To gain a clear understanding of where you are and where you are going, we will first start with gathering all the information on your current accounts. The list below is to help jog your memory for different accounts you may have.

Also, collect all bills

• Cable / Internet
• Phone
• Water bill
• Trash bill
• Electric
• Car payment
• Rent/mortgage
• Insurance (health, home, boat, life, car)
• Food

Don’t forget those credit cards you rarely use or the work plan you stopped contributing to a long time ago. This is the time to collect ALL your accounts. So, think hard and dig up that info.

You can look through last month’s bills or prior statements to help jog your memory further.

This is not the time to evaluate these accounts. Don’t run off trying to close the account that you don’t use or trying to sort pending issues with these accounts. All that is later – the only thing that will happen is that you will get distracted from your task of getting organized. So for now, just concentrate on getting organized. Focus!