It’s often the most neglected area in the house. The humble home office (or in some cases, a corner on the kitchen bench) can unintentionally trigger anxiety with its diverse piles of paperwork. It’s likely your financial information has contributed to these piles of paperwork and we want to help you take some control back!

So why not try these helpful hints to declutter your finances:

• If you haven’t already, sign up for email communications with us and we’ll deliver your correspondence electronically! If you are registered for Internet Banking, you can sign up for email communications by selecting ‘Settings’ from the main menu, followed by ‘Preferences’ then ‘Set Communications Preferences.’ Alternatively, you can sign up to receive email communications at your local branch or by calling 13 19 87.

• Divide your paperwork into categories like tax receipts, investment properties, financial accounts, superannuation, then assess what is essential to keep a copy of. Aim to get each category so condensed you can fit them all into a filing cabinet.

• If you have a scanner handy, scan your printed financial documents and save them on a hard drive. Once you’ve created an electronic version, be sure to destroy the hard copies securely.

• Create a separate inbox in your email for your statements and financial communications to keep things organised. Just make sure that you set up DoNotReply@communications.newcastlepermanent.com.au & DoNotReply@marketing.newcastlepermanent.com.au as the sender address. You can even add alerts so you know immediately when anything is sent.

• Check your statement frequency with us. If you are getting your statements more frequently than required by law, we may be able to change your statement period for you.

• Consolidate your super - having multiple super accounts increases the amount of fees you are charged and the amount of paperwork you receive. Combine your super to a provider of your choice but do your research and determine which super fund is the best fit for you.

• Go digital where possible and minimise the additional paperwork! Speak to your utilities provider and see if you are able to receive correspondence from them via email. While you’re at it, see if you can streamline your payments by setting up auto-debits or deposits. Or give us a call and we can create your auto-payments for you.

It may seem like the easier option to close the door on the financial paperwork in your office and pretend it’ll all go away. But taking some time to get organised will help bring some structure to your life admin and leave you feeling more accomplished than ever.