When I get the mail each day, I immediately sort it and discard what I can. I do not hold bills to be paid later. I immediately "pay" them using the internet. I go to the website of the company and choose the option to pay my bill. Then, I change the date from the current day's date to the one I want the money to come from my checking account. This is almost always the due date!
This method reduces paper clutter, postponement, late charges, etc. I am a Senior citizen and have used many different methods, but to date this is the best one yet! I am able to shred the bill and not have it laying around the house.
By Carol Swanson from Wyoming, PA
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I too am a senior and I love online bill pay. I've carried it a bit further. I opted for paperless billing. I get my bills via email and I have a folder in my email where I keep my confirmation numbers for a few months.
I too pay my bills online and I greatly appreciate your additional ideas. I use Quicken for my check/payment register and put the confirmation number in the memo line to keep it handy.
I pay my bills immediately online too. But I go to my bank and pay from there. There are never any additional charges I have confirmation numbers and my bank stands behind their bill paying. Works for me.
You can go even further with the 'green' thing and have your bills submitted on-line. You can then have your bank draft payment and you don't have to do a thing but record that the payment has been made. I do this will all my bills - electric, water, mortgage, insurance, credit card, items bought on credit (always interest free for limited time - paying in full before they can charge interest).
For bills that have a set amount to pay each month (like house payment, car insurance & house insurance) I have set up an automatic bill payment with my bank. I am a retired senior citizen and each month, when I get my SS income (that is sent to my checking account), I put the income and automatic bill pay in my checkbook register, then pay the rest of the bills online. It makes life easier for me.
The easiest way is to just pay the bill as soon as you recieve it. No messing around with some kind of a "system".
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