Some Random Tips on Organizing Bills
- I keep my checkbook, stamps, return-address labels, envelopes, and stubs all in a three-ring binder so when a bill comes, all I have to do is pull out the binder and everything I need to pay, file, and mail the bill off is right there.
- Every time I bring in the mail, I put all of the bills that need to be paid into a stack that I go through once a week. Doing it this way means I only need to pull out my bills binder once, my mailing supplies once, my hole-punch once.. you get the idea.
Pay a weeks worth at a time, then record or file the stubs and you’ll find yourself spending less total time worrying about and working on those pesky bills.
- Start with a blank piece of paper (I use graph paper). On the left side of the paper, write out the name of each monthly bill you must pay, one per line. Then moving across to the right side of the paper, draw lines down the page to seperate the page into 6-12 columns. At the top of each column write the months of the year.
Then, when you pay a bill, find the name of the bill on the grid, move over to the month the bill is for, and enter the amount you paid.
This makes checking to make sure I’ve paid everything a snap, and also makes referring back to certain payments easy as well.
- Now days, many bills can be paid online. This is actually faster and cheaper (assuming they don’t try and rip you off with a ‘convenience’ fee.)
check your pay stub, most bills that can be paid online will have the right web address to pay it written on the stub.
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