As functioning adults, one of our responsibilities is to organize our bills and pay them promptly. It might be house rent, car insurance, credit card bills, electricity and water, cable, internet and what seems like many, many others.

To avoid the feeling of overwhelm we’re going to look at 3 easy ways to keep these bills easily filed and accessible and most importantly paid on time.

3 Tips To Help You Organize Your Bills

1. Open And File Your Bills In One Central Place

Once you’ve scanned and read the amount you need to pay, put all your bills to be actioned in one central place.

For example:

• Any snail-mailed bills can be collected on a desk, in a folder on the fridge, or some designated place in your home. Write the due date outside the envelope before adding it to the pile (for quick reference).
• Any bills that you received via email, you can create a separate folder in your email inbox or a folder on your computer’s desktop simply called ‘Bills’ so that you won’t forget that you need to pay them.

2. Have Folders Or Trays To Bundle The Bills

You could also organize your bills this way.

• For paper bills, keep several folders or trays on your desk, wall or in a filing cabinet. Separate files and trays by bill type, due date or paid/unpaid. File paid bills elsewhere.
• For email bills, do the same folder system electronically – and separate each bill type with their own folder. Then create a sub folder for paid and unpaid bills.

Review the bills regularly. At the end of each quarter or every year, whichever you prefer, go through all your files and check if you need to throw away paid/settled bills from the previous means or the whole year. This will help you reduce your clutter and filling space and still have some space for recent and incoming new bill statements.

3. Pay Your Bills Before The Due Date To Avoid Late Fees

Schedule time in your calendar dedicated to settling your bills.

Bill scheduling will depend on the bill’s due date so plan which bills needs to be settled by this week and other bills that needs to be settled on a different schedule. Put the due dates or payment dates into a calendar, a planner or on a whiteboard.

You can set alarms or reminder notices on your mobile phone or computer, either on the day or a day before you need to settle your bill.

There are other ways of settling your bills, but any of these three are the most simple and easy to action straight away.

Whatever organizing method you choose, you will be able to keep on top of your bills, avoid any late payments and have less stress.