Too many bills, not enough brain space!

[cicy33]

I take it that you are on the computer alot? If you have a money program on it, set up a to do list that automatically tells you when bills are due and then when you pay them you check the next date that they are due. you can set it up where they notify you several days in advance. I think that this will also work on Outlook and you don't have to use the email section of it. Outlook is included in most computer programs. but you do have to remember to open the program!

I realize that the companies cannot change how much they withdraw but they can and do frequently for me anyway, charge twice and I just don't have the money to compensate for that. Ever notice how they will take it from you lickety split but to return it takes 2 weeks sometimes!!! we literally live paycheck to paycheck. I wish we didn't but such is life. I am working on it. I would have more but then I would have to give up the IRA I am working on. and my husband's insurance.

[jaksilee]

Like you I am struggling to be an adult with my bills and get things paid on time. Here is a articale that has a good way to file stuff.... just remember that if you don't make it your own you will not use it! So some times it takes a little while to figure out your own way using bits and piece from all sorts of ideas!

[terry1156]

I started to "one touch" everything a couple years ago and it has saved me hundreds of hours in organizing and a lot of money. I simply one touch everything - the day the bill comes in, I send out the payment. yes, I lose a bit on interest I could have earned, but I never have to pay a penalty (which would likely happen if I didn't one touch it as it would get lost). I never spend time searching for bills anymore (ooooo, that used to eat up hours of my time). Once I got into the habit, it's like second nature and it has taken a lot of the stress out of my life.

[marglo]

I use Mvelopes for our budgeting, we have most of our bills on auto payments which is helpful esp when traveling, and those that are not I pay online either using the billpay that comes with Mvelopes or at the companies' website. Many of our bills now come by email and with our budgeting system I can usualy pay as soon as I get the bill so don't forget it.

If you prefer to do things manually, here's a site with a good sytem for budgeting and organizing. http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/

[cercis]

I charge as much as possible to a credit card with a bonus program. If the company charges me for doing that, I put it on automatic withdrawal. Then I watch the bills and the bank account. I also make sure to keep a decent cushion in my bank (which isn't that hard since I put so much on the credit card).

The credit card buys me an extra 1-3 weeks before I have to take money from my account and before I get charged interest. So if an unexpected withdrawal is taken from my account, I have a little time to research it and get the money back before the rest of the bills need to come from my account.

[mom-from-missouri]

I write the name of the bill and the amount due on my office calender, which hangs above my desk. I see it everytime I sit down. ONLY BILLS go on this calender. Most my bills electronically come out of my account, except my trash service, phone and cell phone. Those I write out as soon as I get them, and put them in the envelope-BUT, I don't stamp them. instead, I write the due date where the stamp goes, and keep them in order of mailing in a small basket organier on my desk. When its time to mail them, I put the stamp over the date and off it goes. So, to review, I can look at the calender, and also go thru the basket--2 ways to check. Also, as I pay them, or as they are deducted out of my account, I highlight them on my calender, so I know its been taken care of.
Also, when I say they are automatically taken out of my checking account, I actually have them charged as a charge on my debit-charge account. It still comes out of my account automatically, but by doing it without using the pin, I get back .25% as a rebate. By having my mortgage, electric, dish, water & sewer done this way, I get back the rebate on my bigger expenses. Plus, these are also the companies that charge the high late fees, and I avoid those as well.

[tgavin71]

To organise my bills I have a large bulldog clip that is attached to a nail in our family room. When the bills arrive I place them in chronological date order so the bill that is due first gets paid first. For regular bills that I need to pay but I don't recieve a paper reminder such as mortgage I write up my own bill on a bit of paper. Something simple like mortgage due, date, amount and this is placed in order as well.
Any automatic payments that come out of our cheque account are also written up on paper and added to the clip. Even though I don't have to these bills myself knowing when they are due to come out makes it so that don't accidentally overdraw my account and get a bank fee.
Any other items that I have to fork out money for such as exercusions and swimming lessons are also handled the same way and put on the clip.
Every fortnight when my husband gets paid I go online and pay all the bills that are due before the next pay day.

[FrugalTexan75]

Most of my bills I pay online. Some of them are automatically deducted (car insurance, cable, cellphone, pet insurance, water, renter's insurance) and some I have to manually pay. The ones I have to manually pay - I do all of them at the end of the previous month. For example, today I set up payments for my credit card, and for my electricity.

I use the money I earned in January to pay for my bills/expenses in February. That way I know whenever the deductions come out, the money will be there. It also makes it so that I can pay any non-automatic bills at one-time.

So today when I got my electric bill (Ugh!) I went right to my computer and set up the payment for it - the money is already there in my account.

Automatic deductions and online bill paying have both been a saving grace for me. I am *terrible* at keeping track of paperwork such as bills.

I'd also like to suggest our very own Jessie's budget system - You Need A Budget. It's been a great help to me - especially in setting up a system where I'm spending the money I earned last month instead of spending money I earn this month.

[baselle]

Originally Posted by terry1156

I started to "one touch" everything a couple years ago and it has saved me hundreds of hours in organizing and a lot of money. I simply one touch everything - the day the bill comes in, I send out the payment. yes, I lose a bit on interest I could have earned, but I never have to pay a penalty (which would likely happen if I didn't one touch it as it would get lost). I never spend time searching for bills anymore (ooooo, that used to eat up hours of my time). Once I got into the habit, it's like second nature and it has taken a lot of the stress out of my life.

I'm with terry1156. I touch the bill once and pay it the morning after I get it if I have the ready cash. I never have enough in my checking account after paying myself to even think about interest and float. Since I rarely get 2 bills at a time, it takes all of 3 minutes to do.

What helps me also is that we have a table at the doorway where we put our mail. Next to that table is the recycling box, where the junk mail goes immediately. Above that table is a corkboard where I have a couple of sheets of stamps (.37s and .02s) posted above it. Literally, I walk in, glance at the mail, pitch the unimportant in the recycling box, plunk the mail down on that table. If I have a bill, I know where it is. I pay the one or two bills on my couch, seal the envelope, go back to the table, pull my stamps down. If I decide to delay the mailing slightly, I thumbtack the newly paid bill on the corkboard right under the stamps.

I also have a free checkbook program on my PDA that I use religiously, even to the point of estimating my bills, so I know if I have to delay the mailing slightly.

[Ima saver]

I pay all my bills by check. I have a sheet of paper that I write all the bills and the due dates on every month. They are usually the same except when an insurance bill comes in. Twice a month, I sit down and pay them, bills that are due by the 10th and the rest are due by the end of the month. After I write the bills, I take the money out of my envelopes and make a deposit to cover the bills.

[Lemony]

My entire financial existence is monitored in an Excel spreadsheet. I pay most bills on the first of the month (payday), and the rest as they trickle in. All of them are paid online. If a company doesn't accept online billpay, I don't work with them. I don't do checks because I hate holding my breath until a check is cashed.

[Ima saver]

I keep all of my bills in a bill holder in the cabinet next to the fireplace. That is where I put them when they come in. I keep my stack of paper right next to it. Not being used to computers, I have never paid my bills online.

[contrary1]

I too, keep the bills in a folder. Inside the folder I have stapled a one page sheet that has the bills listed, and the months of the year. One sheet for each year. (I know there is a way to do this on my PC, but I'm just too old to figure it out I think. spread sheets .........ACK!!)
I can see at a glance what is due, what's been paid & what is coming up extra in a certain month (real estate taxes, etc).
I get great satisfaction in paying off something, as I get to draw a line through the remainder of the year for that bill......... Don't get to do this often, have only the cc bills left that fall into this catagory. The rest are all household bills that just won't go away!!
I do pay my bills online, have figured that out. Think I mastered this so I wouldn't have to pay postage!

[JBinKC]

My bills are set up where they are automatically paid on the due date either through an automatic withdrawal from my bank or done by an entry online through the bank on the due date. No stamps and maximum time use of money without any potential damge to your credit however, if you do this you better have enough money in the bank to pay your bills.

[flash]

My DH is the pigeon-holer. I like the one-touch rule.

We recently changed over to online payments for several things, since security has improved.

For other things, I set up my computer reminder to remind me a few days before the bill is due. The reminder sits there until I take care of it. Especially good for things you need to cancel or get to before another charge is made.

[miclason]

Originally Posted by cicy33

I take it that you are on the computer alot? If you have a money program on it, set up a to do list that automatically tells you when bills are due and then when you pay them you check the next date that they are due. you can set it up where they notify you several days in advance. I think that this will also work on Outlook and you don't have to use the email section of it. Outlook is included in most computer programs. but you do have to remember to open the program!

.

You set it up as a recurrent TASK in Outlook, and request a reminder for it. I think you can also set this in your yahoo mail.....to do it in Outlook is easy go to NEW, TASK, click on the RECURRENCE button and set it up (say: subject: AMEX payment, recurrence pattern: every 30th of the month, it should be at least 1 week prior to bill's due date), tick off the REMINDER box, click on SAVE AND CLOSE...tada! task is set to remind you automatically! If you keep all the bills in just one place, all you have to do is look for the bill and write the cheque! - no hassle!

I use a spreadsheet because I get paid twice a month, but my salary is NOT split evenly into 2 payments, so I know I have to pay X,Y and Z bills on the 30th, and A,B,C,D and E on the 15th (when I receive the most money!)

Good luck!

[Ima saver]

Wish I knew how to do this, but I have done it the old fashioned way for so many years, that I know I will never change. Do what works for you! I have never once had a late bill except once. I mailed the elec. bill without a stamp and it took 2 weeks to come back to me. I was embarassed!

[lrjohnson]

This maybe outside the box, but: how about reducing the number of bills to organize?

This can be done a couple ways. One is to decide to stop getting the item/service: cancel either land line or cell if you don't need both. Cancel storage space because you can sell it at garage sale/mom's garage. Cancel the gym because you never go and you only feel guilty. Cancel cable because you could use a TV break. Now, none of these may be true for you: I am not anti-TV anti-excercise! I just mean as you look at a bill, re-evaluate whether you are getting a good value.

The other way I can think of is just pay it off. Pay off the credit card, pay off the department store card, whatever has a balance . Instead of getting a gas card bill, pay with a debit card. Now this might not work either, if you are using a credit card for rewards, or can't pay it off, or prefer using a Sear's card to a VISA and therefore need both. But maybe a person could go from a VISA, Sear's, and Chevron bills to just a VISA -if it works for them.

And one either kindof idea: pay ahead. There are items I pay for that are cheaper to pre-pay for me-insurance 6 months at a time saves installment fees, an online game I subscribe to is significantly cheaper to buy 6 mo at a time. Maybe you have a gym membership and actually go all the time and make great use of it, and maybe instead of paying monthly they discount for prepaying a large chunk.

I guess where I'm going is that if bill paying organization is not your favorite, maybe reducing the amount of bills monthly in whatever way works for you may help. Me, I have cable/internet, phone, rent, and gas/electric monthly -four. I would stress out if I had the amount of bills some friends have. (I'm not talking the amount of money the bills represent, I mean the organization, choosing mail or electronic, remembering passwords, paying timely, stamps, checks, envelopes, sending, etc. ) One friend mentioned at least 15 MONTHLY bills to juggle-that'd be hard for me.

[tomkat]

I am an online bill-pay fanatic! I have money to pay my bills, but I had a habit of writing the check, putting it in the envelope, sealing it and stamping it, and throwing it in my purse only to walk around with it for a week or two before I mail it. Also, sometimes I just forgot to send in a payment. So, I set it up so that everything is done automatically for me. My mortgage company, telephone company, power company, cable company, water company , and two of my credit card companies all automatically draft my account each month for payment. I've set up bill pay through my bank to handle my HELOC and my home security bill--they automatically send a check on my behalf based on when I tell them to pay the bill. The one credit card that I use daily and my SAMS bill I have to physically log on online to pay those bills, and even then I can set up payment for the future. I haven't mailed a bill in several years!

It also helps to reduce the number of bills you have to pay (a long term goal, I guess). Currently, I use only one credit card regularly (the one that I have to physically log on online and pay), and I pay it in full each month. All of my other credit cards are paid off. I do have a dental bill, but that's automatically drafted, and I plan for it to be paid off later in the year. So, I have only one bill that I have to think about each month (well, 2 bills in the months that I use my SAMS card).

Yay for online and auto bill pay!