When it comes to finances, it helps to be organized. Regardless of how organized you are in general, you need to work on being organized when it comes to financial records. If you lose a bill and thus forget to pay it, it will affect your credit the same as if you simply did not have the money to pay it.

A part of good personal debt management is finding a place where you can put bills and other financial statements as they come in. Do not put anything else there. Handle these at least once a month, paying the bills and filing everything. Use a binder or filing cabinet, and label files or folders visibly. If you do this at least once a month, you will not get overwhelmed by the mounds of unorganized paperwork.

Put the most important records in a fireproof, locked box or safety deposit box. Wills, deeds, birth certificates, and social security cards should all be securely saved.

Keep pay stubs in order to check them against your W-2 at the end of the year. After that, there is no need to keep them. You will also want to keep receipts for major purchases. These will come in handy for returns and warranties. File them in a place where you can remember. It does not hurt to keep receipts for smaller purchases as well because many stores will not allow you to return something without one. Clean out your receipts at least once a month and throw away any that are no longer necessary.

In most cases it is helpful to pay off debt as quickly as you can. Pay off small balances on store credit cards as soon as possible to avoid growing debt. Even if you have a large sum of bad debt, you can start taking care of one account at a time.

Take responsibility for your financial health by practicing wise debt management. Take a few steps now to avoid bad debt management and larger problems in the future.