Take The Time To Get Organized
By Terry Rigg
It can be a real pain to find all of your bills and receipts
and organize them in a manner that makes it easy to pay your
bills on time and be able to find a receipt if you need it.
However, this is just as important as developing a budget or
setting your financial goals. If you don't have your finances
organized, eventually you will miss paying a bill or have to
pay a bill twice because you couldn't find the receipt.
There are many methods you can use to get your bills organized.
I recommend using the method in The Complete Budget and Bill
Organizer (linked at the bottom of this article) because it
combines your budget, bill paying and filing system into one
simple binder.
No matter how you do it, here are a few tips that may help:
Assign one person to take care of the bill paying and filing.
Keep all bills and payment books together and label it "Bills
To Be Paid".
Include the date paid and check number in your payment books
or on your copy of the bill
Do your filing immediately
Include account numbers on all checks
Make sure your spouse or other adults that may need to know,
understands your system.
Use the Monthly Bill Summary or similar form to list your
bills in the date order they need to be paid. This will prevent
you from missing a bill.
When you receive your bills, remove any unnecessary paperwork
Keep only the bill and the envelope you will use to mail it.
It is very important to review the bills when you receive them
to make sure it is accurate. If you find a discrepancy, call
the company immediately.
Most problems people experience paying their bills have
nothing to do with not having the money. Getting your
finances organized will make your life a lot easier.
You are welcome to use The Complete Budget and Bill Organizer
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/BBOonline.html absolutely free
for this to help you get your bills organized.
Terry Rigg is the author of Living Within Your Means - The Easy
Way
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ebookadpage.html and editor
of The FREE Budget Stretcher Newsletter and Budget Stretcher
web site
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com. He has 25 years of
experience counseling individuals and families concerning their
personal finances.
