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Love the Worn and Ugly (Saddles)
Posts: 1937
   
| Besides the auto pay bills, how do you keep track of what is due and when.
Do you keep a binder seperates by month and put bills in that as they come in? Do you pay as soon as they come in or wait until a week before and mail out? Do you file paid bills somewhere else by month or by type? I am hoping to be more organized in 2014. |
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 Dancing in my Mind
Posts: 3062
Location: Eastern OH but my heart is in WV | I am no help with the organization part but up until early this year, I refused to get on board with the auto pay thing. All the bills would get paid every month but I am not going to lie, not every thing was on time. A large part of that had to do with my lack of time and organization. However, I finally got on board with the auto pay and I have to say now "Why didn't I do it sooner!" It has made life so much easier and one less thing to worry about. I just watch the bank account and make sure every thing is covered. Would not want to go back to mailing in my payments. |
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 Works Hard For The Money
Posts: 4469
Location: Memphis, TN | 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. |
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 GRD's Fan Club Advisior
Posts: 6750
Location: Lost in Texas | I have a app on my phone plus a huge calendar that hangs in the kitchen that shows what is due and when. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 816
| 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.
Edited by JRC 2013-11-11 9:10 AM
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 Dr. Ebay
Posts: 8507
Location: Land Of Oz | I am on a mac at work and I use the iCal. I enter the bill due date and choose for it to repeat monthly. As I pay the bills, I delete each off of the calendar for that one only (it asks). I sync with iCloud, so it's on my phone calendar also. If I add something on my phone it shows up on my computer calendar and vice versa. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 667
| I plan out every month old fashion.... pen and paper... I write down the usual bills that I have every month.. rent..phone..electric..cable...insurance..water ect.. I have set dates on those.. most are set up on auto pay. Then I have another column for bills that I didnt expect, but know that I have.. I put checks that I wrote in this area too. I check my account daily and hight light off my list as each bill goes through.. That way when I check my account I know the balance is less the highlighted bills... works for me this way. |
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 Popped
Posts: 20421
Location: LuluLand~along I64 Indiana | my auto pay is with my bank. i enter each bill as it comes in (or when i sit down with a stack) and enter it to be paid on its due date. other misc bills i will fit in in a pay period that has extra cash left over. if i run short a week i will change a due date to accomodate the shortage that week.
I like doing it thru the bank vs thru setting it up with each biller. i have more direct control on when they are pulled from my account and i dont like having entered my banking info into each of the billers data bases. this way they get their checks on time and i dont have the hassle of worring about entering the info on more than one site or keeping track in two places. |
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 Porta Potty Pants
Posts: 2600
| I haven't quite moved to the auto pay … on everything. Some things require it. I created a table or chart that lists all my monthly bills .. mortgage, insurance, etc … in one column, the date paid, amount paid, any confirmation code from on-line pay any notes to myself (i.e. due dates, balances, etc). I also have space for extras … HOA (that occur quarterly), taxes, etc … I print off 12 sheets - one for each month. Since I work at home, I pay bills once a month … everything. When I was paid bi weekly, I would alternate … one paycheck the mortgage and the other the smaller bills … I also pay it whether its due or not. I also round up bills, such as a car payment. If a bill is 280, I try to round up to 300 and budget that way. You eventually end up ahead and that has saved me a time or two.
I need to get better and more organized, however, this has worked for me in the past. It also makes me feel a little more "in control" if I write it down. With the auto pay stuff, I forget its coming out sometimes. Plus, actually having to sit down and pay makes me pay attention to what I spend. If I auto paid everything, I probably would be in major broke status! |
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 World 4D Champ
Posts: 28264
Location: PA | 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. |
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 The Bird Lady
Posts: 6440
Location: The end of the Earth, SE AR | We get paid every two weeks. I have my bills grouped into "pay by the 5th and pay by the 20th. I sit down twice a month and pay bills. If I can pay online, I do, but I don't do auto-pay. I have a basket that sits just above my pc monitor and I have the bills in there and write on the envelope the due date if its something that needs to be paid on a specific day without penalties, such as credit card bill. That way everytime I sit down at the computer I glance up and see the bills due date!
My system is not the best because if bill doens't get to me cause it gets lost in the mail, I forget to pay it.
I also enter everything into MS Money.
I wish magic fairy would take over bill paying as well as put an extra $10k in my checking account every month. See, I don't ask for much.
Edited by rollingrfarm 2013-11-11 9:46 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 963
Location: Deep in the heart of Texas. | I use a bullitin board by my front door beings we never have company and i hang the water and light bill there and a note to remind me to make the house payment. and we both save 80 dollars for gas. Every year we pay our Car insurance out for the whole year so we don't have to make a payment each month. and if there is any money left over i get like 20 bucks a month and so doesn't hubby. once they are payed i wright payed on the bill and i also wright the date i payed it.
Edited by txkrystal 2013-11-11 4:59 PM
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Veteran
Posts: 232
| I just pay them as I get them weekly. Then I don't have to worry about them. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 733
| This is what I do because I am horrible at remembering stuff. I have a "bill" account, a separate checking account that I put x amount of dollars in every month (or when ever depending on when you get paid) I am self employed so on the first of every month I put the money in their. I then have online bill pay through my bank, it will mail checks out for you so I have all my monthly bills set up through that. Its nice because even if the company doesn't have auto-pay this just mails them a check. I have most of them set up on auto-pay but for other bills that the amount varies I just get on my computer, log into online banking, put in the amount, and set the date it needs to paid, for some reason that is just easier than physically mailing a check. For other bills that are not monthly I make sure I pay them right when I get them other wise I will forget. I have found since I started using a bill account my life got alot less stressful, I am not constantly worrying about how much money I will have left after I pay my bills and everything. I just sat down did a budget of my monthly bills the my gas and grocery money (I get that out in cash). I put the amount needed to pay my bills in my bill account, a set amount goes in my "rodeo" account, a set amount in my savings account and the extra goes in my money market account.
Edited by Rope-N-Run 2013-11-11 5:39 PM
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Veteran
Posts: 172
| TNcowgirl88 - 2013-11-11 10:10 AM
I plan out every month old fashion.... pen and paper... I write down the usual bills that I have every month.. rent..phone..electric..cable...insurance..water ect.. I have set dates on those.. most are set up on auto pay. Then I have another column for bills that I didnt expect, but know that I have.. I put checks that I wrote in this area too. I check my account daily and hight light off my list as each bill goes through.. That way when I check my account I know the balance is less the highlighted bills... works for me this way.
this is exactly what I do! |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | I have reminders on my iPad calendar. I already have a good idea of what bills get paid with what paycheck, so When I get paid, I pay all my bills at once, that way they are never late. The only time I will write a check is if there's a convenience charge to pay online (school tuition) and if the timing won't be right....like if I don't have the full amount due, but will by the time they deposit the check and it clears with the bank. I do that with my student loan at the end of the month....sometimes I can't decide which paycheck will cover that one.
i don't like doing automatic payments because my paycheck amount varies, plus I like to pay more than the minimum on my cards and it all depends on the current balance. |
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Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | recarlerrab - 2013-11-11 4:56 PM TNcowgirl88 - 2013-11-11 10:10 AM I plan out every month old fashion.... pen and paper... I write down the usual bills that I have every month.. rent..phone..electric..cable...insurance..water ect.. I have set dates on those.. most are set up on auto pay. Then I have another column for bills that I didnt expect, but know that I have.. I put checks that I wrote in this area too. I check my account daily and hight light off my list as each bill goes through.. That way when I check my account I know the balance is less the highlighted bills... works for me this way. this is exactly what I do!
Big ditto. I balance my checkbook as well. |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | Online bill pay thru my bank.
Easy to see exactly what the monthly bills are, and schedule when to send them.
That way there is always an easy record going back as far as I need to track something. |
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10D Crack Champion
| 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 |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 963
Location: Deep in the heart of Texas. | 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
My husband gets payed once a month. We pay our house payment first then food , water , lights and gas for the car and truck then if anything is left we may have some spending money. |
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