social

Organizing Your Bills

23 Questions

Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.

February 23, 2007

How do you organize your files with your bank statements, credit card statements, tax deductible items, home insurance, medical insurance, pay stubs, etc.? Year after year.

Advertisement

Answers


Diamond Feedback Medal for All Time! 1,023 Feedbacks
March 16, 20060 found this helpful

By Maria Gracia

1. KEEP YOUR PENDING BILLS TOGETHER, IN ONE DESIGNATED AREA.

As 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. When done sorting, immediately place your pending bills in an envelope, pocket folder or Pending Bills basket.

2. DO NOT SEPARATE EACH PENDING BILL INTO A SEPARATE FOLDER.

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. 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. My husband and I use a Bill Paying Pocket Folder Book which has about 20 Pocket Folders inside. All of our Pending Bills go together in the very first pocket folder. All Paid Invoices/Receipts then get filed in the individual categorized pocket folders that follow. This system works like a dream for us.

Advertisement

3. DESIGNATE 2 TO 4 REGULAR DAYS PER MONTH TO PAY YOUR BILLS.

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. Designate 2 to 4 days per month and do all of your bill paying on those days. My husband and I pay our bills on the 8th and 22nd of each month. You may do the same, or perhaps you might want to pay any pending bills one day per week, such as, every Friday.

4. PAY YOUR BILLS IN ONE PLACE AND KEEP ALL OF YOUR BILL PAYING SUPPLIES TOGETHER.

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. 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. 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.

Advertisement

5. IMMEDIATELY RECORD YOUR PAID BILLS.

As soon as you pay each bill, immediately record the payment in your check register or computer software register. Don't wait until later because if you do, there's a good chance you will forget. And once you forget, you'll have to waste time and money later dealing with overdrawn account fees.

6. PLACE PAID INVOICES/RECEIPTS INTO A BILL PAYING POCKET FOLDER BOOK OR CATEGORIZED FILE FOLDERS.

Once you pay your bills, mark your copy or section of the invoice with the Date Paid, Check Number and Amount Paid. Then, file each into the appropriate pocket of your Bill Paying Folder-- with one pocket for each; i.e. Utilities, Insurance, MasterCard, Visa, etc.) or into categorized folders in your filing cabinet.

7. ORGANIZE YOUR CANCELLED CHECKS AND CHECKING ACCOUNT STATEMENTS.

Every month you will receive checking account statement(s), and possibly cancelled checks, from your bank. Immediately place them in a folder until your designated monthly date rolls around to reconcile your checking account. Then, keep your statements and cancelled checks all together in a folder for the year. You may need to retrieve them later for your accountant when tax season rolls around. By 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. You may also consider checking with your accountant to determine how long he or she suggests you need to keep this information.

Advertisement

8. CONDENSE YOUR CREDIT CARDS.

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. Whenever possible, condense your many credit cards into 2 or 3 credit cards, and get rid of the rest.

9. PREPARE ENVELOPES FOR RECURRING BILLS BEFOREHAND.

For recurring bills, such as mortgage, rent or loan payments, you'll save a lot of time preparing a bunch of envelopes for each beforehand. For example, let's say you have to pay the rent each month. Make a year's worth of envelopes out with your landlord's name and mailing address, your return address and a stamp. This way, everything will be all set to go each month. You just write out a check, place it in the prepared envelope and mail.

Advertisement

10. SIMPLIFY EVEN MORE WITH INEXPENSIVE MONEY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE.

If you're paying your bills manually, you may consider purchasing inexpensive, money management software. My husband and I use Quicken. It's a breeze to set up and reduces the time it takes us to pay our bills by more than 50%. 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.

About The Author: by Maria Gracia - Get Organized Now! http://www.getorganizednow.com FREE Idea-Pak and E-zine filled with tips, ideas, articles and more to help you organize your home, your office and your life at the Get Organized Now! Web site!

 
By Diana (Guest Post)
March 17, 20060 found this helpful

I have a 3 ring binder and I use page protectors
In addition to my bidget forms and bills I ALSO include copies of all my insurance policies and investments. If we were threatened by a tornado I'd take the binder to the basement with me

Advertisement


If I were to die my DH could pay te bills AND collect the life insurance policy all by going to the same binder! LOL

 
By IMAQT1962 (Guest Post)
March 20, 20060 found this helpful

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ORGANIZING BILLS, BUT ..WE USE A LEDGER TO POST OUR BILLS IN.I PUT THE DATE DUE, THE NAME OF THE BILL
AND PLACE A CHECK MARK BESIDE IT WEHN IT GETS PAID ALONG WITH A CHECK NUMBER SO IF I EVER NEED TO VERIFY THAT SOMETHING HAS BEEN PAID I SIMPLY LOOK UP THE CHECK NUMBER IN MY REGISTER AND CAN TELL YOU EXACTLY WHEN IT GOT PAID. I CAN GO BACK FOR THAT LAST 10 YEARS IN OUR LEDGERS AND KNOW WHAT WE PAID THEN AND TO WHOM

 
March 26, 20060 found this helpful

I have bills automatically taken our of checking account. I use my savings account for everything else. It makes it simple and worry free.

 
By Anna (Guest Post)
July 24, 20060 found this helpful

I use this online service to remind me about upcoming bills and budget. It works great! You can check it out at http://www.whatbills.com

Now if I could just decrease my credit card debt!

Anna

 
February 26, 20070 found this helpful

We started doing it this way last year:

In our big filing cabinet, we have a hanging file for each category-- electric bill, bank statements, etc.

In our little filing cabinet, we have manila filing folders, one for each category with the year labeled, too-- electric bills 2007, bank statements 2007 etc.

Throughout the year, we put stuff in the little filing cabinet as we receive it. At the end of the year, we take the manila folders from the little filing cabinet and put them in the hanging folders in the big filing cabinet. Then make new manila folders for the little cabinet-- electric bills 2008, bank statements 2008, etc.

We started this in 2006 and it has worked pretty well.

 
February 26, 20070 found this helpful

I KNOW THAT THIS WILL SOUND STRANGE, BUT...I DO NOT HAVE A DESK AND THE FILE FOLDERS WERE JUST NOT WORKING. I TOOK AN HANGING SHOE ORGANIZER AND HUNG IT ON MY BEDROOM DOOR. IN EACH SLOT I KEEP VARIOUS IMPORTANT PAPERS.MY BILLS, BANK STATEMENTS, MEDICAL INFORMATION EVEN MY SHOPPING CIRCULARS, IT MAKES IT SO MUCH EASIER TO SPOT WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR AND DEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF THE ORGANIZER, YOU CAN DO MONTHLY COMPARTMENTS. I HOPE THAT THIS HELPS. HEATHER

 
November 6, 20070 found this helpful

I have a realy strong magnet with a clip on it that I put all my unpaid bill on that I keep on my refig. I write the amount and date due on each envelope. When paid I write ck# on bill or staple online reciept to bill and place in monthtly bills file. I have files for credit card info, pay stubs, online purchases and bank statements. Just remember to file the same way everytime ie most resent in front. Also purge your files everyonce in a while. Might want to consider a fire safe for valubles like wills, home and car titles, savings bonds etc.

 
Answer this Question

October 23, 2013

Do I need to keep a full year of bill statements?

By Karen

Answers


Silver Answer Medal for All Time! 409 Answers
May 28, 20170 found this helpful

I print out a list of our bills by month for a year in columns. As I pay them, I check them off the list. That way I know at a glance what needs to be paid and I don't have any slip by unpaid that I had forgotten.

 
Answer this Question

Photos

Check out these photos.


Gold Post Medal for All Time! 969 Posts
March 18, 2011

I just purchased a Wonderfile and I have to tell you that I highly recommend them.

Product Review: Wonderfile

Read More...

February 5, 2017

Keeping track of household expenditures does not need to be a complex process. This is a page about simple household bookkeeping system.

A woman looking at many receipts and paperwork on a wooden floor.

Archives

ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.

February 23, 2007
Click to read more ideas from older posts on ThriftyFun.
 
Read More...
<< First< Previous
Categories
Organizing Bills and MailJuly 19, 2011
Pages
More
👒
Mother's Day Ideas!
🌻
Gardening
🐰
Easter Ideas!
Facebook
Pinterest
YouTube
Instagram
Categories
Better LivingBudget & FinanceBusiness and LegalComputersConsumer AdviceCoronavirusCraftsEducationEntertainmentFood and RecipesHealth & BeautyHolidays and PartiesHome and GardenMake Your OwnOrganizingParentingPetsPhotosTravel and RecreationWeddings
Published by ThriftyFun.
Desktop Page | View Mobile
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
Generated 2024-03-28 03:21:25 in 9 secs. ⛅️️
© 1997-2024 by Cumuli, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
https://www.thriftyfun.com/tf/Organizing/Bills_and_Mail/Organizing-Bills.html