It is a new year, new beginning, new ideas, and time to clean up the old clutter, organise your finances, and plan again for success.The song Auld Lang Syne has been traditional for many, many years. The words (originally, a poem) signify the start of a New Year, leaving the old times behind, renewing friendships and moving ahead.It can be a bittersweet message standing in a pile of confetti, horns blaring and champagne corks bursting - if your last year-ending was a tough one. You may feel more than some inertia, possibly even depression.We are, after all, creatures of habit, even though we think in our minds that we find new and exciting things on a daily basis. We surprise ourselves when we realise that our lives are made up of sameness and routine.Change is exciting; constant change is stressful; sameness attributes are comforting. Why do you think we cultivate certain tastes in food, wine, beer, clothing, TV shows, videos, friends? Because they represent a constant and consistency in our lives.We use our daily routines to keep ourselves focused, stable and motivated, ready intellectually and physically to meet the next life challenge. As one of the acerbic judges on Court TV stated in a lecture to two unhappy defendants: “There will always be challenges, it is how you deal with them that determines your path to success or failure in life!”One of the best ways to make a fresh new start is to get yourself organised. Yes, I know, some of you are incredibly detail-oriented! Most of us aren't; so go help one of your friends or rels (relatives) already.Cleaning upHere's a list of to do tasks that is not too intimidating. Do even one of them. It will give you a feeling of accomplishment.1 Clean out all of your bill receipt/expense files, save only the last year's receipts. If you haven't looked at your bank statements in over a year, then review them first. While you are at this exercise, take a serious look at where your money went. It might just shock you to see that you do need a budget.a. If your are a US citizen, dual-citizen with the US, green card holder, or have investments (intangibles or real estate), you should keep all receipts related to your tax filings for a least seven years.2 Match your bank deposit sheets if you've kept them against your actual deposits in your statements. If you haven't been doing this on a routine basis, you may just find a deposit you didn't know you had. Found money, you get a prize. Or, it may be just the opposite, someone else's account has had your deposit for six months. They've got your prize. And, yes, I've seen this happen as well, large amounts of money in someone else's account.a. You may scoff at this rather generic advice, but I can assure you that I have had real live people tell me they haven't looked at their bank account for years!!! And they are wealthy enough (who is) to throw away cash.3 Review all of your credit card charges last year for the following:a. Penalties / surcharges for late payments are they correct?b. Charges for items purchased that you have no clue you ever bought. So, did you really buy them, or did someone else shop you out?c. Recurring charges from websites you weren't remotely interested in, but signed up for a 30-day trial. Did you forget to cancel a membership? You'd be amazed at the number of people who get hooked into these small recurring bills. I'm nowhere near perfect, and I missed one for almost a year!!!d. You should religiously review all of your credit charges monthly, weekly is preferable, and daily if you have time. The billions of identity theft transactions that are perpetrated every year are successful, in part, because individuals don't pay close attention. Don't wait until you receive your monthly bill. Use your on-line account to monitor all of your Internet activity.4 Take a look at your property & casualty insurance policies, before the hurricane season. Are you covered adequately? Could you afford to pay for part of the rebuilding if you haven't insured for full value?5 Dig out your employee handbook and review the benefits provided to you. If it is fairly old, you may have completely forgotten some of those extras, like subsidized education, volunteerism, life insurance, disability and so on.a. Education subsidy sign up for those courses now. Next Year may be too late, if your employer decides to further trim costs.6 Pension statements will be out soon for the year ended December 2010.a. Take a quick look does your total employer/employee contribution for last year match 10% of your salary? If not, why not you need answers.b. Did you have a middle of the road asset allocation? If your fund didn't provide a positive rate of return, you need to have a meeting with your pension representative. If your pension fund did well, but you are getting closer to retirement, now is the time to revisit your choices. You may want to lock in your appreciation and move to a more conservative position. Again, you know who to call.7 The Will and what was your New Year's Resolution last year? I will make a will well another year has gone by, you own more, your children if you have them are older, or you've just started a family, bought a home. You need to do this. Protect your family and your assets.Getting OrganisedElectronically, there are numerous help websites out there, along with very clever calendar reminders, appointment updates, alarms, and document sharers.We create so much work for ourselves, that the refrain when a time management course is offered, is “that I just don't have time”. Anyone who has watched the latest report on the irresistible pull of Crackberrys and so on, know that multi-tasking leaves you less organised, and more stressd.I use Google as e-mail, as a calendar, and as a large document storage holder. Every morning, email is there, listing what I need to do for the day and reminding me of tasks and appointments. Use what works for you a plain small notebook, a handheld, phone and so on, but get yourself up to speed.Organise your effects if you haven't used it, worn it, liked it, or cooked it in the last two years, and it will never be an Antiques Road Show rare discovery four words. Get rid of it.Organise your life you want your surroundings and your life to be serene. Avoid negativity, controversy, and focus, focus, focus on what you can do to be a positive healty person.Organise your thoughts become unhooked, live in the now, relate, relate, relate. Spend some time interacting with your family good, old-fashioned games, reach out to your friends and listen to them not with one eye on the Crackberry and the other plugged into an Ipod.This will be an exciting year, if you rise to the challenge now to make it your best year ever. You can do it.Martha Harris Myron JP, CPA, CFP®, TEP, is an international Certified Financial Planner™ practitioner specialising in tax, estate, and strategic retirement services for Bermuda residents with cross-border and multi-national connections, dual citizens of the US and Bermuda, and US citizens living abroad. She is the American Citizens Abroad Country Contact for Bermuda www.aca.org and a Masters in Law candidate in International Tax and Finance. For more information, contact martha.myron[AT]gmail.com or 296-3528 Patterson Partners Ltd.