A new job, a move, or a separation each break several assumptions at once. Income changes shape or timing, outgoings move, and a number of things that were on autopilot are now pointed at the wrong place.
The work is not complicated. It is just spread across a dozen places, and it arrives at a moment when you have a great deal else happening.
The order that works
Each stage depends on the one above it, which is why doing them out of order tends to mean doing them twice.
Income
What is arriving, when, and whether the payday has moved. Everything else depends on this.
Fixed outgoings
What leaves automatically, from which account, and on what dates.
Anything now wrong
An address, a name on a bill, a payment coming from an account that is about to close.
The forgotten ones
The things nobody remembers, which are pensions from the old employer and insurance bought through it.
Then recalculate
Work out what is safe to spend again, because the old number is no longer true.
Job change: the gap and the pension
Two things catch people. A change in payday can leave a longer gap than usual between salaries, and direct debits do not care that this month is five weeks. Checking the dates before that gap arrives prevents a missed payment for no reason other than timing.
The other is the old workplace pension, which does not disappear and does not follow you. It becomes a separate pot that most people lose track of, and untraced pensions are among the most commonly lost assets there are.
Moving: the address is on more things than you think
Bank, insurers, pension providers, the electoral roll, your driving licence, subscriptions with a delivery address, and anything that posts an annual statement. That last category matters most, because an annual statement sent to an old address is how people lose track of accounts entirely.
Meter readings on the day, both leaving and arriving, prevent the most common billing dispute there is.
Separation: untangle joint things deliberately
Joint accounts, joint bills and anything one person guaranteed for the other all need explicit attention, and a financial association between two people can persist long after the relationship does.
This is the one on the list where getting advice is genuinely worth it rather than optional, particularly where property or children are involved. Nothing here is advice, and the order above is only about getting the picture visible.
Recalculate the number afterwards
The figure you had in your head for what is safe to spend was built on the old shape of things and is now wrong, usually in a direction nobody enjoys discovering at a till.
Rebuilding it is quick once income and outgoings are visible, and the method is in how much of your money is actually safe to spend.