One thing I started doing last year to stay better organized was to create a little "system" if you will for our mail and recycling. If it is warm outside, then as soon as I get the mail I will open it. I then take all the envelopes and anything else that can be recycled and immediately put it into our outdoor recycling bins. If it is cool ouside {like right now!!} then I will hurry inside after getting the mail and place the paper that can be recycled into a plastic bin I keep on top of our washing machine. I got this bin at Ikea and we use it specifically for recycling. Every few days when the bin is full I take it outside and empty it into our outside recycling bin. Our laundry area is in one corner of our kitchen and it used to bug me to see recycling sitting hapharzardly all over our washer and dryer. I don't do clutter.
Now onto what I do with the rest of the mail. Boy is this ever an exciting post!! ha!!
I take all of our bills over to our one multi-purpose {junk drawer} and place them in a little basket I have inside the drawer. In this basket I also keep a highlighter and some pens I use to balance our checkbook with. I also keep my handy dandy grahphing calculator that I have had since eighth grade. And then I shut the drawer and the bills magically pay themselves. whew, that was hard work.
No, actually I make sure the bills get paid. And it's a job that I actually enjoy. Us accounting people are dorky like that! Every Sunday night after the rugrats are in bed I get out my basket, you know the one I mentioned earlier with the bills and pens and stuff. I take out the bills and seperate the bill part from the remmittance form. I place the bill portions in one stack to be filed away a little later. We pay all of our bills online so I then I take the remittance portion of the bill and set up those bills to be paid. I then balance our checkbook, write any checks I might need to write for the week, and place my calculator, pens, and the remittance forms back in the basket. I keep the remittance forms in there each week until the bill has cleared our checking account and then I shred them. This helps me make keep track of what bills will be due soon and what bills have already been paid. When all of that fun stuff is done I file away the bill portions for the week and stick my paperwork to be shredded into a shred file.
Is anyone still reading this post? Have you fallen asleep from boredom? Wake up people!!
I used to only balance our checkbook a few times a month but then last year I started paying all of our bills online instead of mailing a check to each company. I know, it took me a while to feel comfortable doing that but now I am so glad we pay everything online. I like to keep track of our finances weekly just so I can keep an eye on everything. I think it holds us more accountable to keep goals, such as trying to build up our savings or if there is something we are trying to save for specifically. Like right now we are saving for a new roof. Boring!!
You must all be thinking I am a complete dork right about now for sharing all of this with you. Please don't you all start unsubscribing from my blog over this one post!! :) The only reason that I shared all of this with you is that I think it's fun to see how other people stay organized and what tatics they use to do so.
So go on and share. Do you have any little "systems" that help you stay organized at your house?
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11 comments:
we need to get together and talk about all of this! i have systems that I love to talk about too! ha! dorky but fun!
Girl, my dad is a CPA, so I feel qualified in telling you that this was actually pretty interesting to me. :) He used to quiz me about which interstate mileage markers were prime numbers.
I, too, loved this post.
Briefly, here is what I do. All bills are attached to a clip board. As they get paid, their counter parts get filed.
I balance the check book as I go.... make notes for tax time, etc.
Megan
www.thecrumes.blogspot.com
I love being geeky.
bill pay=Hubby...That's how I keep it organized. :) Good post, really.
You are a girl after my own heart! I saw that you were my fellow Sooner on Lindsay's UT post yesterday, so I followed you over here!
I love paying bills. I'm not going to lie. I put all of our bills, as they come in, in a stack in a cubby on my desk, and I pay them/file them as they come in. We do everything but our rent online, and I use an excel spreadsheet and our online banking system to keep track of everything. I highlight the amount to light blue in the spreadsheet once they've gone through our account to mark them paid for the month! Then I sit down and file all the paper away once a month!
I use the same calculator to pay my bills too! :) Hahaha I keep my bills in a similar way too. It is so nice to be organized. :)
I didn't even think about the ornament wreath option - thanks!! :)
You're a girl after my own heart! I also have a whole recycling center that I use. My neighborhood asks that we sort paper, plastic, and glass - so I've got a whole system set up for it. And once I set it up - I increased my recycling ten fold!
As far as bills, I pay most of them online. I've created a calendar that I write all the due dates in and can check back in previous months to anticipate when a bill is due. I'm a nerd about my check book too - everything gets written down and once it clears the bank, I highlight it!
I love organization, so this post was great :)
I'm the same kind of dork. Especially when it comes to paying bills. I panic if I'm paying the bill at the "last minute", even if the bill isn't due, yet. We're a funny sort.
This post cracked me up... must be the accounting in me. ;) We have the exact same junk drawer... with the same basket and calculator even! Too funny.
this post is quite useful to me. i am an organising junkie adn make systems for most things. i used to have a neato system to handle paperwork adn bills but have been struggling ever since i stopped doing it all in cash - how is that for the ultimate in outdated. it used to work and work well. i have never quite beenable to get it together since i wnent online - sigh.
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