Organize your bills and keep them paid on time...

It is very easy to get overwhelmed by monthly bills.  I have finally figured out a way to keep myself organized and my bills paid on time.

This is my best friend when it comes to bill paying.  It has tabs for every day of the month.  I got mine at Staples a few years ago.

  You can see it gets used a lot.

This is how it works for me.  You take your unpaid bills and look at the "pay by" date.

Count back 7 days and place the bill in the tab corresponding to that day.  In this case, it would go in the 19 tab.

Now...every Monday (or whatever day you choose), sit down with your best friend and go through the next 7 days' worth of tabs.  Pay your bills in your normal manner.  Even if you write checks, this is plenty of time to get them sent in.  I happen to pay 99% of my bills online through my bank.  If gives me a list of payees and the date of the last payment.  I use this list to double-check against my tabbed book to make sure all recurring bills are accounted for.

I hope you find this helpful.  Feel free to comment to let me know how I'm doing with these helpful tips!

Oops...forgot to tell you.  It's also a great idea to get an accounting program for your computer like Microsoft Money.  Keep your transactions up to date.  This will be helpful when it comes time for tax season.