♦Designate a single tray in which all family members should
place incoming mail they retrieved from the mailbox. That way if your child gets the mail, an invoice doesn't
unintentionally go missing. Don't allow anyone to throw mail on the couch, floor
or table. Don't let them collect mail from the mailbox on their way to the car
(in which case it ends up in their vehicle, perhaps forgotten about later). Make
it a rule that all incoming mail goes straight into a single designated tray.
Family members are free to dig through this tray to take mail with their name on
it.
♦If you don't
sort through the pile of mail daily, do so at least every few days. You're
looking for newly received bills. Anything else that's just "leisure" mail you
can trash, shred or leave there to look at in your leisure.
♦But
if the leisure mail is still there in the tray after a week, such as catalogs
and offers, trash it before the pile grows unmanageable. If you haven't looked
at a sales flyer within a week, you probably won't look at it ever. And bigger
and better ones arrive in your mailbox everyday anyway to replace those now
relic mail pieces.
♦Take
the bills that you've just separated from the pile of mail in the mail tray and
put them into their own clearly labeled folder or tray on your home office desk
(or other designated spot).
♦A
good place to put bills due is directly into a tickler file or a 31-day monthly bill
organizer. File each bill under a date that's about a week before it's due.
♦Check
the appropriate labeled folder in the tickler file or bill organizer daily.
♦Below
is an example of a
Monthly Bill Organizer
 . This one is sold by Stacks and
Stacks.
♦If
you can coordinate your invoice due dates (call the companies), you can
designate one day, or just a few days, a month to paying and mailing bills. Then
you will have a general idea that all of your bills are due, for instance,
during the first 10 days of every month. So you won't have to stress over
whether or not you forgot to pay something or missed something during the last
20 days of the month.
♦Follow this system and you'll find that organizing bills
isn't any more fun than when you were not this organized. But the difference is
that you probably didn't smile much when you paid a late fee to a creditor
because you couldn't find your misplaced bill. Now you can find your bills and
remember to pay them on time.
♦Here
are some more products that might help you to organize your bills and mail as
well as keep other items handy such as stamps, envelopes and more:
Bill Payer's Desk - Oak
 (Size:
38"H x 21.5W x 21.5D, includes extendable leaf for writing on) Sold by Stacks and Stacks
Bill Payer's Desk (compact version--When
folded, desk width is 22 inches) Sold by Stacks and Stacks
Hanging Organizer - You've Got Bills
(pleasant look, has space for stamps too) Sold by Stacks and Stacks
Desk Organizer with Drawer
(Has 3 cubbies and a drawer--sets on a desk top) Sold by Stacks and Stacks
Faux Leather Personal Organizer - Black
 (Roll
top and leather lined, sets on your desk top) Sold by Organize.com
31 Day File Organizer
 (constructed
of silver and black metal) Sold by Stacks and Stacks
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