Tips on Organizing Your Household Bills
Posted on October 3, 2018 by CHS
After coming home from a tiring day of work, managing your bills may be the last thing you want to do. You may decide to put the bills aside and end up forgetting about them for few weeks, and before you know it, your bills are late! As daunting as organizing your household bills can be, it’s something that needs to be done in a timely manner to avoid late fees or negative impacts to your credit score. Our blog will offer tips on how you can better organize your household bills to ease the stress in your life.
Create a Workstation
Rather than handling your bills in the living room, dining room, or your bedroom, designate a specific area as your workstation to handle your bills. With so many papers to sort through, it can be easy to lose something. Your workstation doesn’t have to be fancy; it can be a small table with materials for organizing in the corner of your living room, for example. According to an article from Chime, these materials can include file folders, hanging files, file dividers, a stapler, paper clips, paper, highlighters, and pens.
Organize Your Bills
Open your paper bills as soon as possible, preferably on the day you receive them. For many working parents, this may be difficult due to lack of time. You can also designate a specific day each week to look through your bills. Start off by creating a checklist at your workstation with all your monthly reoccurring bills. By using a checklist, you can review the bills you have paid and check to see if anything is missing. Mark the due dates and amount owed with a red pen, read through the bill, and highlights any concerns that need to be addressed. Tracking important payments will help you note any the important information you need to come back to later. Once all your bills are paid, file them for safekeeping in a filing system that best works for you. A few examples include a three ring binder with categorized dividers, an accordion file folder, or a filing box.
Electronic Bills
With most things online, making important payments has become more accessible. If you decide to manage your bills online, create a separate email address from your personal and work email addresses. It will be easier for you to keep track of your bill emails since they won’t be mixed with personal or work emails. Be sure to automate as many bills as possible to lower the risk of forgetting to pay your bills on time. Even when your bills are electronically automated, be sure to check your online statements for any discrepancies. You can also save paper and have less clutter at your workstation by receiving bills electronically. Once you have paid your online bills, you can take a screenshot of your payment screen and save it in a folder designated for your online bills. Be sure to print out a copy for safekeeping in your files.
Review Your Budget
Your spending can change each month based on the season and events that you may have planned. Adjust your budget each month for any additional spending you have planned for that month. For example, your electricity bill could also be higher in the summer months; adjust your budget for utility bills so that your spending is within your budget. If you’ve never managed a budget before, it’s a good time to start now and learn to keep track of where all your money is going. Learn more about budgeting and saving money by going to our blog, here.
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