Paying bills….it’s often a dreaded task, but a necessary one. I used to spend a ton of time searching through the house, sorting through piles to find every single one of our monthly bills. After finding the bills, it took time to gather a pen, the checkbook, envelopes, stamps, etc. and it really made bill paying a pain in the neck!
Recently, to minimize the pain of bill paying, I began to gather all of my bills in one place, which saves me a lot of time. I also came up with a “bill paying station.” This simple container keeps all of my essential needs together so all I have to do is pull it out of the cabinet and bring it to the table with all of the bills. I can’t tell how this has made my life easier and reduced my time for paying the bills from about an hour to less than 20 minutes!! My next goal is to begin to go paperless and pay bills online….but that hasn’t happened just yet!! How do you make bill paying easier??
Like you, I have everything in one place….my desk. I also pay bills online and that makes it much easier. Some are paperless and some not. Paperless sometimes makes me forget to pay if I miss the email!!! Life is so vastly different from 20 years ago when I started my family 🙂
Deb, We have a few bills that we pay online…I have a note card with the companies name (Verizon) on it, and I put the card in with the bills so my mind will not forget….I’m getting to be that age, ya know…
Jill, we pay our bills online. However not through each company’s website but only through our bank. Your bank’s website will be more secure than giving your banking info to your vendors (e.g. utilities, etc). Also, banking online lists the last date and amount you paid so it’s a great reference. One catch…when you write a hard copy check the money stays in your account UNTIL the check is cashed. When you do banking online, the money comes out of your account immediately, even if the check isn’t cashed.