Minimalist Bank accounts.

Bank accounts are a must in our lives these days. We sometimes tend to open too many accounts and some of us even have some accounts left from the old days. The result could be too many papers, too many statements, too many bank fees and too much forgotten funds in different accounts.

Life is complicated enough by itself. There is not need to make it more complicated.

Here are some tips about how to minimize, simplify and organise Bank accounts.





1. Gather all the paperwork and all the bank accounts you have in different banks.

2. Gather all your statements.

3. If you are signed up with on line banking, create a folder in your computer with sub folders for each bank and download all your statements as far as you can go.

4. Scan and load all your paper statements in their appropriate folders based on the bank name and the year and then shred them all( Make sure you have a back up from those folders)

5. Decide which Bank you only want to work with and then close all the unused bank accounts in different banks. Sometimes we have accounts that we opened many years ago and they are just seating there unused with some money in them. Close all the extra ones and gather the balances in one bank.

6. Now that you have only one bank you use, close all the extra accounts in the same bank and stick with the minimum. In my case, One checking and one saving account is enough. If you feel you are not disciplined enough with your bills, you can create another checking account just for your bills.

7. Scan all the bank contracts and paperwork in your bank folder and shred the papers. You can easily set up a folder in your computer with two sub folders holding account numbers and information for each account. At this point you can discard all the contracts and papers from other accounts that you have closed.

8. Set up On-Line banking for your accounts, so you can access everything on line with one User ID and one Password.

9. Go Paperless. Set up for e-statements and e-alerts. Most bank have an alert system that if your balance goes under a certain number, you can get a text and/ or e-mail to inform you.

10. Back up all the information in your computer.( VERY IMPORTANT)


This simplifying should ease up a big load from your paperwork. In my own families case, we have one checking account that has a check book and two Debit cards. We also have a savings account.

I will write later about our system more in dept in my future posts and show you why one checking and one saving is enough for us.

How many bank account do you have?