Taking Control of Your Bills

With all that life throws at us it’s easy to get sidetracked and forget to pay a bill every once in a while. With a little organization however, the days of late fees will soon be over. Read on to find out how you can de-clutter your desk, get organized and take control of those pesky monthly bills once and for all.

Split the bills.

Married? Living with a roommate? Stop the confusion once and for all, decide who will take care of what bills, or assign the task of paying the bills to just one person. When your bills arrive in the mail each month, mark the date that each is due on a calendar or planner. Make sure to check your calendar as regularly as possible, or set up alerts on your mobile phone to remind you when it’s time to make a payment.  

Set aside one day a month to make all of your payments. If you do this earlier in the month you’ll be able to see how much money you’ll have left for the remainder of the month and budget accordingly.

Organize and Consolidate.

Having all of your payments due at the same time will make it easier for you to keep track of what’s been paid. Call up your credit card or utility companies to see if you can suggest a new due date so that the majority of your payments will be due at the same time.

If most of your bills come in paper form, consider purchasing a file folder where you can keep all of your bills in one place. Make sure to create a folder for bills that have been paid and those that are still pending. Or, if paper just isn’t your thing and you’ve opted for electronic bills, opt to have them emailed to you and create folders for paid and pending payments within your email.

Limit the amount of bulls you receive.

If your wallet is loaded with credit cards, consider consolidating your cards on one credit card. Choose the one with the lowest interest rate. Doing so will limit the amount of bill statements you receive each month.

Make them automatic.

Take advantage of automatic payment options. Many times your lender will give you the option to set up automatic payments. Doing so will limit the amount of bills you have to worry about as well as help you kiss late fees goodbye. Make certain to set up reminders a few days before these payments come out of your account however so that you can make certain there are enough funds in your account to cover the withdrawal.

Like everything else, getting used to this new routine will take some practice. Stick with your payment schedule and before you know it, it’ll become second nature.