Organizing Your Bill Paying Process ensures successful and 
consistent Bill Paying! Try these 4 tips to Streamline Your Process!
Set An Appointment.
Client Study: A client I first met many years ago admitted that deadlines and due dates would often slip past her and her husband, costing lots of money in late fees, not to mention frustration! She did not have a set time to regularly sit down and pay her bills, so as life got busy, they would both forget to pay bills.
Tip: Set aside time every week or every other week to pay your bills. For example, if you get paid every other Friday, make an appointment with your computer / check book for every other Thursday evening to pay your bills and manage your money. If it’s on the calendar, it’s more likely to happen!
Do the Job Until It’s Done. 
Client Study: I worked with a couple, and I could tell that the husband was very nervous about having an organizer in the house! He was very happy when I told him I wanted him to spend LESS time on his papers every week!
Here is the rest of that statement: “Carve out an hour every week (they chose Saturday morning) to open all the mail, pay all the bills, respond to any other correspondence and shred / recycle whatever needed to go.” They agreed an hour should be enough. They could worry less throughout the week, but they had to tackle all their money management tasks, start to finish, when they DID work on their bills.
Tip: Spend less time on your bill paying, but complete the job from start to finish when you sit down.
Dedicate Space for Paying Bills.
Client Study: I worked with a lovely couple just last week. They took turns explaining how they 
used their shared work space. One person had a place to always tuck the bills to be paid. The other person had no idea that was the system in place!
Just that one piece of information, a dedicated place to put the Bills-To-Pay, made a huge difference in how each uses the space!
If you pay bills on line, consider creating an email subfolder or maybe even an email account just for bill-paying and financial information, and make sure everyone who needs to know about it has access!
In addition, set yourself up to succeed with your necessary supplies in that space (pens, notepad, post its, computer if you pay on-line, envelopes and stamps, etc.).
Tip: Dedicate Space for bill-paying, and let all involved parties know the plan!
Make Filing Easier, Too!
Client Study: Me. For both our personal and my business bill paying, we have done away with 
individual vendor files and just have monthly folders for all income and banking info. Any paid bills, receipts, bank statements, etc., get added to those monthly files. Finding info is so easy, as is filing!
Tip: Create Monthly Folders for all things Income / Banking related and make filing easy! And if you like this idea, apply it to your on-line bill paying as well! Same idea around your directories on your computer or google drive!
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dirty laundry more like to get washed!
weekly errand for taking in and picking up.
felted hangers to take good care of your clothes and give your closet a tidier appearance.
you only wore once? or the track pants and sweat shirt you put on when you get home from work? Perhaps the jeans you wore for a little while but plan to wear again tomorrow. It’s not worth it to wash them all, or to hang them all up again, so we need a way to keep them close at hand but not strewn about your space!
and for the wrapping needs of anyone living in your house (they WILL be wrapping on Christmas Eve.)
most of these tasks are actually pretty short and to the point. So we assigned time estimates to them all, so we could be more objective.
coat closet, etc. However, many of us do not come and go from that front door. Last week, a friend asked if I could help with her new homes’ back door / drop zone / launch pad. In her words,
members can drop their bags as they come home. But they lack coat / accessory / bag storage.
for accessories and keys, and the lower set, installed 6-8 inches below the upper set, for coats, umbrellas or longer hanging items.
I detest errands and shopping. The expense, hassle and time spent. But, of course, there are items – food, clothing, supplies, etc. – that I need for my family, our home and my business. Errands and shopping are a necessary evil.
I have been pondering how to spend less time, money and hassle on running errands and shopping. I’ve talked to a lot of people also working on the same challenge, and we’ve learned a lot from each other!
it was my constant companion. Most days, amidst working and family and living our lives, I was also planning / orchestrating / cleaning or occasionally waiting for activities centered on the Kitchen, and by extension, my office. No summer va-ca for this girl.
track lighting. As soon as we stood at a counter to work on food prep or anything else, we would block our own task lighting. The under-cabinet lighting makes the whole kitchen GLOW, while providing task lighting any where we need it! This is a simple upgrade. You can purchase ropes of LED lighting that simply plug in at any home improvement store.
also beautiful, I am truly loath to leave anything on them. One of my favorite (and cheap) purchases to complete the project was this dish drain that fits over the smaller side sink and can be easily slid over or rolled away (Amazon.com, ILifetech Roll-Up Dish Drying Rack).
now have a breakfast station. My coffee maker lives on this small counter, along with the fresh fruit basket and napkins. In addition, the cabinet above houses breakfast bars and Pop Tarts (my sons’ quick breakfasts of choice), our daily vitamins and supplements, the toaster, and coffee / tea / hot chocolate supplies, etc.
The tops were dusty, and storing stuff up there looked cluttered, so we never used the space. If you don’t want to remodel, you can also re-imagine how you use your cabinets. Use the bottom shelf or 2 for daily use items, the middle shelf for items you use once a week, and the top shelves for items you use less often but would still like to keep accessible.
Fall is in the air.
hello boots and wellies. Toss the old or unmatched flip or flop, get rid of all but the last pair or two of sneakers (“Truly, dear, no one needs 4 pairs of old sneakers for ‘yard work.'” ). Take in any shoes in need of repair, and put away the rest. Then make space for the colder weather shoes and boots. Do the same with sport items. Play it Again Sports, anyone?
returned to a store? Stuff that belongs to other people? Take those piles / bags and boxes that are next to the door or already in the car, and get them Gone, gone, gone!!
First things first, purge the garbage / recycling / donations. And pull out the cars while you work!
boxes. I know, it’s tough to decide do we keep the box the vacuum / lamp / appliance came in or recycle it? However, we’ve discovered that if we do need to pack the item up or return it, we can find another box (more come all the time!) or return the item without it. If you just can’t part with the boxes, break them down and store them flat.
outgrown sports items, chose to leave the items there (instead of hassling with selling them on consignment), they cut me a check. Beautiful! Try listing outgrown bikes and scooters on Facebook sell pages, there is a market for such things! And, thinking vertically again – install some hooks on the walls or beams, to get those summer toys and bikes off the garage floor for winter!
how long to keep certain types of papers. One idea that I shared with the group was the idea of “20 Minutes or 20 Dollars”. A couple of people made a point to tell me that they really liked the idea, so I thought I would share.
20 Minutes: 
The black spaghetti mess of unmatched, unlabeled and unclaimed charging cords from ancient phones or digital cameras gone by? Look around. If what you use regularly already has a cord attached, you could probably purge all of those unclaimed cords and spend $20 someday on a replacement in the very remote chance you actually needed one of those random cords. Clear up a whole lot of space, and bank on the fact you don’t need what is in that THAT box!
Sombreros (or similar items, you get the idea!). Sombreros are big. Awkward to store. Not a commonly used items, let’s face it. If you EVER had a need for a sombrero – party, costume, school presentation – you could either spend the $20 to buy one at a party store or on-line, or better yet, ask 10 friends if anyone has a sombrero, and I bet someone does!