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Blog: Minimizing Financial Clutter
 52 WEEKS TO FINANCIAL ORGANIZATION: Week #6 – Set Up Online Bill-Paying
If you don't want to set up automatic debits for your recurring bills, or if you simply want more control over when your bills are paid – but want to save yourself some time – then online bill-paying through your bank will be a great tool for you.
I admit that I was slow to adopt this method of bill-paying. There was something I (probably strangely) enjoyed about writing paper checks, putting them in their envelopes, and putting them in the mailbox. Maybe I just remembered watching my mother write out her checks while sitting at our kitchen table, and felt like I was finally a grown-up when I paid my own bills that way.
Until one day a few years ago, when a client's needs changed my thinking about bill-paying forever, that is. My client was going to be out of the country for more than a month. She had already set up her bills to be paid online through her bank, and asked me to stop by to pick up her mail and pay her bills a couple of times while she was away. I said I would do it, but I was nervous. I had never paid bills online before.
My worries vanished when I saw how easy it was to pay my client's bills online. I just logged on to her bank account, filled in the amount she wanted to pay on each bill, set the date when each bill was to be paid, and clicked "send". That was when I decided that I had to adopt the system for my own bills, as well.
There are many benefits of paying your bills online:
· You get to decide the date on which the bill will be paid.
· You can pay anyone online – companies or individuals – as long as you know their mailing address.
· You can set up recurring automatic payments if you choose to do so.
· You can easily track your prior payments to a particular company or person.
· Most banks guarantee that the payee will receive your payment by the designated date, and will even cover late charges if the payment arrives late.
· It saves you money: No more postage stamps and check re-order charges.
· It is safe.
Your Homework for This Week:
· If you have not already set up online banking with your bank, contact your bank to set it up.
· Log in to your bank's website, enter your username and password, and go to the tab that says "Bill Pay" (or something similar).
· Follow your bank's online directions to add your payees (your regular bills). You can always add more payees at any time, but go ahead and set up your regular bills right now. You only have to set up a payee one time; once the payee is set up, you simply "fill-in-the-blanks" whenever you want to make a payment to that payee.
posted on: 2/15/2009 11:30:00 AM by Katherine Trezise
category: Finances
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Minimizing Financial Clutter
by Katherine Trezise
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About Katherine:
Katherine Trezise is president of Absolutely Organized, based in Baltimore, MD. She is president-elect of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization. Katherine holds a masters degree in business administration, is a Certified Professional Organizer® and a Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization®. Absolutely Organized specializes in helping people organize their homes, paperwork and financial records to make room in their lives for the things, people and activities that are most important to them.
Katherine's Website:
www.absolutely-organized.com
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www.OnlineOrganizing.com is a service mark of Bradford, LLC.
