Organize Your Bills and Receipts

It can be a real pain to find all of your bills and receipts and organize them in a manner that makes it easy to pay your bills on time and be able to find a receipt if you need it. However, this is just as important as developing a budget or setting your financial goals. If you don't have your finances organized, eventually you will miss paying a bill or have to pay a bill twice because you couldn't find the receipt.

There are many methods you can use to get your bills organized. I recommend using the method in The Complete Budget and Bill Organizer (linked at the bottom of this article) because it combines your budget, bill paying and filing system into one simple binder.

• No matter how you do it, here are a few tips that may help:
• Assign one person to take care of the bill paying and filing.
• Keep all bills and payment books together and label it "Bills To Be Paid".
• Include the date paid and check number in your payment books or on your copy of the bill
• Do your filing immediately
• Include account numbers on all checks
• Make sure your spouse or other adults that may need to know, understands your system.
• Use the Monthly Bill Summary or similar form to list your bills in the date order they need to be paid. This will prevent you from missing a bill.
• When you receive your bills, remove any unnecessary paperwork. Keep only the bill and the envelope you will use to mail it.
• It is very important to review the bills when you receive them to make sure it is accurate. If you find a discrepancy, call the company immediately.

Most problems people experience paying their bills have nothing to do with not having the money. Getting your finances organized will make your life a lot easier.

You are welcome to use The Complete Budget and Bill Organizer http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/BBOonline.html absolutely free for this to help you get your bills organized.

Terry Rigg is the author of Living Within Your Means - The Easy Way http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ebookadpage.html and editor of The FREE Budget Stretcher Newsletter and Budget Stretcher web site http://www.homemoneyhelp.com. He has 25 years of experience counseling individuals and families concerning their personal finances.