Bill Organizing can Revolutionize your Financial Life
There are several reasons why bill organizing is important. When your bills are organized and you understand where you are financially, other areas of your life become more stable. Bill organizing can truly revolutionize your financial life. A disorganized financial life will not only be a constant source of frustration, it will be a constant drain on your finances. Why? Because you will be paying late fees and higher interest rates which could easily be avoided with some organization.
This article will give you bill organizing information on how to deal with incoming bills and the best methods of making sure your bills are paid in full and on time.
Bill Organizing -Automatic Payment
Most bills can be set up on automatic payment, including utility, phone and credit card bills. To avoid late fees, it is imperative you set up as many bill payments as possible to be paid automatically.
In addition to using automatic payment, make sure you are enrolled for online bill paying wherever possible. This will save you postage and will also save you late fees if you do not get the check mailed in time.
Bill Organizing – Incoming Bills
It is important to develop a system for incoming bills and follow this system religiously. As soon as a bill comes in the mail open it and check to see if it is on automatic payment. Make a notation on your calendar when the automatic payment will happen or, if the bill will not be paid automatically, make a notation on your calendar for when payment is due.
Keep all bills in one place; this place is up to you. If you have a notebook style calendar, you can paperclip the bill to the appropriate date; an appropriate date would be when the bill will be automatically paid, when to pay it online, or when the check needs to be mailed.
Purchase a bill organizing tool. This could be as simple as an accordion file or, if you want to be more elaborate, you can purchase a bill holder that has a slot for each day of the month. You simply slide the bill into the appropriate slot as soon as you open it. For example, if your cell phone bill is due on the 26th of the month, put the bill in the slot numbered 26. For bills that need to have a check mailed, place the bill in the slot of the day you need to mail the check. I personally don’t have room for a bill holder so I just paper clip the bill to my calendar and it works fine.
Bill Organizing – How to Store Paid Bills
Of course you want to keep track of paid bills. The easiest way to do this is set up a section in a filing cabinet with 12 labeled file folders; one for each month of the year. After the bill has been paid, make a notation of when it was paid and check number if applicable, then file it in the month it was paid. With this method all bills are filed in the month paid and are easily accessible when needed.
If you do not have a filing cabinet it is just as effective to use an accordion file folder that is labeled with the months. Alternatively you could use a three ring binder with 12 page protectors labeled with the months. Simply file the paid, notated bills in the page protectors.
Don’t Procrastinate
Organizing your bills is not difficult and will save you untold hours of frustration not to mention saving you money on late fees. Just set aside a time and do it. All of this can be accomplished with little to no expense and most likely will not even require a trip to the office supply store. The sense of relief you will feel at having an organized financial life is well worth your efforts.
