How do you organize your bills?

Ok…I admit it; I have a problem. No, it’s not what you think, there is no 10 step program that will fix this. I have “mañana”. I’m not sure when I contracted it, but I have it bad. It has begun to interfere with my home life. The boss lives by the philosophy of “Why do tomorrow, what you can do today.” Well, my attitude is; “Why do today, what I can do tomorrow?” So as you can well imagine, this creates some strife.

But I digress.  Today’s topic is all about home organization.  How does your family handle its “fan mail” (the bills).  I normally put them in the kids’ rooms, hoping they’ll pay them.  But, I’ll be honest; that isn’t working out to well for me. Paying the bills is always a point of contention in my house; so the a little while back I stumbled upon this “Bill Binder,” which seems like such a simple idea – why hadn’t I thought of that?  It is pretty easy, and so far (knock on wood), it is beating our usual ways of doing business; and our stuff is actually arriving in a timely manner!

All you need for your bill binder is the following:

• Binder with pocket
• Dividers
• Calendar (I use it for planning the day to pay the bill)
• Pen/marker (I like a real thick RED one).
• Bills

This is how I have ours set up, feel free to use your own style…it’s not like its patented.  First, I put dividers in the binder, I initially left them unlabeled until I figured the best arrangement for our binder. I then put a calendar in front of the dividers, what can I say, I’m a visual guy. When the bills come in, I simply put them in the pocket, then when the money comes in; I pay them off and file them behind a binder. The most important part, and the part that calms my inner beast, is writing “PAID” on the bill as I file it.

Now, this may seem alot of work to some, and it may very well be; but it keeps my attention; which is a hard thing to do, as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now. It also prevents a couple of key issues.

1. I have all my bills when tax time comes; and they are super-easy to file.
2. That calendar ensures I pay the bill on time, provided my employer has seen fit to retain me.
3. I get a real sense of satisfaction when I write “PAID” across that bill.  I’ll be honest, I don’t write it in small ink, I have one of those super-sized red markers that I use!