How to Organize Bills

(Source)

I’ve never particularly cared for the way we organized our bills. It was a rather haphazard system where Tim paid some of them, and I did others. Bills would pile up on our desk for a while until I finally got around to putting them in the filing cabinet. The file folders would be stuffed full (with more than just bills) and by year’s end our filing cabinet would be a pain to open.

In an effort to get the bills off the desk and out of the filing cabinet, I decided to implement a new bill storage system.

I grabbed an old notebook off the shelf, printed out a 2013 calendar and grabbed some old page dividers I had lying around.

The calendar goes in the front of the notebook. As bills arrive in the mail, they are opened and the date they are due is placed on the calendar. The bill is placed in the front pocket of the notebook so it won’t get lost.

Once the bill is actually paid, I write the confirmation number on the bill.  It is then taken out of the front pocket, has holes punched in it and is then place behind the correct page divider.

Eventually I’ll need to buy a bigger binder as I don’t think that the entire year’s worth of bills will fit in a one-inch binder.

And just to make sure I don’t forget any bills (and to keep track of the different passwords for each utility) I use this Monthly Bill Pay Schedule. I keep this page in the front pocket of the binder and as each bill is paid I mark it off. With a quick glance I can make sure that we aren’t going to miss any bills.

And that’s what works for me.