in 2025

Happy New Year and all the best for 2025. I hope you had a great holiday season, whether you celebrate or not. I myself had a quiet Holiday, I was very engaged in the 12 Holy NIghts for myself and with those of you who chose to join me. It was a very interesting experience.

But now everyday life is calling us again and I want to talk about finances with you. I know finances can feel overwhelming but stick with me, I can help. So in the last episode I did say that ".... winter invites us to reflect, build systems, and create habits that will support us when the energy shifts...just like our ancestors spent this season indoors, planning, repairing, and preparing for spring"

One of those systems and foundations to build now is around finances.

Now It might feel early to you to think about taxes, but trust me—starting now will save you stress later and besides, it's not just about taxes that's what a lot of people missunderstand, more about that later. 

1. Why Start Now

In order to create a plan for 2025 - and I deliberately avoid the word budget here, I myself love to call it "My Lighthouse that guides me around the cliffs of 2025" - we need to know what was happening in 2024. If you don't have organized finances for 2024 you can't really create a Lighthouse plan for 2025. So we can use the creating the plan for 2025 to get our finances of 2024 and as a side-effect, we make our tax season easier.

Imagine sailing through tax season without the stress of hunting down receipts or scrambling to find that one missing document. Doesn’t that sound amazing? Starting now can make that happen.

Starting now gives you a huge advantage. You’re not under pressure, and you have time to double-check everything. Plus, it’s a chance to declutter your finances and maybe even set some money goals for the year ahead.

The best part? You can start with small, manageable steps today—your future self will thank you and be proud of you

2. What qualifies me to talk about Finances

So I hope I have your ear and understanding that this is the right time to actually make a change, so next tax season will be different. Now let's talk about what qualifies me to talk about finances, maybe you only heard me talk about clutter and astrology so far.... in case you are new around here and you are surprised that I am talking about finances.  I am actually qualified to talk about finances because I am a Swiss certified expert in finance and accounting. What that means is, I am a Financial Consultant – my role focuses on financial records, books, and year-end closings, I advise my clients on maintaining their financial books with the focus on the day-to-day financial record-keeping and year-end processes but not tax filing.

I worked in corporate finance as an employee from 1990-1998, In November 1998 I became a self-employed and I have been working as a Financial Consultant ever since - that's a staggering 36 years - oh yes this ages me LOL

Finances are also kind of the reason why I got into helping people clear clutter, helping people create supportive environments instead of cluttered and stressful ones. I could see in all these years what a difference it makes when my clients worked in clutter-free and supportive environments, how their quality of work and productivity was better, how much more effective they were compared to those who worked in messy and chaotic environments.

That's when I also noticed a correlation between a cluttered office, cluttered files and people not having their finances in order and under control, having cluttered finances. 

When you feel overwhelmed by a messy desk or overflowing digital files, it’s not just about the mess—it’s often a symptom of deeper chaos. It creates stress, and stress can lead to avoidance of taking control of your finances, which only compounds the clutter.

Ok now with that all out of the way, let's define financial clutter:

3. What is financial clutter? 

• Financial clutter includes disorganized records, no system for your receipts yes but also
• Lack of cash flow planning, lack of planning in general
• which means you have no overview, you are "driving blind" so to speak
• which results in making uninformed decisions and reactive decisions - like fire-fighting decisions
• to a reactive approach at tax preparation

it affects your business and your life and there's a strong connection between financial clutter and other types of clutter, such as physical and digital but also mental and emotional clutter.

4. Common Financial Missteps:

a) Only looking at finances when it's tax time

A lot of you business owners that I meet are thinking that you only need to pay attention to your finances for tax reasons. You make the fact, that you have to turn in a tax declaration the number one reason why finances are important and so you only focus on your finances once a year in order to be able to file your tax return.  So let's get this mental clutter out of the way first. 

The tax return should actually only be a side-effect of your financial organization, not the main purpose of it. 

When you just focus on the tax return it's like your driving your car by only looking through the rear view mirror. Let me explain

I am sure you can totally see that this is not a safe way to drive a car and it's also not a safe way to run a business, no matter what stage your business is in. When you only look at your finances it's after the fact, everything is in the past, you have no way to course correct anymore because it has been months, even if you file your taxes on time it has been at least 4 months.

It's important at any stage of your business to have Elegant, clutter-free Finances. You want to know what's going on in your finances at all time and feel in control, feeling in control will bring you more peace. And knowing whtat's going on in your finances is one of the pre-requisites that you can grow your business and also to be able to have a team. 

You can't just outsource it

This is not something you can outsource completely, especially not to a bookkeeper or a tax accountant. Because again, most of them only look into the past, that's their job. What you as a business owner need to do is look at the present and look into the future. 

b) Not focusing on Cash Flow

Did you know that you can have a profitable business, meaning you have a profit at the end of the year, but you can still run out of cash the following year? The reason is cash flow, if you're not paying attention to cash flow and don't have simple systems set up to make sure you have a positive cash flow, meaning always enough money and then some, a positive bottom line might not matter. 

When you only focus on revenue like so many people do, but even if you are also focusing on profit, but don't pay attention to the Cash Flow, you could end up in a pickle pretty quick. And that is one of the big risks when you only pay attention to your finances once a year at tax season. 

c) Have you heard of the saying "rob Peter to pay Paul"?

That's what a lot of business owners are doing, they rely and depend on today's revenue to pay the bills from yesterday, you might have experienced it yourself or you might know someone who got a tax bill for example and didn't have the money to pay for it. 

So now you have to work extra hard and bring in extra revenue to be able to pay the taxes on revenue you made last year or even further back. One big problem with that is, that you will always lag behind, because now you need to pay your ongoing bills, your big tax bill from last year which means it is hard to prevent this from happening again because you might not have the cash available to put aside for this years taxes.

But in order to get out of this mess, the only way is to start paying attention to your finances every single day, or at least every single week, look at the present and into the future and make sure your bills are covered. 

5. Mental & Emotional Clutter around Finances

How are you feeling about your finances? 

It’s not just about numbers, there is an emotional toll of financial disorganization that can be just as heavy

When we avoid dealing with finances, it’s not just about the piles of receipts or unpaid bills—it creates a deep sense of emotional clutter too. The stress, the anxiety, the fear of facing something you’ve been avoiding... this kind of emotional clutter can hold you back from making sound decisions in your business and your life.

Just like physical clutter piles up and drains our energy, emotional clutter around finances can rob us of clarity and peace of mind. That's why I help my clients how to tackle not only the practical side of financial clutter but also the emotional clutter it brings along.

I help them understand that hiding and ignoring makes things even worse, and it's going to freak you out more and more, it will weigh heavier on you which makes it very hard to really focus on your business and serving your clients to the best of your ability. 

By being so stressed, You are cheating yourself, your business and your clients of “the best you”.

What you might do is, you might be all stressed out about your business or private finances, and it might seem easier to let things slide even more than to address them

there is a lot of shame around finances, not understanding or not having control over ones finances. You might feel deeply alone and as if you were the only person struggling with clutter and finances and shame I know from my own experience isolates us and I am here to tell you and talk about that this is not true and that there are ways to address your clutter, the physical, digital, and the financial clutter. 

6. Create Systems and Habits:

There are really simple and easy systems that you can implement that take way less time and energy than the regular freaking out at tax season but most people don't, because

• looking at financial clutter through the lens of clutter clearing, we realize, this is a difficult category of clutter also because we can’t just ask ourselves the questions we would ask ourselves with physical clutter like “do I love it, when did I use it last, when will I use it next?” 
• It's also different from regular clutter in that if your house is full of stuff no authority will come and tell you you have to clear your clutter and clean your house. But with finances, you have the tax authority who is demanding that you file your taxes which adds to the stress and overwhelm

Back in 2016 I wrote a blog post about overcoming the fear of finances, here a quick summery and it might sound very familiar to you, because it's basically my 3 principles for successful decluttering but used for your financial clutter: 

1) Start small (break it down in chunks) 

Just as people try to take on too much when they start clearing the physical clutter in their house, be careful not to take on too much with your finances at first. Depending on where your business stands you only might need set up a daily habit for your financial files and maybe a 15 minutes a week financial meeting with yourself 

You don't have to go from zero to 100 in 3 seconds or less, instead you want to start building a solid foundation and a system that works for you and can grow together with your business. Starting small helps you with that. Just imagine how much more peaceful and in charge you would feel by spending just a few minutes a day or a week. Not to talk about how much less stress and work you have to do for tax season. 

2) Go the route of least resistance  (least emotional area) 

That's similar like when I say start with the least emotional area when starting to clear clutter. We don't want to start with the hardest part, and we also want to have some quick wins, so let's start with the present. Forget the past for just a bit and start with the status of your finances today - even if you listen to this when it's end of April or when ever you are listening to this podcast episode - start with today, get clear on your present situation and then start looking forward and to make your life less stressful around finances. 

3) don't try to be perfect (a few minutes a day) 

Another pitfall could be to try to do it perfect from the start, or try to find the perfect way to do it, the perfect system. What happens when you do that you set yourself up for failure because again you try to go from zero to 100 in 3 seconds. I am a perfectionist and I know all about how this can sabotage one’s progress when we try to do it ‘right the first time’ Our brains don't work that way

When you are at the beginning of overcoming your fear of finances, this can overwhelm you to the point that you give up before you started. Besides, the big take away is, you can’t really know yet what is perfect – perfect for you that is. You don’t have the knowledge or experience to know what works best for you. 

Don’t let anybody tell you that there is THE PERFECT Way, only ONE WAY, to deal with your files and finances, that is simply not true. It's more important that you start and that you keep going, tweaking and shifting until it works for you and puts you in charge and control. 

Also, the more you actually do something, the more you will automatically come up with easier ways, better ways, more time saving ways to do it. The beginning might be a bit challenging but it will get easier by the day. But you need to start first, and then you need to keep going to see what works best (for you) and what doesn’t.

Summary: Steps to Address Financial Clutter:

• Start small: Break down financial tasks into manageable chunks, like 15-minute weekly sessions.
• Go the route of least resistance: Focus on easy wins first to build momentum.
• Focus on progress, not perfection: Celebrate small achievements and build sustainable habits.

So in short, financial clutter is not just about numbers—emotional clutter plays a huge role too. Avoiding finances doesn’t just pile up receipts—it builds stress, anxiety, and fear

Be brave and start assessing where you stand and what needs to be done, start your journey from chaos to peace. Because no matter if you just started your business or your goal for this year is 100K,

• If you can’t bring yourself to open up your bank statements,
• or get your taxes taken care of,
• if you can’t bring yourself to create an honest assessment of where you are right now, 

how do you expect to reach your revenue goal and grow your business? 

If finances feel overwhelming, take control now - get help if needed - to make this year different—and less stressful

do yourself a favour and start changing it, start taking control of your finances. Actually it will not just be next tax season, you will experience the benefits daily, you will feel so much more in charge and control of your business and as a result you will be able to serve your clients better and grow your business on a solid foundation. 

How I can help

if all this sounds way too scary or you don't believe you can do it on your own but you are so ready to make a change now, I have two ways I can help.

1. I have a workshop coming up on how to create Elegant Finances & a Lighthouse Plan for 2025, get on the waitlist for that, more info follow shortly. 
2. The second option is the opportunities to work with me 1-1 in as me being your fractional CFO and Ally. You can sign up for a complimentary Chaos to Peace Consultation and we'll see if working together on your financial clutter would be a great fit. 

Your journey from chaos to peace starts with a few minutes a day of focusing on your files and finances which will create a lot more peace in your life and business especially in the economy we are in right now.