OOTW--bills, bills, bills!

I love Wednesdays.  It's quickly becoming one of my favorite days of the week....because it's an excuse to look around my house, find what needs organizing and do it! 

This week, I'm tackling bills.  It's so easy for bills to get piled up or pushed aside and forgotten about until that dreaded "Payment Overdue" statement comes in the mail....or worse, when you notice a late fee tacked on to next month's bill.  When I was first on my own and had just a few bills to handle,  I was so overwhelmed.  How can you keep up with all of these due dates and amounts due and which bill to pay when??  And that was just the basic bills of a college student!  Then I grew up, got married, bought a house and found out what it REALLY meant to be in debt and have bills.  Marty and I have recently split accounts and bills for us each to handle.  It was a great way to keep up both accountable for where our money was going and it cut down on unnecessary "You spent HOW much??" kind of fights.   I thought I had it under control....until this month.  Marty, by the grace of God, has found a new job.  A new job that's going to bring a bigger paycheck (wahoo!).  But a bigger paycheck brings more opportunity for wasteful spending and little penny pinching.  So, to make a long story short, we're joining accounts again, under the stipulation that I am in charge of the bills.  Insert super organizational skills here!  To keep all of the bills, due dates and payments under control, I have corralled all of the monthly statements in this gorgeous binder:

Call me old-fashioned or not being earth-friendly, but I like having a paper statement in my hand every month that tells me exactly how much I owe and gives me the details of my charges.  Yes, I know I can go online and view all that information, but something about holding a physical piece of paper in my hands gives me a sense of satisfaction.  I have all of the statements separated by dividers and labels so I know where each bill is whenever I need to refer back to it. 

Now, this is my favorite part.  I made up a printable bill organizing checklist, so I can view all of our monthly expenses at once. 

I'm a visual person.  I won't believe that it's done until I see it written down and checked off.  I guess I'm a little OCD. 

Not only do I have the list of bills, but I also made a pretty list of when to pay which bills.  You see, when Marty starts this new job, our paychecks are going to be scattered throughout the entire month.  To keep me from paying too many bills out of one single paycheck, I have them scattered so we still have spending/saving money leftover.  This printable shows me EXACTLY when to pay which bill.  Super daggone helpful. 

P.S.  Both of these printables are free for you to take!  Print them off, make your own binder and revel in your organization!


Bills to Pay FREE printable!