How to Organize Bills

Do you want to organize bills and stay on top of them? Does paying bills seem like a never-ending job? You get one bill in the mail, pay it, only to know that another is coming in a month's time.

Do you have trouble keeping track of your bills?

Are you receiving overdue notices?

Without a centralized bill location bills can also get lost in your junk mail in the shuffle from the mail box to the kitchen table.

That's why you need a good system to keep your bills organized!

By having a bill organizer system you know where your bills are and when they need to be paid - one of the first steps to organizing your finances.

Mailbox to bill paying box

If you are like most people you are busy and on a tight budget.

The last thing you want to receive as you sort your daily mail is an "overdue notice."

Paying bills is one of the household duties that we dislike most yet it is a job that needs to be done.

BUT.... it is possible to make this chore less of a hassle for you.

One of the first steps to developing a system to organize bills is to make a central location in which you put your bills.

One approach to organizing bills is that you don't have to do them immediately on receiving your mail.

This approach means that you bring all your mail inside and once or twice a week you sort it.

When sorting your mail, it is important that you sort your bills into a designated area such as a your 'bill's box'

Sort bills to a designated area

One of the reasons why people are late paying their bills is because they have misplaced them.

Misplaced bills can be stressful, time consuming, and result in a late payment!

When sorting your mail it is important that all bills go into the bill-paying box. This includes recurring bills such as car payments.

I use a standing file in the filing cabinet in which I order the bills according to the date they need to be paid.

I also have my envelopes, stamps and checkbook in the cabinet so that everything is there when I am ready to pay the bills.

All bills are ordered by payment-due date.

When putting these bills in the bill-paying box I make a note to pay the bills in my time management planner and review the bills for accuracy.

Make bill paying a weekly routine

This organizing tip keeps you on top of your bills and reduces stress.

In my time management planner I schedule a time to pay my bills.

I used to spend 20 minutes once a week staying on top of my bills and balancing my checkbook.

Now, I pay everything online and in that 20 minutes I enter the dates that I want the money to transfer from my bank account.

This works like a treat if you trust the online banking network.

After I have paid the bills I organize them so that I know which have been paid which have not.

You can do this by hand by simply organizing your bills by date and writing the receipt numbers and dates paid on the invoices when paid.

Any unpaid bills do not have receipt numbers and dates written on them.

It is also useful to move any paid bills into your home filing system. I talk about how to organize files for home and office settings.

Organize bills with bill paying software

It is best for one person to pay the bills so that you don't end up double paying them.

Use technology to pay and track bills.

Alternatively, you can keep track of your bills in Excel or other software programs. I find using a money software package keeps track of the bills paid and upcoming bills and allows me to budget my expenses without wasting my time.

Most money manager software programs allow you to compile detailed reports of household expenses so that you get a quick glance of the household finances with the press of a button.

This type of money manager software is also really useful if you are like most families and working to a tight budget.

If you can organize bill-paying you reduce your stress, use your time more effectively, and never have to worry about missing a bill and paying the late fees.

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