How do you keep your bills organized and paid on time? For years, I would just pay them as I would get them in the mail. Which would mean that I drug out my checkbook every few days. This worked just fine, but I felt like I was constantly paying bills, which isn’t my favorite chore.
In the last couple years, I have created a bill pay binder that has worked really well for me, so I am going to share a few of my tips with you.
First, you need a binder, I use a simple white 1 inch binder. Next, I added a pencil bag to hold all the “tools” that I need for paying bills.
I have a hole punch, calculator, pencils, pens, and a Sharpie in my pouch.
I printed out a calendar for each month over at THIS site. I went through and added all recurring events on the calendar with the dates that I already knew. Things like payday, car payment, we have rental properties and I keep track of when those payments are due on this calendar as well.
When I receive a bill in the mail, I add the due date on this calendar right away.
I have three sections on my binder. One section for bills I pay on the 15th and one for the 30th. When I receive a bill in the mail, I mark the due date on my calendar, punch holes in the bill and file it in the correct area.
I also have a section to file bills from the previous month. I find this very handy because if I have a question on a bill or what I had paid the previous month, I still have them handy.
In the front inside pocket of the binder is where I keep my address labels and envelopes.
I use different colors of markers for my bill calendar. I found a great way to hold all of my pens and colored markers in this really cute Thirty-one Fold and Go bag.
I am a paper and pen person. I like to keep track of bills, lists, etc. on paper instead of on the computer. This bill pay system has been working really well for me and I feel much more organized. I spend less time paying bills and don’t have to go digging for everything when it’s time to sit down and write out checks. I hope you can use a few of my tips or even create your own binder!
If you have any suggestions on how to improve this or just comments on your own ideas, I would love to hear them!
