Q: “Each week, a pile of paper and other items about six inches high accumulates on my kitchen table. Bills, charity solicitations, insurance documents, financial papers…” -Margo
Q: “We need strategies for organizing and processing paper of all sorts. Plus, it’s a great time saver at tax time because it will automatically organize all of your income and expenses, with a print-out, ready for your accountant.Q: “What is the best way to organize papers and bills?” -Boston Mom It’s a breeze to set up and reduces the time it takes us to pay our bills by more than 50%. If you’re paying your bills manually, you may consider purchasing inexpensive, money management software. Simplify even more with inexpensive money management software. You just write out a check, place it in the prepared envelope and mail. This way, everything will be all set to go each month.
Make a year’s worth of envelopes out with your landlord’s name and mailing address, your return address and a stamp. For example, let’s say you have to pay the rent each month. Prepare envelopes for recurring bills beforehand.įor recurring bills, such as mortgage, rent or loan payments, you’ll save a lot of time preparing a bunch of envelopes for each beforehand. Whenever possible, condense your many credit cards into 2 or 3 credit cards, and get rid of the rest. The more credit cards you have, the more difficult it is going to be to keep them organized, and the longer it’s going to take you to pay your bills. You may also consider checking with your accountant to determine how long he or she suggests you need to keep this information. You may need to retrieve them later for your accountant when tax season rolls around.īy the way, any bank statements and/or cancelled checks more than a year old can be stored away in a different area than your current files. Then, keep your statements and cancelled checks all together in a folder for the year. Immediately place them in a folder until your designated monthly date rolls around to reconcile your checking account. Organize your cancelled checks and checking account statements.Įvery month you will receive checking account statement(s), and possibly cancelled checks, from your bank. Utilities, Insurance, MasterCard, Visa, etc.) or into categorized folders in your filing cabinet. Then, file each into the appropriate pocket of your Bill Paying Folder–with one pocket for each i.e. Once you pay your bills, mark your copy or section of the invoice with the Date Paid, Check Number and Amount Paid. Place paid invoices/receipts into a bill paying pocket folder book or categorized file folders. And once you forget, you’ll have to waste time and money later dealing with overdrawn account fees. Don’t wait until later because if you do, there’s a good chance you will forget.
#HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR BILLS AND MAIL SOFTWARE#
If you don’t have drawers to keep your supplies in, get yourself a small plastic box, or even a shoe box, and keep everything inside.Īs soon as you pay each bill, immediately record the payment in your check register or computer software register. Wherever it is, this area should be equipped with your bills, checkbook, envelopes, stamps, pens, pencils, a calculator, tape, a stapler and return address labels. In order to speed up your bill paying efforts, always pay your bills in one place, whether that place be your desk, the kitchen table, etc. Pay your bills in one place and keep all of your bill paying supplies together.
You may do the same, or perhaps you might want to pay any pending bills one day per week, such as, every Friday. My husband and I pay our bills on the 8th and 22nd of each month. Designate 2 to 4 days per month and do all of your bill paying on those days. Ninety-nine percent of the time, you don’t have to drop everything you’re doing when you get a bill in the mail to pay it immediately. This system works like a dream for us.ĭesignate 2 to 4 regular days per month to pay your bills. All Paid Invoices/Receipts then get filed in the individual categorized pocket folders that follow. All of our Pending Bills go together in the very first pocket folder. My husband and I use a Bill Paying Pocket Folder Book which has about 20 Pocket Folders inside. All pending bills should be together in an envelope, pocket folder or basket so they can be paid without having to search 10 different places to find them. Whatever you do, don’t put your utility bill in one folder, your car insurance bill in another folder and your membership dues bill in another. When done sorting, immediately place your pending bills in an envelope, pocket folder or Pending Bills basket.ĭo not separate each pending bill into a separate folder. Getting your bills organized Keep your pending bills together, in one designated area.Īs soon as your mail arrives, or at your designated mail sorting time, sort through the mail, separating your pending bills from all of your other mail.
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