Bill paying time can go one of two ways: stressed out, tired, angry, can't find anything, and even more stress because of late fees and bounced check fees - or - it can be organized, timely, quick, and automated so you don't even need to do it! Which would you like? I prefer that latter so, let's all get there with these simple tips to developing a bill organizer system that works for you.
No household should be without a bill organizer system to organize bills. Setting up a bill organizer system to help organize your household bills will ensure bills are paid on time every time.
Paying bills with a bill organizer system will reduce your stress because your bills will be paid on time. If your bills are paid on time you won't have late fees or dings to your credit - less stress. You also won't be running around pulling your hair out trying to find needed supplies during bill paying time - even less stress.
Sounds great, but what is a bill organizer system?
It's a simple organizational system of paying bills that you set up based on what works for you. You can either set up a bill organizer system that pays bills manually or electronically.
First, let's talk about setting up an electronic bill organizer system.
Paying your bills electronically is a breeze. The hardest part about paying your bills electronically is the set up and that's not even hard, it just takes a little time to set up payees if you use software like Quicken Bill Pay. But, remember if you pay your bills electronically you still need to be organized and make sure there's always enough money to pay bills, or you'll end up with dreaded late payments and associated fees.
Quicken Bill Pay offers additional benefits to paying bills in that it allows you to set up to ten payees that you can either pay manually or automatically every month. For payments, it links back to your bank accounts and you can transfer money between your accounts too. You can also pull reports with info such as items for tax deduction - for instance, the amount donated to church every Sunday. As you can see, there are many advantages to paying your bills electronically.
If you like the manual route of paying your bills by writing them out, then make sure you have a landing spot for all your bills when they come in from the mail. Keep everything you need to pay bills in one spot. For instance, use a basket to keep stamps, a couple of pens, checkbook, bills to be paid, and a bill ledger. Keep a bill ledger which is just a simple note book or note pad to write out the current bill paying month and list every bill by payee, dollar amount, and check number. A bill ledger is an invaluable budget tool as it allows you to track and plan for when the yearly "big" bills are going to hit such as car registration, car insurance, life insurance, etc.
The disadvantage to this manual bill organizer system versus an electronic bill payment system is that it's a bit harder to track expenditures and watch for trends. The way to get around this is to use your credit card statement to scan and watch where you're overspending and adjust accordingly whereas Quicken Bill Pay actually pulls up electronic reports and provides you with the information without all the manual work.
So, just be sure to use a bill organizer system that is going to work for you and, take the time to set it up correctly. Organizing your bills in such a fashion will definitely lower your incidence of late payments thereby reducing your stress.
About the author: Samantha Buck is a Professional Organizer and Editor of http://www.LifeOrganizeIt.com, where you can find solutions to life's organizing dilemmas.
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