ISO Bill Paying / Organization Tips

[Terri_A]

Okay...I'm horribly organized with work things, but horribly unorganized at home. I'm sick of paying late fees on bills because of my disorganization. I bring the mail in the house and end up putting it in a stack either on my desk or on one of the kitchen counters. There it sits...and sits...and sits. Then I end up missing due dates.

So, I'm curious how everyone else organizes their bills or does their bill paying?

I must admit up front that part of my bill paying problem is that I just don't want to...I have other ways I'd prefer to spend my money!!! :D Never fear, I DO pay my bills....they're just often late! :rolleyes:

[mrswaz]

Oh, I can so relate. Two months ago, DH and I decided we needed to get organized as well. I now use Microsoft Money to do everything. I use it daily to input every penny we spend, and I also use it to schedule bill payments. In just a few weeks time, it has made an unbelievable difference. Last week, DH got paid and I put it in, and I looked at him in astonishment when I realized I didn't need to pay any bills that week. I've been able to keep them current with little to no effort.

I've also switched to paying almost all of our bills online through their individual websites. The only checks I write are the rent payment or our water bill, which doesn't have an online option. The bills that come in the mail I immediately make sure I have a scheduled payment on the computer and then put the invoice in my drawer until it's paid.

[sugarbaby]

DH pays the bills, but here are some tips that might help:
*He has 1 specific place in the house where he does it (the desk in our home office)
*He has a desk calendar where, as soon as he gets the bill, he writes down the due date.
*Always have a book of stamps and return address labels on hand.
*Both of us are teachers, and daily we are inundated with useless (usually) memos; we both have a "touch it twice" rule: never touch a piece of paper that lands on our desks more than twice. After touching it twice, we need to either trash it, file it, or do something with it! The same goes for home.

[Terri_A]

I guess I should mention that I do already pay my bills online ( with the exception of the lawn guy and my daughter's tuition which both require checks).

[blazedog]

I do use Quicken -- but that's really to organize for tax purposes.

My mail system is really quite simple -- I sort through the mail IMMEDIATELY - I put the bills in one spot and I pay the bills once a week. I don't generally have a particular reason not to pay a bill immediately in that week's cycle -- but if I did, I would just keep it in the stack of bills to be done the following week -- This is a modification of flylady's system in which she has one day in which one attends to financial organization.

The key for you is to NOT put everything in one huge pile but just to make a habit of culling out the bills and putting them in one spot -- and then picking one day a week to just go through them.

[Terri_A]

The key for you is to NOT put everything in one huge pile but just to make a habit of culling out the bills and putting them in one spot -- and then picking one day a week to just go through them.

Perhaps this the root of my whole problem...the fact that the bills are mixed in with all sorts of other things.

I also like sugarbaby's touch it twice rule....very interesting!

Thanks for the ideas so far...

Keep the ideas coming - the more I have the better the odds that I can fix this problem!!!

[HejazSunKat]

I use a check free web site to pay almost all bills and I love it. A few mouse clicks and bada bing, bada boom - done. There are very, very few vendors to whom I write checks nowadays. DH recently re-ordered our check stock - 2 boxes which, with the way I'm doing things now, will probably take me a decade to go through. :) One of the good things about the check free site I use (and probably most of them have this function) is that many bills can be delivered electronically and once you sign up for that (at no charge) it sends reminders via e-mail of when a bill is due so there's no excuse to be late. I too always sort the mail immediately throwing out the junk and I have what I call the 'active' folder in a desk drawer where I dump the bills that will need to get paid in the upcoming weeks. If I'm really on top of things I'll go to the bill paying site immediately and schedule the payment for it's due date so that I only handle the bill once and can either file it or shred it right away depending on what it is.

Someone mentioned that they pay their bills through the individual vendor websites and on one hand I think that's great because you will usually not pay the nominal fees per payment that the check free sites charge but on the other I'd be a little cautious because I got burned a couple of times by vendors who didn't have their act together and didn't apply my payments. That was a hassle because I then had to obtain proof of the payment from the bank, forward it to the vendor and wait while they credited my account. After that happened to me a couple of times I decided to pay the fees to the check free site to have the peace of mind of knowing the bill was going to get paid.

[Gumbeaux]

You could take care of a lot of your bills through auto pay.

[HealthyinMN]

I use Yodlee (http://corporate.yodlee.com/) to bring all of my banking/utilities/credit cards into one interface and use it daily to see where things are at. I used to go to each site one by one, but this makes it so much easier!

[Paula H]

When it comes to bills, I follow sugarbaby's advice (for all other paperwork, watch me die, crushed under a mountain of paper...).

As soon as a bill arrives, I schedule the payment for it online, for the due date. So if a bill arrives on the 4th, I set payment for the 20th (or whenever) and then I can forget about it! And then on the 20th, magically, the bill is paid without me having to think about it again.

I've only been doing this for a few months, but it's made life much less stressful - I kept misplacing bills for both personal and business, and so would find myself stressing out on the 19th of the month, wondering where I'd put the bits of paper.

Organisation is (slowly) becoming my friend...

[clairea]

I definitely think paying bills online helps, as does keeping bills separate from other mail and minimizing the number of times you handle something before dealing with it. I eliminate a lot of paper by using online statements, but that might not work for you.

The thing that helps me the most is doing all of my banking once a month. I keep a list (I keep mine in Quicken since that is what I use) of all the bills I pay each month, and at the beginning of each month I schedule all of the bill payments for that month. I do a quick check around the 15th and make sure that nothing has been missed. If you have some things that the billing cycle doesn't work for you to do this and it isn't a regular billing amount (so you could just schedule the payment before you get the statement) you can usually get the company to change your billing date. So -- if your electric bill usually arrives on the 8th of the month and is due on the 25th, you might see if they can bill on the 15th or 20th of each month. That way the bill would arrive by the end of one month and probably be due around the 10th -- perfect for beginning of the month bill paying.

[armel]

All of my regular bills are deducted automatically (phone, satellite, cell, gas, electric, water, power, trash, student loan, credit card) from my checking account. To set it up, I had to send them a cancelled check. They still send me a bill telling me the amount and when they will deduct the item. There is no charge to me for this and I never have to remember to pay any of my bills as it happens automatically. And there has never been a screwup where they deducted the wrong amount.

You can even set up the credit card bill to pay automatially the entire bill or a set amount each month.

Almost any company is set up to do this nowadays.

The only bill that I don't do this with is for my mortgage payment. For some reason they wanted to charge me to do this. [probably hope that you will be late and they will get a late fee so they don't want to make it free to deduct automatically. ]So I said "no thanks" and send that one in. But that is easy to remember the due date. 1st of the month.

[funnybone]

We use Quicken to track payments and due dates, and then pay them online with our bank (Chase). I enter the bills a couple of months ahead of time (estimate the ones the fluctuate) and then as the actual bills come in, change the amount and enter them to pay. You can also authorize some bills to auto deduct from your checking account. We do this with our insurance and mortgage. Some even allow auto charge to your credit card (Netflix, Directv) We've never paid a bill late thanks to this method.

[Jazzmatazz49]

Online banking has changed my life. It's that big of a deal for me. Just do it!! :D

[Gecko]

For those that I still pay via check I use my tasks function on MS Outlook. I just add a new task, set the due date, and then a reminder so that I can get it in the mail before it is due - no late fees for me :D . I keep all of the bills, with their return envelope, in a binder for easy access.

I try to schedule a lot of my bills online to be paid on their due date. I still use the task function on Outlook to check that the money did actually come out of my account, just incase something went wrong.

[MusicMom]

I schedule regular payments (car loans, mortgage, etc.) with our online banking service so they're automatically made for us.

I also have a filing system of folders labeled with our paydates on them (10th, 15th, 25th, and 30th of the month) I file bills that we receive in the mail in the folder closest to the date when I have to submit the online payment. Then on every payday, I take out the folder for that day and pay those bills. No shuffling through all the bills to find the ones that are due that week.

One caution with online bill paying. Last week we set up a checking account for DS and linked it to our other accounts so we could transfer money to him. However, when I did the bill payments for that week, I didn't notice that his account showed up as the default and I paid $340 worth of bills from the $300 in his account. I realized my mistake a couple days later and quickly transferred funds to cover the bills and the overdraft fee. I called the bank and was told that this is a common mistake that parents make. I've since nicknamed his account to make it obvious. It was such a major mistake, I'm sure I'll be more aware from now on. :(

[Gilgamesh37]

Well mine is a veyr low tech solution (because of how $*)*)($*)@*& difficult my bank makes it to do on line payment---although in truth, I don't like the idea of money just flying out of my account without my conscious intervening act, so probably an okay thing.) I go through the mail. Bills I pull out, open the envelope, write hte due date in big numbers on hte front envelope, and then it goes standing end-up, in date order, on our kitchen table lazy susan. Since I see that every day, I rarely miss a payment; I get up on the 9th, see the next envelope has a due date of the 14th, so I write hte check and stick it in hte mail. Works for me. I think hte only late fee I've had in years was when a cable bill never showed up and I never missed it. When hte next one came for double + late fee, I called, laid out my case, asked them to review my payment history, and they wiped the late fee. So I know it's rubber-cement-and-a-toothpick in technology terms, but it works for me.

[newtricks]

So I know it's rubber-cement-and-a-toothpick in technology terms, but it works for me.

:D Me too. Well, I do use on-line bill pay - love that! But Terri, you're looking for a way to keep track of the bills before you even sit down to your computer I think.

I have a notebook with pockets - one for each month and I put all bills *as they come in!* into the notebook. I do my bills twice a month - take my little notebook to the computer, schedule payments, then print out the activity, staple it to all the bills I just paid and keep it in the notebook for future reference (for a year).

[Blissful_in_TX]

I have almost all mine set up through auto-pay....Love it! The ones that aren't set up, my bank's on-line web pay sends me an email reminder when something is coming up due.

[Angelina]

Most of mine come straight out of my account (cable, phone, cell, gas, electric). Wherever I can, I ask for them not to send me anything in the mail, just electronic statements.

Any other bills, I use CheckFree. I used to be HORRIBLE with paying bills, but with CheckFree I just click, schedule the date, and pay. I really really hate writing checks, finding stamps, remembering to mail them...

Angela

[MISSINDI]

My problem is keeping up with all the ATM/debit card receipts, especially since DH only hands over a stack after I nag him.

For those that do online banking, are you not using check registers any more? If not, how do you keep track of what's in your checking account?

I was doing a few bills with online banking last year, but one month the mortgage company took their money out twice, and even though the second one was still pending, they couldn't reverse it. Stopped doing it online right after that, although I do pay a few smaller ones (Optimum, Cingular, etc.) online on their own sites.

[funnybone]

For those that do online banking, are you not using check registers any more? If not, how do you keep track of what's in your checking account?


Quicken. I can manually enter the transactions, or download them directly from my bank account to Quicken. I do this at least twice a week. DH never writes checks and basically charges everthing, with the odd withdrawl for cash. We pay off our credit cards off by the end of the month, but I am able go see what he has charged prior to him telling my by looking online. If something is really odd, I will him to ask verify the purchase. Eventually I see his receipts though.

[mrswaz]

For those that do online banking, are you not using check registers any more? If not, how do you keep track of what's in your checking account?



I use Microsoft Money to keep track. DH now puts in his own receipts/ATM drafts. I used to be the sole accountant, and it would drive me nuts that he would forget or lose receipts. So one day I started the Microsoft Money program up, showed him how to use it, and he's extremely diligent about it. Once a week I print out my current bank activity from my account and compare it with our Money information. You could obviously do the same with Quicken or other accounting software. I do have the option to download directly from my bank account or any credit card accounts if I wanted, but I haven't explored that yet.

[bobmark226]

I use Bank of America's online payment system as that's where my checking account is. I pay bills as soon as they arrive, and have a set time of day where I both check the account as well as my credit cards, for security's sake, and pay any bills that came in the mail. That is my check register.

Unlike MISSINDI, I don't let the other guy do withdrawals. I control all payments from the account and things like the mortgage, which will be gone in a week :D , I put on automatic monthly payment on my end.

How simple is that?

Bob
PS. Looks like Meg and I do pretty much the same thing, right down to the catalogs.

[Meganator]

See, I can't do the once a week or once a month thing, or I will forget or misplace or find something better to do...I use a combination of online banking and autopay. Autopay only for things that are basically the same every month, that I don't want to make sure I look over the bill to verify the charges. Pay with my online checking account for everything else.

For the items that aren't autopay, I come home from work, stand at the kitchen counter and look through the mail, turn on the computer and pay them IMMEDIATELY. Shred most of them. Start dinner. On the rare occasion that something requires an actual check (like when you have to return some form), I write the check and put the envelope with my purse to mail the next day (I don't keep stamps at home). This way, I not only pay everything on time, but I get rid of the little pile that I hate going through. Catalogs are another story :rolleyes: ...I do keep a stack of those to look at on car or plane trips.

[Meganator]

I use Bank of America's online payment system as that's where my checking account is. I pay bills as soon as they arrive, and have a set time of day where I both check the account as well as my credit cards, for secruity's sake, and pay any bills that came in the mail. That is my check register.

How simple is that?

Bob

I use Bank of America, too, and it is probaby similar to other online checking in that you can set the date when the payment will be made - so if you need to wait a week for the paycheck, or if you just don't want them to have your money any sooner than necessary, you can just schedule the payment on the date you want rather than immediately.

[MusicMom]

Quicken. I can manually enter the transactions, or download them directly from my bank account to Quicken. I do this at least twice a week. DH never writes checks and basically charges everthing, with the odd withdrawl for cash. We pay off our credit cards off by the end of the month, but I am able go see what he has charged prior to him telling my by looking online. If something is really odd, I will him to ask verify the purchase. Eventually I see his receipts though.

Same here. I download transactions at least once a week and that makes the monthly checking account reconciliation a breeze. (30 seconds instead of 30 minutes)

[Terri_A]

I just wanted to thank all of you for sharing your bill paying habits with me!!! I got some great ideas from you all and look forward to not paying bills late!!!

[momzoo]

I use Quicken for all of my money transactions. I can go on line and pay most of my bills. Also home utilities are automatically taken out of my bank account. Like cable, telephone, and electricity car and home insurance is taken out automatically. I have a tickler file which is 1 to 31 in my filing cabinet whenever I get a bill I look at the due date and put in it my file a couple of days before due date. Everydate I check my tickler file and go to the bank and check my bank accounts and pay whatever is due on line. I can also go see my credit cards on line too. Our accounting is always up to date.
So easy to see if there is something wrong in our accounts or credit cards. But be sure you are on a locked site for security reasons.