Many bills are paid on a monthly schedule, and their due dates tend to fall at the same time each month. A reader, Tamara, shared this review of the BillTracker app (available only for iPhone) that does this, for example. In addition to these paper methods for keeping track of bill due dates there are apps that will also do the same thing for you.
The page contains instructions for how to use it to help you organize bills payments. To help you keep track of due dates, I've create a printable monthly bill organizer worksheet that you can use. Sort Bills For Payment Based On Due Date And Pay Ones Due Soon During Weekly Paperwork SessionÄuring this weekly paperwork session the goal is to pay all bills that are coming due soon.
This weekly paperwork session is so important, not just for paying bills, but for many aspects of paper organization that I've written an entire article on organizing paper with a weekly paperwork session, which also lists in full the possible tasks you should consider doing in your own weekly routine.
I tend, during this weekly session when I pay and organize bills, to also organize receipts, make phone calls related to bills or other home related issues, work on the family budget, balance my checkbook, review my online financial accounts, deal with medical or other insurance claims, make the meal plan and grocery list for the week, update the family calendar, send out notes and greeting cards, and other such activities that need to get done regularly.
No matter when you get paid, bills come due at various times during the month, and typically the due dates have nothing to do with your schedule for getting paid.Why should you do this weekly? There are several reasons that a weekly schedule for bill paying works best, even if you don't get paid every week, but instead twice a month, monthly, every two weeks, or like me, since I work for myself, irregularly. The next step in the Organize Bills Challenge is to set up a weekly paperwork session for yourself to pay bills, focus on household financial issues, and deal with any other paperwork you need to do around your home. Step 2: Set A Weekly Schedule To Focus On Your Household Finances And Pay Bills The bill organizer is based on a similar concept as a tickler file so if you've begun using one of these, which was a suggestion in last week's challenge article, the tickler file can also do double duty to help you organize your bills for timely payment as well. If you wish to corral your bills in a specific bill organizer, such as one which helps you differentiate the due dates for the bills, you can use a product such as the one shown to the right, called a 31 slot monthly bill organizer. When you receive any bills in the mail I suggest quickly opening the envelope and write the due date for the bill on the front of the envelope it came in, so you make sure you know by what date it needs to be paid, and don't miss the deadline. The reason you've got to keep all your bills in one location is to make sure you deal with each one of them during your weekly paperwork session (see step 2 below), and don't forget some of them are in your purse, while others are by the bed, and others are on the kitchen table buried under a big stack of other papers, for example. In fact, gathering these bills into one place is a task I suggest you do as part of your daily routine for organizing paperwork. If you worked on last week's challenge, about creating a home mail center, you've already done this step for the Organize Bills Challenge, since you're already corralling your mail and sorting through it as it comes in the door of your home.