barrelracin85 - 2013-11-11 8:55 AM Do you have an iPhone? I use an app called BillTracker. I just use the lite/free version. I set up an account for each bill and for the ones that fluctuate each month I will enter my amount due as soon as I receive the bill. We get paid every two weeks so what I do is a month ahead I total up the bills due within each pay period and budget each paycheck. I take out tithe, bills, and then what we average for gas in a two week period and a trip to the grocery store. I buy groceries to last 2-3 weeks. Past that is what we know we will have for "play money". We have it set so that a certain amount comes out of each pay check automatically and goes straight to savings. When I budget the paycheck I budget off of what the total is after savings come out. We usually buy our dog food and horse feed once a month. Diapers every two weeks. Walmart items like paper products and cleaning items once a month. The idea is not to be buying smaller items every single week. I still file our paper bills just as a second check thing. We bought a simple file holder from Walmart and made a file for each account. I stack each bill in order due on top and after I've paid a bill I put it into its file for record. I know what is still on top is what is still due. I try to pay online or by phone as much as possible. Specifically if there is not an extra fee to do so. With our water bill they charge a small fee but I pay it because it's cheaper than driving into town to pay it in person. I only mail off doctor bills, lawyer bills, or bills that aren't a routine/monthly occurrence. It will take some time to get it where you want. We had to stop "playing" for a while until we got ours straight and on schedule.

BRcwgrl81 - 2013-11-11 9:22 AM I have a two part system.  



I keep an excel spreadsheet.  One the first tab is the budget, the second tab is my receipt tracker for the month, and the third is all the bills I pay a month.  On the Bills tab I have all the bills in order of when they are due down the one side, and across the top is the month.  After I pay a bill, I put PD in the month/bill slot. 



The second part to my systen, is paper/pen.  For the month, I write down each paycheck day, and the bills I will pay out of that paycheck, and then as the month goes on, any bills that pop up, i'll go to that page, and add it in.



I used to be really bad with budgeting and keeping track of expenses...its way to easy to spend spend spend when you don't keep track.  Been doing this for almost 2 years, and I won't do anything else.  It works for me.

sodapop - 2013-11-11 7:17 PM  Good thread. Anyone get paid once a month? If so, do you split your bills over the month? Do you pay them all at once? ....and then just eat feathers the rest of the month. LOL

JRC - 2013-11-11 8:06 AM pay as soon as they arrive in the mail. Most get sent out the next day. I only keep a copy of the bill until the check clears the bank and then shred them. No need to hold on to all the paper unless it can be written off on taxes. If it can be wrote off then I will file it under that GL account. Vehicle maintenance, fuel, vet bills, copy of checks from jackpots, rodeo, etc, for proof of income.