Organizing bills doesn’t have to be complicated. Just pick a system that will help you pay your bills on time!
Handling the monthly bills may not be one of your favorite tasks but it is something that everyone has to go through because it is an important one.
Your bills come at different times and if you do not have a designated spot to place them, these papers can often get mixed up with junk mail and you may forget about them.
Actually, it’s not just about having a designated place to put the bills. You must also have a system in place to make sure that you get to pay your bills on time.
Without an organized system, you might miss some payments. This could result in penalties and higher interest rates.
Worse, it could terminate important services like power and water. Also, do not forget that late payments can ruin your credit score.
Of course we don’t want that!
So here are some tips on organizing bills so you can pay on time every month!
1. Organizing bills using payout envelopes
Most of us get paid twice a month. You can follow this timing to organize your bills.
Let’s say you get paid every 15th and 30th of the month. Get one envelope marked as 15th and another one as 30th.
As you get your bills, check on which payout their due dates fall. Then, place the bill on the designated envelope.
For example, the due date for your Internet bill is on the 10th. So, this will fall on your 30th payout. Meaning you will pay it with the money that you receive on the 30th. Therefore, the bill will be placed on the envelope labeled as 30th.
Once you receive your payout, check the envelope for that and see what you have to pay.
This is a very simple process in organizing bills that will not stress you out!
2. Organizing bills with a calendar page
Another way to keep track of your bills and their due dates is to print out blank calendar pages. You will find a lot of templates online and some of them even have designs.
Now write the month and fill out the days and dates.
When you receive a bill, spot the due date on the calendar and write it down.
For instance, the due date for your power bill is on the 1st.
Go to the block under the 1st and write down “power”. Then, when you have already paid the bill, use a highlighter to highlight it so you can easily spot if there is still an unsettled bill for the month.
You can place this print out on a bulletin board in your home office, bedroom wall, and even in your closet door. Just make sure it is in a spot where you can see it every day so you do not miss out on a due date.
Have a designated envelope to place all the bills for the month and pin it next to the calendar page so you can easily get access to the bills that you need to pay.
3. Organizing bills in your planner/journal
This works just like the Calendar Page method above, only you do it in a smaller medium.
You can get a planner and use the monthly pages to keep track of your bills.
I believe it is easier to use the monthly pages because you get to see everything at once compared to using the daily or weekly pages where you have to browse through a couple pages to see if you settled everything.
Now just like the Calendar Page method, you should highlight the entry if you have already paid the bill so you can easily spot the bills that have not been paid yet. If you don’t like highlighting, well, just write “paid” beside the bill.
Another option is buy a blank journal and draw your own calendar page in it. If you’re using a bullet journal, you know exactly what I mean. You can also add colors or draw doodles to make it fun!
Using your own journal, creating a bill tracker from scratch gives you more control on how you want your page to be. You can even add some notes if that will further help you manage your bills.
Take a look at these financial trackers. You might want to copy the bill trackers here. Plus there are other layouts you can make to manage not just your bills, but your financial life as a whole!
Stick an envelope behind the cover page to insert the bills to be paid for easier access. After paying the bills, you can store the receipts somewhere else.
4. Like a checklist or to-do list
You simply list down all the bills that you have to pay for the month and write the due date beside each bill. Once settled, check it off!
Another suggestion is to write down 1 to 31 on a page representing the dates. Then, as the bills come in, list down the bill that has to be paid on their due dates. It’s like the Calendar method only in list form. Once you are done paying, just tick off or highlight the line!
Just like with the other methods, keep an envelope of your bills near your list so that you can easily access them when it is time to make a payment.
5. Organizing bills using a bin or basket
This is a very simple process.
Every time you bring in the mail, place your bills in a designated place. It can be a bin or a basket – or can even be a folder, a binder, or anything you have in mind.
Let everyone in the house know that this is where the bills go.
Take the time to check the bill bin every week and sort these bills’ due date – the ones that need to be paid first stay on top of the pile.
Upon settling a bill, file away the receipt for future reference.
6. Paid and Unpaid
Another simple process that you can follow is to have two containers for your bills.
One for those that you have to pay and the other for those that have been settled.
It can be two folders or envelopes or anything you can think of that can hold your bills. Mark one as paid and the other as unpaid.
This way, you can access easily the bills that you have to pay and you have a designated place to keep the receipts of the paid bills.
Make sure to check the unpaid folder or envelope at least once a week to make sure that you do not miss out on any payments.
7. Wallet + phone combo
You carry your phone and wallet with you all the time and you can use these as part of your bill-paying system too!
Dedicate a section in your wallet for your bills so you have it with you all the time. If you do not have space, you can carry card wallets for your bills.
Then, every time you get a bill, take note of the due date, set an alarm on your calendar one or two days before to remind you that a bill is due.
Set the time in the mornings when you are preparing to go out. This way, you will be easily reminded of your obligation to settle your bills.
8. Electronic bills
If you are getting bills through email, you have the option to print them out and sort them along with your paper bills.
Printing them means you get to organize them along with your paper bills and allows you to maintain just one organizing system.
If everything is online, you can simply create folders on your computer and send a screenshot or save attachments of every bill there. Then you can organize the bills in the computer.
9. Stick it to the fridge
This is how we do it with our bills. When we receive a bill, I stick it to the fridge.
I’ve learned that this is the way we won’t forget the bills – when we see it. If we don’t see it we might forget it. So it has to be where we can always see it.
We open the fridge many times each day, so no reason for us to forget. Simple!
I then file the receipts in an envelope. I maintain one small envelope per bill, so it’s really easy when we need to go back to our previous payments to settle some disputes.
Keep it simple!
As you can see, you do not need fancy supplies or spreadsheets to stay on top of your bills.
Pick any of these simple methods and see how much more organized your life will become when it comes to paying your bills.
Remember, you must hold on to the receipts or proof of payments for at least a year for reference. Technical glitches can happen or there may be some discrepancies in your billing statement and you can correct that easily when you have your receipts from the past months.
When you need to dispose of old bills, make sure to shred those that have personal information on it instead of throwing them directly to the trash.
If you do not have a shredder, you can tear them with your hands before disposing them to the trash bin. This is necessary because someone might get access to your old bills and he can use your personal information without your permission. Of course we don’t want that!
So that’s it! Again, when organizing bills, remember to keep it simple – no need for fancy solutions. Just make sure it helps you pay the bills on time!
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