Simplifying Your Bills

I don't know about you, but when I first got married and all our bills doubled, I suddenly felt quite overwhelmed. My husband and I were always flipping through the stack of bills making sure we weren't going to be late on any payments. It was tiring trying to remember what we needed to pay, what we already paid, what was due when, and how this all laid out as a monthly schedule.

Well at work one day I decided that some simplifying of my bill payment process was needed STAT! I had a few problems when it came to bills. I'm sure others can relate. Basically I lacked, like I think most people in their crazy lives lack, a tad bit of simplification. So my solution was to create a calendar. And it has worked wonderfully. Below you will find my process in organizing my bills.

Step One: I gathered my bills and I organized them by date.

Step Two: Canceled everything that was on automatic payment through all the different companies.

• I found that I had everything set as an automatic payment through all the different companies, my car company, my insurance company, my student loan company, my telephone company etc. This made it hard to regulate what was going to come out, when, and how much etc.

Step Three: I set up my online banking.

• Through my bank (Chase) I have online banking. It allows me to store all my bills and then it lets me pay them right out of my bank account. I simply enter my payee's name, payment address and account number and then when the time comes to make a payment I can pay right out of my account and it is delivered in 1 business day.

Step Four: Made a Calendar

• My computer comes with a Microsoft Works Calendar. If your computer doesn't come with one, then you can print free month to month calendars off line.
• I then entered all of my bill's due dates onto this calendar 2 days before they were due. My bank pays in one day, but I wanted to give myself one extra day for delivery of that bill. I also added all my pay days and extra income days.
• I then printed a copy of my calendar and highlighted everything. Bills that need paid, income and bills/credit cards that are up to payment. This calendar is hung on a white board in my kitchen.

Step Five: Check my calendar daily.

• I check my calendar once daily and pay what ever bill is due. If there is nothing due then great. But if there is then I log into my bank account and pay my bill. It takes me less than 3 minutes a day to keep on top of my bills. The best part is that I don't have to remember 40 different log on's to different companies, just one.

The beautiful thing about my bill calendar is that I now know when everything is due. I know how much is due, and I can better save to pay off what debt I have. It also really helps me when we aquire a new bill, and they ask me when I want my due date to be, I can space it out because I know when everything is due. I hope you put this or a similar system to work in your life. It has been such a time saver for me.

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