8
May

Now Available: Interactive workbooks to accompany the 52 Organizing Missions program.
Each workbook contains 13 printable missions - with fully interactive planning worksheet, to-do list and success journal for every mission. Find out more.

UPDATE: You can now get your weekly organizing mission delivered free to your inbox. Click here to sign up for 52 Organizing Missions.

imageWelcome to the third of our 52 Organizing Missions.

If you’ve completed the previous two missions (Get Organized Mission #1: Fill a Hu-u-uge Trash Bag and Get Organized Mission #2: Detox Your Briefcase/Tote/Bag), congratulations!

Keep up the momentum with this week’s task, which helps you get your finances sorted.

This is one of those high-payoff projects. It takes only a little time to set up yet saves time, bother and possibly penalty charges later on.

Disclaimer: This post is designed to provide organizing help, not financial advice. Please be proactive and decide whether you should talk to a financial professional.

Remember – you only have to spend 30 minutes to complete the basic mission. If you want to go further check out the Extended Organizing Mission Options below.

Ready?

Get Organized Mission #3: Organize Your Bill Payment

Step 1: Gather copies of all your regular bills

Your regular bills might include:

  • Mortgage/rent
  • Utilities
  • Internet
  • Cell phone
  • Landline
  • Car loan payments
  • Credit card payments
  • School fees
  • Subscriptions.

Step 2: Set up automatic bill payment where available

Many of your regular bills may be automatically payable each month from your back account or credit card. Check for details on the back of your bill or look up your account online.

You can generally set up automatic payment by phone, online, or by using an ancient type of admin called ‘a form’. (Don’t fight it – whatever effort you make now will be worth the saved time, money and hassle.)

It goes without saying that you need to be able to cover these bills from your credit card or bank account. But I’ve said it anyway.

Step 3: Set up internet banking or phone banking

Ideally, all your bills will be automatically payable. If so, your organizing mission is complete and you can spend any remaining time tidying your financial papers.

For any bills that aren’t automatically payable, set up internet banking or phone banking to pay these bills at your convenience. Phone, visit or get online to set up your accounts.

Ongoing

When a bill arrives, check whether it will be autopaid. The bill will say something like: ‘Payment of $287 will be made by autopayment from your credit card on 28 November 2009. Please ensure funds are available on this date.’

If it’s a pesky one that can’t be autopaid, diarize the due date. If you use something like Outlook you can set a reminder, too. And on the due date, pay it.

Alternatively, if you have several bills that aren’t able to be autopaid, you might prefer to save time and batch the tasks by paying them all at once, online or by phone – but before the earliest due date.

Dos & Don’ts

  • Don’t procrastinate on organizing your bill payment. These 30 minutes of personal organization will save you time – and possibly money – every single month.
  • Do keep any passwords for phone or internet banking safe and secure. Be organized and smart!

Extended Organizing Mission Options

Want to go beyond this 30-minute organizing mission?

  • Since credit card payments are at the higher end of interest charges, pay them off in full in each month if you can.
  • If you have high-school-age kids, this is an excellent mission to complete with them. Teach them valuable financial and organizing skills all in one go.
  • If you have ancient bills and receipts you no longer need for tax or accounting reasons, consider shredding them now.

Ready, Set, Go!

Remember – move quickly, act fast, don’t overthink.

Before You Go – Please Check In

You’re now accountable to your organizing mission-mates! Once you’ve completed this week’s Get Organized Mission please add a comment to let us know you’ve done your assignment and you’re keeping your commitment.
(Click ‘Comment’ at the very top of this post or scroll down to the bottom. Depending on how you’re viewing this post, one of those options will be available for you.)

And see you back here next week!

UPDATE:

You can now get your weekly organizing mission delivered free to your inbox. Click here to sign up for 52 Organizing Missions.

Image by *_Abhi_*

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Related posts:

  1. Organizing Your Finances: Get Organized to Pay Bills on Time
  2. Get Organized Mission #12: Organize Your Accounts & Credit Cards
  3. Get Organized Mission #14: Organize Your Household Notebook

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Category : 52 Organizing Missions / Money & Finance

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Comments

Ann Rusnak May 8, 2009

@MicheleConnolly nice tips on cutting down time on paying your bills. Organize Your Bill Payment http://ow.ly/5V6J

carol giambri May 13, 2009

I got domains, but not sure which one will be developed first so leaving no url here.

Just discovered you and read the bill payment one. Working for me still is either online monthly or call in to payment lines for each bill. I’m not ready to switch as it takes only a very short amount of time. Not enough to bother with.

I hope I will see some on email explosion organization or did I miss it? Oh, what about getting those attachments or being on teleseminars and get tons of downloads? Printing them all off or saving them.

It would be nice to go into your organized brain. It sounds like you love organizing as much as I love health/wellness and excellent customer service. Two area I’m exploring to develop. Which one first is question that remains unsolved. Thanks for sharing.

Michele Connolly May 14, 2009

Hi Carol,

You can find email explosion organization ideas …

In these posts:

- Organizing Technology: The ONLY 4 Things You Should do with New Email
Organizing Technology: How to never, ever check your email again

In this article:

How to Slay the Post-Holiday Inbox Dragon

Or in this e-book ($19):

Inbox Zen | 7 Simple Steps For Making Peace With Your Email

The section on ‘How to slim your inbox by going on an information diet’ in Inbox Zen addresses what you can do with all that free stuff you get online.

Ciao for now,
Michele

Tracey May 29, 2009

Got there in the end – sorted my filing out – don’t think I’ve done it for a year!
I’m good at paying things but then throw it in a drawer instead of filing – so mission well accomplished!

Amy June 2, 2009

I went and bought an accordian folder and sorted bills by month and by date due. Once I did that I continued onto my file cabinet. What a mess! Some things are better left untouched. Im still working on the cabinet. Ebill has been signed up for and also mobile billing! So much better than paper trails. Bring on the next task. Mission accomplished!

52 Missions June 8, 2009

RT @micheleconnolly Get Organized Mission #3: Organize Your Bill Payment | Get Organized Wizard http://tinyurl.com/q3w3bl

Donna June 22, 2009

My bills are already paid on line, I’ve got online banking! The only thing left is the shredding and getting rid off papers. No shredder so I may have a little bonfire outside tonight@

Minima July 15, 2009

I’m happy to get this one out of the way. Dealt with the bills that are solely my responsibility and I’ve pruned my filing to the current year other than tax matters.

Ticking the missions off one by one and will hopefully get up to date by the end of this home vacation! It’s a good feeling.

mta July 19, 2009

Done, done and done (it helps that I had online banking before)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Belinda July 20, 2009

Mission #2 was completed so I jumped straight into #3. Most were already organised, just needed some fine tuning.

Anita July 20, 2009

Mission 1, 2, and 3 are complete. On to the next ones…..Bring it!

Nicki July 21, 2009

Okay this was an easy one for me as we have always had all our bills direct debit and most are paperless, so it feels cheating to say i’ve done it!

tammy July 23, 2009

I have done it!!. IN fact, I got so organized, I am caught up even on payments until September. OOhhhhhh I feel good.
Thank you

Brenda July 26, 2009

This is one area that I do keep organized so this task was a cinch. Thanks though. I am looking forward to the next challenge.

Sarah July 27, 2009

There was nothing much I could do for this one. I have my bill payments set up exactly how I want them. And I’m up to date with my budget and all that.

Deb July 27, 2009

This turned into a difficult task with one bill. I found that someone had set up a username and password on my account that was not me. I had to contact the company and have their assistance in resetting the username and password. Other than that, this was a great thing to do. I set up every thing from credit cards to the gas bill. I can now pay all of these online when or before they are due.

Annie July 27, 2009

Done!

Michele Connolly July 28, 2009

Hey Deb,

Sounds like a good thing that you uncovered that phony username on your account!

This mission is a bit pesky, but worth the short-term hassle.

M :-)

Michele Connolly July 28, 2009

Hi everyone,

Like I said to Deb, I realize this is a pesky mission.

Thanks for persevering, though. The short-term bother will be long-forgotten, but the peace of mind and convenience will make life easier for years to come.

That’s what I call a good use of time!

M :-)

geraldine August 3, 2009

This one was easy as already do just finesses a couple of things

Thanks
Still having probs with no. 1

Sally Anne March August 4, 2009

At last an easy task – we did this years ago; all payments (including weekly food shopping) are automated from one bill paying account into which we (husband and self) both pay monthly sums. I just keep an eye on monthly balance to work out if spending is needing cutting back or monthly payments need to be up-dated.

Barbara in GA August 4, 2009

Hi, Sally!

Same here. Being out of work for several months a few years back really made us get efficient. I’m a huge fan of our bank’s online bill-paying system, and use it for all our bills. Any bills that can be delivered electronically, are. Hubby’s paycheck is direct-deposited, and we automatically deposit an amount for savings every month. I’m up to date with all our shredding (though some filing will be attacked tomorrow), and the credit cards are paid off monthly. This task reminded me that I need to order our yearly credit report — thanks!

ilse August 9, 2009

This one was easy, payments are already organized.

Amy August 17, 2009

Done!

Silje August 18, 2009

Done. I am happy to say that my payments were already organized. But I used the time to cear out some paper that have been laying around instead. :-)

Nisha August 21, 2009

Im kinda cheating on this one if you think about it, im too young to have bills. LOL, oh well I cleaned out my closet.

Joleen August 25, 2009

mission 3 is one i was already “on top of” I am pleased to be discovering I’m not as bad an organizer as I thought : )

Arlene August 26, 2009

cheated on this one. It’s my hubby’s job and I let him take care of all that. So I created files for my tax receipts. Now I can file receipts under the tax category and they will be all in one place. Figured this was sort of in line with paying bills.

Gomaja August 29, 2009

no need – done this already

St27 September 15, 2009

Well I got carried away and did this project already. I got tried of missing all the dates and the phone calls. So Now Missions 1,2,3 are all DONE. It feels really good. This works for me. :)

Dave Coates September 17, 2009

Get Organized Mission #3: Organize Your Bill Payment – http://bit.ly/GVhQR

Donna V September 19, 2009

My husband takes care of this. We are always on top of it, meeting once every two weeks to review financial s. We have systematized it so that it doesn’t take over us. Now it’s painless, we can breathe and have fun!
Thanks for your tips, this is an extremely important area that HAS to be organized. :)

Silvia September 20, 2009

Done! Looking forward to the next one :)

Flora September 26, 2009

Interesting that so many of the comments indicate that they were all ready on top of this. This is not my area of expertise – in fact, this mission almost killed me. But it’s organized. And I feel much better.

Michele Connolly September 26, 2009

Hi Flora,

I think it’s the things that we find most difficult that can bring us the most benefit – and relief. Good on you for persevering with it!

Michele :-)

Lauren October 1, 2009

I really had a hard time with this. Some of my payments are already automated, but I’m just not very organized with the rest of them. I also have a hard time with paperless statements (they get buried quickly). I’ve set myself up to get email reminders through my bank when certain bills are due, and I’ll keep doing this as other bills come in this month. Now if I only had a proper place to file them….

Michele Connolly October 1, 2009

Thanks for persevering, Lauren!

You might find these future Missions helpful:

Get Organized Mission #9: Filing System Nirvana
http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2009/07/get-organized-mission-9-filing-system-nirvana/

Get Organized Mission #12: Organize Your Accounts & Credit Cards
http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2009/07/get-organized-mission-12-organize-your-accounts-credit-cards/

Keep up the great work!
M :-)

Paperless Direct Debit October 2, 2009

Having everything set up and scheduled makes my life so much easier. What used to take me at least 2 hours a month, I can now do in less than 10 minutes! Organizaion is the key!

cheryl October 2, 2009

I have been putting this task on the back burner. I am also finding it hard to organize my bills paperless. I have a few done but it is really a chore to get moving . Hanging in there though, have a few done.

Lydia October 4, 2009

This one was pretty easy because my husband pays all of the bills, but I did make some adjustments for myself and I think it will work out great.

I have been working on my tithing, charitable giving and savings. It was a daunting thought, but I got the perfect solution. I have a separate bank account from me and my husbands joint account. I went to payroll to have them deposit a portion of my check to the joint account and a portion to the “Makes you feel good” acount. It’s great. the money is already set aside for my tithing, I have an automatic deduction coming from this account to my savings every month, and because of that, I do not have to limit the money that I give to charity already. The check card on this account is a Susan B. Komen check card so the change is rounded up to the next dollar. The extra change automatically goes to support breast cancer. One of my favorite causes.

I really enjoyed doing this mission
Lydia

Joey October 5, 2009

Done. Was not super fun. But it needed to be done. I bet I will be happy about it later. Thanks.

Michele Connolly October 10, 2009

@Cheryl,

A lot of people struggle with this mission (see above).
You’ll feel fabulous when it’s done.
Please persevere!

M :-)

Glenna October 10, 2009

Done. My bank offers bill pay so I can control paying bills one on one or at automatic intervals. Makes my life much easier. I just have to be good about shredding paid bills when they don’t need to be kept. I throw all receipts in a basket and sort them by month. They go into a spreadsheet that cuts down time at tax time.

Smuckers October 18, 2009

done!

Renia Carsillo October 25, 2009

finished this one finally. Scary, also started oprah’s debt diet to go with it!

Monica November 8, 2009

WHEW what a task..Thank you I had no idea I was so out of control

Amy November 18, 2009

Not much to do for this task. Bill payments are one area that I am actually on top of. Looking forward to the next task.

Deb November 19, 2009

On to #4

Arlene November 22, 2009

I have this one under control after almost 40 years of bill paying and money managing in our home. Just needed a little tidying up and tossing a few things, but most is under control. On to number 4.

karen November 23, 2009

Done

Carla December 2, 2009

This was an easy one for me… I have been paying bills by auto withdrawal for years. I have forgotten what the inside of my banking establishment looks like.

Ilene December 6, 2009

Easy one for me to. I’ve gotten rid almost all of my paper bills. Now if could get my husband to do the same!

Jocelyn December 7, 2009

done

Mary December 21, 2009

Had been putting this off for a while but now All done. A huge relief

Nancy December 21, 2009

Got it done just today and ready for the next project.

Amanda December 28, 2009

Mission three – done. Redid my budget – and organised a monthly bill paying system and storage for receipts.

Cindy Young December 29, 2009

This was something I have done for sometime. It is so great to not worry about when most of my bills are due. The only bills I have to keep track of are the yard service (only check I write!), car payment, credit card bill and mortgage payment (which I get reminders for and pay online). Everything else is billed to the credit card or debited from bank. I know people think using a credit card for everything can get you in trouble debtwise but as long as I budget and pay it off every month which I do Im ok plus I get points for free hotel stays. Looking forward to next mission.

Petra January 14, 2010

Done….decided to use the MS Money that I had bought at least 11/2 years ago. Looked at it several times and this just gave me a push to set it up and use.

Lesley January 14, 2010

I’ve been doing this fo quite some time. I spend 10 minutes (my morning break) at work every 2 weeks to pay myself and my bills. It’s amazing how little mail I get now. And the best thing is I stay ahead of everything and miss nothing. Budgeting became a breeze.

Kathy January 18, 2010

Thanks to online bill payment, I do this anyway. “Check!”

sheila January 24, 2010

use the online bill pay a lot. thanks for the review.

Lisa January 24, 2010

Our banking and most of the bill paying is already done online and through automatic withdrawl. What’s up next?!

P J January 25, 2010

Done!

Brenda January 30, 2010

Done. This was kind of easy for me since my husband does our bills.

Yaya February 1, 2010

Got ‘er done.

Kari February 8, 2010

done.

Easy to say “done” b/c almost all of my bills are automatically paid and our cc is auto-paid in full each month too. The shredding bit should be fun, looking forward to that!

Another great thing to do is to switch you statements to electronic statements instead of paper ones. Save some trees!

Theresa in Pa. February 14, 2010

Organized ! Such a time saver….love it.

Sue February 16, 2010

This one was already done so I’m ready for my next mission!

Diane February 19, 2010

Already done !!!!!!!!!!!

Carrie February 19, 2010

Step 1 of this Mission is in the hubs’ territory, so I skipped it. Steps 2 & 3 are already implemented, so I’m marking this as DONE! As for the “Extended Organizing Mission” of dealing with “ancient bills and receipts”… unfortunately, I have to face this Paper Giant by force(http://messieconfessions.blogspot.com/), so this will be on ongoing daily mission until completion! I’m also policing the mail to keep the growth rate to a bare minimum! On to Mission #4!

Emily February 21, 2010

Done,Done, Done…
(Actually I was already 1/2 way done, but spent my 1/2 hour finishing…)

Laura February 22, 2010

My bills were already set up online so I used this time to look up each one and make a note of the balance, monthly payment and interest rate. This helps give me a better idea what I need to pay off first.

Ann February 24, 2010

I only have one bill I have to pay manually and I never remember! Couldn’t tell you how many times my water’s been cut off – not because I don’t have the money but because my mail is squirrly and if I don’t see the bill I don’t think about it. I’m getting this set up on autopay tomorrow!

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