I don't know anyone who enjoys paying bills, but it is possible to make it less time-consuming. For the longest time I have had a bill-paying folder. Every day when I open the mail, I take out the bills and stick them in this folder. On bill-paying day, generally Friday because that is the day my husband gets paid, I just have to take out the folder, figure out what is due the soonest and what I need to pay that week.
So far, so good. Here is where the process got messy. I would then write the day I paid the bill on the invoice and shove the paid bill back into that same bill-paying folder. I would continue stuffing items into this folder until it was about ready to hemorrhage paper. At this time, I would then go through the folder, remove the paid bills, shred those I didn't need anymore and place the others into a "paid bills" folder which I kept up in my bedroom for safe-keeping.
Why, you ask, didn't I just put the paid bills into that folder in the first place? Good question. And the reason is somewhat embarrassing. I was simply too lazy to take the time to walk upstairs and file them away. It was easier to just stick them into the same folder while I was working on the bills downstairs.
So, in the spirit of "CE on Time" I am attempting to rectify this problem. I sorted through my bills folder. I actually even got a new folder for the bills since the one I had looked like it had been through the mill. I also got a new "paid bills" folder, which I am keeping downstairs right next to the original bills folder. There, problem solved. I can file the bills right after I pay them. I don't need to walk upstairs to put them away.
Sometimes the simplest solutions to make life easier are right in front of our noses. We just need to make the decision to do something about the problem.
