The Absolute Easiest Way To Track, Pay & Organize Your Household Bills...No Filing Involved!

For years, I kept our household bills filed in file folders in a file box..... just like hundreds of other people.
Let me also confess that I have gone through periods in my life where bills were 'filed' in a grocery bag hanging on the back of the bedroom door.
Yep. Sad but true.
I have seen many examples of how to organize & 'file' bills around blogland lately.
But I want to share with you a different way.

 Two years ago I switched to this method...and I like it much better.

And here's another dirty little secret about me....although I love to organize... I HATE, with a capital 'H',  filing!

I like not having to go through different files to find things or put them away.
This system helps me avoid that!

Let me introduce the Household Bill Binder.

It's a simple method..... it's fast and it works.

I just get out the binder when I am ready to sit at the computer to make on-line payments with our bank.
And then I put the binder away. No filing!

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All that is needed is a 3 or 4 inch 3-ring binder.

 A few other things are handy to have in the front...a calculator, a pen, a red pen, a pencil and eraser. I have these stored in a  3-ring pencil case in the front.

Dividers are placed inside with labels for all the types of household bills.

When bills arrive, I place them in a box on my desk. Once a week I schedule time to open them.

As I open each bill, I write down the amount due and due date on a calendar page for the current month in the front of the Household Bill Binder.

The calendar page provides a great visual of what the month looks like.

I keep the unpaid bills in a pocket at the front of the binder until it's time to pay the bills. I pay the bills on the 1st and the 15th of every month.

As each bill is paid, I write  'paid' in red pen with the amount and date, punch 3 holes in the bill and pop the paid bill into the binder in the appropriate section. I also use the red pen to cross the bill off the calendar so I know that it's paid.

Easy Peasy.

And then I put the binder away.

That's it.

No filing. None. Zilcho.

At the end of the year,  I clean out the binder and keep only those things we need for income tax.

I store those items in a file folder labelled with the year.

Another thing about this method  I like is that when my husband and I want to look at and discuss bills, I just get out the binder.

 I don't have to spend time rifling around files. I just flip pages.

And I like the simplicity of the calendar pages in the front for tracking. I print off 6 months at a time to have in the front of the binder to record bills as they arrive.

You can find free calendar pages to print here.

The calendars pages can be formatted in whatever way you like.

They are the pages that I use...just simple black & white.

I hope if you hate filing, like me, you find this method a little more helpful in rounding up those household bills.

Super simple.

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