Ah, spring! Although the northeast is still digging out from underneath a heap of snow, somewhere the birds are chirping and the flowers are blooming. There is no question that spring is an inspiring time - everything seems a little cleaner, fresher and brighter.

Spring is also a time for renewal that’s full of new possibilities. If ever there was a time to turn over a new financial leaf, it’s now! It is never too late to get started on your financial wellness journey.

But spring cleaning your finances doesn’t have to be an overwhelming project. Just like you clean a house room by room, get started your financial wellness journey with these three small steps.

Step 1: Find the Holes In Your Pocket

The very first step on the financial wellness journey is to understand what is really going on deep in the depths of your bank accounts. What hidden fees are lurking? What bad habits are silently pick-pocketing you each month?

Many people are scared to peer into their finances. They are afraid of facing past mistakes, or finding out that the real picture of their finances might be worse than they had thought. While denial might seem more comfortable in the short-term - taking charge and empowering yourself with information will improve our financial and emotional health in the long-run.

This spring, make a commitment to sit down and review the activity of the last four months for all your accounts.

Tip: Be sure to note the context of your spending, whenever possible. If you notice a spike or a sharp drop in your spending in certain weeks, cross-reference those time periods with your calendar to see what was going on in your life. This will help you identify patterns of behavior and triggers that cause you to veer off-track with your spending.

While it might feel intimidating to confront your money in the short-term, you will sleep better at night knowing that you have already taken the first step on your financial wellness journey.

Step 2: Break Up With Stuff

Sometimes spring cleaning our ‘financial house’ requires spring cleaning our physical house. Not only has clutter been found to create stress, but economists have found that living with some clutter creates a negative feedback loop that leaves you vulnerable to more clutter.

“Economists who study littering have some interesting insights here” explains Henry Tsai in LifeHacker. “In one paper, two economists create a model that argues that those living in environments with lots of litter don’t mind leaving a piece of litter because it only makes their surroundings a little bit worse”.

Take time on this first weekend of spring to go through closets and storage spaces and identify things that you can get throw out, donate, and sell. For the items being sold, calculate the approximate resale value of the items and create a plan for the funds that result from the sale. By determining where the money will go ahead of time, you will be more motivated to go through with the sale and you are less likely to ‘waste’ the money once you receive it.

Step 3: Pick One (Small!) New Habit

Finally, embrace spring’s spirit of renewal by choosing one new habit to adopt - anything from packing a lunch to saving your change in a jar. By picking a small habit that does not require a significant lifestyle change and isn’t overwhelming or intimidating, you are setting yourself up for success.

They key to making this new habit stick is to choose a small habit that you can easily incorporate into your daily routine by connecting it to an activity that you already perform on a regular basis. In this great video, Dr. BJ Fogg, creator of the Tiny Habits philosophy, shares his proven techniques for incorporating any new habit into your routine and making it last.

Focusing on one tiny habit and seeing it through to fruition is a great confidence-booster. Knowing that you have the power to create lasting change in your life will be a powerful asset when it comes to tackling larger financial goals.

In the immortal words of George Eliot, “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

So open the windows, push back the curtains, and shine some light into your finances this spring. Because it’s never too early, or too late, to get on the path to financial wellness.

Tell us: How will you spring clean your finances? Share your best tips in the comments!