Our last newsletter shared information on how you can avoid paying late fees.
The simple trick? Stay organized!
Think organizing your bills is too difficult? We have an easy-to-implement four step process to getting your bills organized.
4 Easiest Steps to Organizing Your Bills
- Step 1: Create a Bill Paying Station
Find a place to store all of your statements and important documents. This could be a box, folder, corner of a desk, or place on a bookshelf. It’s not important what your station looks like. It’s only important that it is used only for bills. - Step 2: Organize Your Bills
Make a list of all of your monthly, yearly, and other regular bills. Write out the name of the bill and the usual due date. Add columns to indicate when they have been paid. Microsoft offers a free template to get you started. Keep paid and unpaid bills separate. Create a To-Be-Paid file, and a Paid File for your bills. All unpaid bills should be stored in their own accessible folder so that they can be quickly evaluated. Once paid, they can be filed away. - Step 3: Establish a Routine
Schedule time once a week to review unpaid bills and to monitor bank accounts and credit cards. Once a routine is established, it should be sufficient to do this once every other week. Make bill paying a regular, non-negotiable task. - Step 4: Stick to the Routine
Bill paying is not fun. It is sometimes overwhelming, and it can be very stressful. Nothing is gained, though, by avoiding it. Stick to the routine—show up for those scheduled appointment to pay bills. Attacking it regularly and in small chunks makes an overwhelming job very manageable.
You can implement these four easy steps by the end of this week!
If bill paying and keeping your financial house in order seems too overwhelming, it may be time to call a professional. This is where Daily Money Managers come in.
A Daily Money Manager is a professional who helps people with their personal household finances. We are different from bookkeepers and accountants. We can help with the day-to-day organizational help that many can no longer help. Our organizational help can include sorting and responding to mail, setting up a filing system, discarding unnecessary paperwork, paying bills, and gathering information for the client’s tax preparer or attorney.
The Daily Money Managers at Senior Partners focus on older adults in the Metro Atlanta area. To schedule a free consultation, click here or call us at (678) 278-8410.
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