Welcome to Mission #3 of our 52 Organizing Missions.
If you’ve completed the previous two missions Get Organized Mission #1: Fill a Hu-u-uge Trash Bag and Get Organized Mission #2: Detox Your Briefcase/Tote/Bag, congratulations!
Keep up the momentum with this week’s task, which helps you get your finances sorted.
This is one of those high-payoff projects. It takes only a little time to set up yet saves time, bother and possibly penalty charges later on.
Disclaimer: This post is designed to provide organizing help, not financial advice. Please be proactive and decide whether you should talk to a financial professional.
Remember – you only have to spend 30 minutes to complete the basic mission. If you want to go further check out the Extended Organizing Mission Options below.
Ready?
Get Organized Mission #3: Organize Your Bill Payment
Step 1: Gather copies of all your regular bills
Your regular bills might include:
- Mortgage/rent
- Utilities
- Internet
- Cell phone
- Landline
- Car loan payments
- Credit card payments
- School fees
- Subscriptions.
Step 2: Set up automatic bill payment where available
Many of your regular bills may be automatically payable each month from your back account or credit card. Check for details on the back of your bill or look up your account online.
You can generally set up automatic payment by phone, online, or by using an ancient type of admin called ‘a form’. (Don’t fight it – whatever effort you make now will be worth the saved time, money and hassle.)
It goes without saying that you need to be able to cover these bills from your credit card or bank account. But I’ve said it anyway.
Step 3: Set up internet banking or phone banking
Ideally, all your bills will be automatically payable. If so, your organizing mission is complete and you can spend any remaining time tidying your financial papers.
For any bills that aren’t automatically payable, set up internet banking or phone banking to pay these bills at your convenience. Phone, visit or get online to set up your accounts.
Ongoing
When a bill arrives, check whether it will be autopaid. The bill will say something like: ‘Payment of $287 will be made by autopayment from your credit card on 28 November 2009. Please ensure funds are available on this date.’
If it’s a pesky one that can’t be autopaid, diarize the due date. If you use something like Outlook you can set a reminder, too. And on the due date, pay it.
Alternatively, if you have several bills that aren’t able to be autopaid, you might prefer to save time and batch the tasks by paying them all at once, online or by phone – but before the earliest due date.
Dos & Don’ts
- Don’t procrastinate on organizing your bill payment. These 30 minutes of personal organization will save you time – and possibly money – every single month.
- Do keep any passwords for phone or internet banking safe and secure. Be organized and smart!
Extended Organizing Mission Options
Want to go beyond this 30-minute organizing mission?
- Since credit card payments are at the higher end of interest charges, pay them off in full in each month if you can.
- If you have high-school-age kids, this is an excellent mission to complete with them. Teach them valuable financial and organizing skills all in one go.
- If you have ancient bills and receipts you no longer need for tax or accounting reasons, consider shredding them now.
Ready, Set, Go!
Remember – move quickly, act fast, don’t overthink.
Before You Go – Please Check In
You’re now accountable to your organizing mission-mates! Once you’ve completed this week’s Get Organized Mission please add a comment to let us know you’ve done your assignment and you’re keeping your commitment.
(Click ‘Comment’ at the very top of this post or scroll down to the bottom. Depending on how you’re viewing this post, one of those options will be available for you.)
And see you back here next week!
Update
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I’ve been doing this fo quite some time. I spend 10 minutes (my morning break) at work every 2 weeks to pay myself and my bills. It’s amazing how little mail I get now. And the best thing is I stay ahead of everything and miss nothing. Budgeting became a breeze.
Done….decided to use the MS Money that I had bought at least 11/2 years ago. Looked at it several times and this just gave me a push to set it up and use.
This was something I have done for sometime. It is so great to not worry about when most of my bills are due. The only bills I have to keep track of are the yard service (only check I write!), car payment, credit card bill and mortgage payment (which I get reminders for and pay online). Everything else is billed to the credit card or debited from bank. I know people think using a credit card for everything can get you in trouble debtwise but as long as I budget and pay it off every month which I do Im ok plus I get points for free hotel stays. Looking forward to next mission.
Mission three – done. Redid my budget – and organised a monthly bill paying system and storage for receipts.
Got it done just today and ready for the next project.
Had been putting this off for a while but now All done. A huge relief
done
Easy one for me to. I’ve gotten rid almost all of my paper bills. Now if could get my husband to do the same!
This was an easy one for me… I have been paying bills by auto withdrawal for years. I have forgotten what the inside of my banking establishment looks like.
Done
I have this one under control after almost 40 years of bill paying and money managing in our home. Just needed a little tidying up and tossing a few things, but most is under control. On to number 4.
On to #4
Not much to do for this task. Bill payments are one area that I am actually on top of. Looking forward to the next task.
WHEW what a task..Thank you I had no idea I was so out of control
finished this one finally. Scary, also started oprah’s debt diet to go with it!
done!
Done. My bank offers bill pay so I can control paying bills one on one or at automatic intervals. Makes my life much easier. I just have to be good about shredding paid bills when they don’t need to be kept. I throw all receipts in a basket and sort them by month. They go into a spreadsheet that cuts down time at tax time.
@Cheryl,
A lot of people struggle with this mission (see above).
You’ll feel fabulous when it’s done.
Please persevere!
M 🙂
Done. Was not super fun. But it needed to be done. I bet I will be happy about it later. Thanks.
This one was pretty easy because my husband pays all of the bills, but I did make some adjustments for myself and I think it will work out great.
I have been working on my tithing, charitable giving and savings. It was a daunting thought, but I got the perfect solution. I have a separate bank account from me and my husbands joint account. I went to payroll to have them deposit a portion of my check to the joint account and a portion to the “Makes you feel good” acount. It’s great. the money is already set aside for my tithing, I have an automatic deduction coming from this account to my savings every month, and because of that, I do not have to limit the money that I give to charity already. The check card on this account is a Susan B. Komen check card so the change is rounded up to the next dollar. The extra change automatically goes to support breast cancer. One of my favorite causes.
I really enjoyed doing this mission
Lydia