Get Organized Mission #3: Organize Your Bill Payment

imageWelcome to Mission #3 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

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Click here to sign up for 52 Organizing Missions.

Image by *_Abhi_*

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145 thoughts on “Get Organized Mission #3: Organize Your Bill Payment

  1. cheryl says:

    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.

  2. Lauren says:

    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….

  3. Flora says:

    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.

  4. Donna V says:

    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. 🙂

  5. St27 says:

    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. 🙂

  6. Arlene says:

    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.

  7. Joleen says:

    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 : )

  8. Nisha says:

    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.

  9. Silje says:

    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. 🙂

  10. Barbara in GA says:

    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!

  11. Sally Anne March says:

    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.

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