Organization Ideas
Well, my boyfriend and I have decided we are going to move to the bigger apartment. We know we are not ready for a house and our main goal is to pay off all of our debt until we get into a house. (Thank you to everyone who gave me their advice, I appreciate it!!). We both agreed with our new home, we are going to get serious about being organized. This is going to be our fresh start and we will not let ourselves get behind! Right now, when we get the mail we throw them in a basket on the counter...and then the mail is forgotton about. Most of my bills I do pay online but there are a few that I still get in the mail. Now, my question is, where and how do I start organizing? I just wanted to see if anyone had any clever ideas! I want to have an organization system for our mail. And most definatly for our bills. We would like to work something out where we can write down what bills we want paid out of what paycheck and maybe even start the envelope system. I think the hardest part is starting it. I know once we get a good system down we will be good. For starters I did buy a dry erase calendar so that I'll write down all of the bills on that each month and once that bill is paid I'll erase it. But that is just a teeny tiny start....What kind of organization methods do you use? thank you all so much! :)
get organized!
We are in the same boat. And from experience, don't get discouraged because it won't happen overnight! You will probably have to try a million different methods to see what works for you guys. We really started to buckle down and get organized and remove excess clutter from our lives in January of this year, and we still have a ways to go. But boy does it feel good to finally have some control! Paper/bill/mail clutter is one of our biggest challenges! It always piles up on the end of the counter and after a couple of days it is so high that I never had the time to take on the daunting task of going through it all. We aren't perfect in this area yet, but we have made alot of progress. Here's some of what we've done:
- I'm doing this now, but cancelling paper statements will reduce alot of paper clutter. We also pay bills online, and we are on the computer enough that we don't overlook our bills because we don't have the paper in front of us.
- A budget has been a huge help also. I have control of our money, and when payday hits, I know exactly what bills to pay and there is NO question of whether the money is there to pay them!
- Excel spreadsheet - I have one set up with our budget, bill due dates, etc. I have made it a habit to look at it almost daily. We get 2 paychecks a month. So I separated our bills accordingly, and I pay bills twice a month...on paydays. Like you said, certain bills come out of certain paychecks. Whether the bill is due or not, it gets paid on payday. I used to use a calendar that I would put on the refrigerator and it had due dates, etc, but then Luke went to preschool and art work took over the fridge and covered up the calendar. A computer file works best for us because I can rework it whenever I want.
- I have a drawer in the desk where I do file paper mail that we do need to keep, and also a shoebox that I keep receipts in. Recently I also started sort the receipts by store at the end of the month. It became a tough task to find a receipt out of a shoebox when I needed to return something. It seems so petty, but it takes 5 minutes a month and helps me feel more organized.
- An obvious one, and it took quite some time for us to get in the habit of going through the mail every day! I still slack some days, but most days I immediately throw the junk in the trash and also the envelopes for the stuff we need to keep. The stuff we need to keep goes to the desk and gets filed appropriately.
Good luck getting organized. It seems like we started with our finances and mail, then we (I) became obsessed with reducing clutter and we've made some real progress throughout our entire house!
Jessica
~ Mommy to Luke and Shawn
neat freak
I am a neat freak so I was excited to hear about your plight. lol. My mother is the biggest pack rack I ever met and before I left her back in Michigan I organized her whole house. I really enjoyed it and she thought I was sick. =)
Bills and clutter are an issue. Its a daily commitment to keep it organized. We moved into a rental home a couple of months ago and I had to figure out a new system since I dont have the luxury of a 3rd bedroom anymore for an office. I purchased a small desk from Target for 69 dollars. Its really nice and small so it fits in the corner nicely. Buy a trash can and put it right by the desk. If you dont, you will leave the junk and say "oh I will throw that away later.." If you have a can right there, plop it in and your done. Otherwise it will lay with the bills and before you know it, you are trying to find what you need.
I use a daily planner. I have to write down all of my bills each month or I will forget. Between school, raising my son and sometimes my hubby =) I only have so much brain power to remember things. Once I pay the bill, I write PD (paid) next to it, the date I mailed or it used on line pay, check no. or reference no. from online bill pay. Then I highlight it so I know by a glance that that bill is paid for. Its also recorded so by some chance I have to refer back to when I paid it, the info is there. In fact I had my credit card company call me about a payment they hadnt gotten yet. I opened my planner, told him the check no. the date I mailed it and the amount. The guy was speechless. Not my mess up bud.
If you are thinking of buying a house in the future and use online bill pay. Most banks now will let you print out a copy of the check or transfer. I print this out and have a file for rent. So when I apply for a mortgage I can show the company I have receipts for every month of rent I paid. In my experience mortgage companies will ask for this.
Ive seen lots of fancy bill holders etc. What works best for me is the metal trays. Get something cute so you like sitting at your desk. I have three trays. Top one is for bills that are due. Having them sit on top keeps them in sight so I know they are due. Second tray is for stuff I paid and need to file in the paid folder. Third tray is for other stuff that comes in the mail that I need to file in the filing cabinet (bank statements, 401k statements etc).
You need a desk, trash can, small filing cabinet, desk trays, highlighters and a daily planner.