How To Arrange Yourself So You Can Keep Tabs On Your Payments And Bills First Hand

October 01, 2022

5 Exclusive Tools To Keep Tabs On Your Payments And Bills

It can be so difficult to keep tabs on your payments and bills from month to month! It might be challenging to maintain organization since some bills are sent to you and others are paid electronically. Additionally, you run the danger of incurring a hefty charge and hurting your credit score if you accidentally miss a payment because you forgot to pay one of your bills. Therefore, it's crucial to discover the most effective method for managing your costs!

Try these strategies for keeping your bills organized rather than risking the chance of forgetting to make your next payment.

How-To-Arrange-Yoursels-Data-Sheet

Keep tabs on your payments and bills

Sometimes it seems like a never-ending battle to pay your expenses. Every time you receive one in the mail, it serves as a warning that even after you pay, another one will arrive 30 days later. Even worse, bills frequently get lost in the movement from the mailbox to the kitchen counter top or mixed up with trash mail. It might cost you a lot of money in late fees if you don't have a decent system in place for keeping your bills organized and paying them on time. Even worse, it may lower your credit score.

Here are some brilliant ideas we've discovered to keep tabs on your payments and bills, organized and under check. Whatever your preferred method of bill organization—pen and paper or spreadsheet—you'll find some helpful advice here.

CREATE A MASTER CALENDAR OF BILLS AS WELL AS A MASTER LIST OF BILLS WITH DUE DATES

It's crucial to maintain a record of your bills and their due dates when you want to keep tabs on your payments and bills. For this phase, I've produced worksheets that you may print out for FREE. First, gather all of your statements and invoices. Second, review the past few months' worths of transactions in your bank account. Add your ongoing costs to the list, classifying them according to frequency and annual

  • Biannual
  • Quarterly
  • Monthly

Put them in the proper sequence by the deadline. You may avoid forgetting or overlooking any bills by keeping a master list of them, especially ones that might not occur every month.

Then, record your monthly costs on the matching due date using the blank recurring expenses calendar. You can quickly determine when payments are due if you have monthly spending listed on a calendar. When you are paid, it's simple to determine which payments must be paid right away and which ones can wait until your next payday.


KEEP A SPREADSHEET WITH YOUR FAMILY’S BUDGET!

Although utilizing spreadsheets may seem outdated in comparison to an app, it DOES WORK!! My family has used it to keep track of payments. Less typing is usually a good thing, and we can even download our bill and payment activities into the spreadsheet!

Want to create a budgeting plan and keep tabs on your payments and bills that are entirely tailored to your family's circumstances? Use these guidelines to make an Excel budget worksheet that contains only the elements you require.


AGREE TO NEW DATES

Once you've consolidated your payment options, it's time to start researching the due dates for your payments.

While paying all of your expenses at once may make life simpler for you, if you're having trouble making ends meet, it could be better to spread them out over the course of the month.

Create a strategy that works for you by considering your monthly spending. Then, start getting in touch with your billing firms to see if you can modify the account's due date, so you may reorganize your payment dates to fit your needs.

WHEN POSSIBLE, USE ELECTRONIC PAYMENT METHODS

By paying your bills electronically, you may keep tabs on your payments and bills and do away with hassles like writing checks, buying postage, etc. Nowadays, the vast majority of banks provide free online bill payments. This enables you to plan out when to pay your bills. If a bank is unable to pay the money electronically, many will even mail a check on your behalf. Rent payments and one-time gifts can benefit from using this. You may choose when the payment will be made by utilizing online bill pay with your bank.

On their own websites, many businesses also provide solutions for paying bills. For instance, you probably have access to your carrier's website to pay your cell phone bill.

Another choice is automatic payment transactions. Many businesses will automatically debit your bank account on a certain day each month to collect payment (with your consent). The fact that you don't need to remember to submit a payment makes this the ultimate convenience. The money must, however, be there in your bank account when the payment is scheduled to be withdrawn. Some people may find this difficult, and it is possible to forget about these payments.

Use your printable regular costs list and calendar when using any of these strategies to keep your payment plan on track.

5 Tools To Keep Tabs On Your Payments And Bills

Here are the best Tools to keep track of bills and payments of 2022:

Quicken

What it is: This program handles a variety of personal financial and money management tasks. It is a perfect choice to keep tabs on your payments and bills. You can view all of your bills in Quicken and pay them from your financial dashboard thanks to the Quicken Bill Manager feature.

The cost: Depending on the sort of computer you have, the capabilities you want with the software program, and whether the service is currently being reduced, as is the situation at this writing, the price can range from $34.99 to $83.88 each year.

The biggest benefit of Quicken is that it offers much more than just bill-paying services. To better manage your finances, it, for example, enables you to track your assets and make budgets. Although there is a Quicken app that is compatible with iPhone and Android phones and tablets, one potential disadvantage is that it functions better on a PC. Of course, having to spend money is usually a bad thing. However, the idea behind any bill-paying service is that if you consistently pay your bills on time, stick to your spending plan, and prevent late penalties, the money you spend will be more than worthwhile.

Mint app

Why we recommend it: Let's start with Mint's overwhelmingly positive App Store and Google Play reviews. (Of all the apps we looked at, it has also garnered by far the most reviews.) It syncs several types of accounts for free, including credit cards, loans, investments, and bank and savings accounts.

In terms of budgeting, Mint keeps track of your spending and categorizes them. Customization is possible for these endless categories. You may specify upper and lower bounds for these categories, and Mint will alert you when you're getting close to them.

Keep tabs on your payments and bills with mint along with those budgeting capabilities, Mint may aid users in tracking objectives, increasing savings, and paying off debt. The software also displays the user's credit score and net wealth. Bonus: Mint provides extensive FAQs and a tonne of app usage guidance.

Why a break could be necessary: The fact that Mint keeps track of almost everything for you is one of its many amazing benefits. But if you want to budget more actively and directly, it might not be the best option. Other applications on our list could suit your needs better if you're looking for an app that helps you manage your finances in advance rather than just track them after the fact.

Keep tabs on your payments and bills with Prism

How it works: It just functions as a bill-paying service. You can manage and pay your expenses with one app. You type in your login credentials after downloading Prism on your phone or tablet. Your account balances and bills will then sync in the app so that you can view them all at once. Then, you may use the app to pay bills directly or set up a payment plan.

Free is the price. You won't pay anything, however certain billets who would benefit from quicker payments may charge the app a modest fee.

Both advantages and disadvantages: Once you've configured things, you'll always have access to anything on your phone or tablet. This is the equivalent of gazing at a stack of financial statements while seated at a desk in the digital age. The app's absence of some of the bells and whistles that other money-management and budgeting applications and software packages offer is most likely a drawback. Additionally, you should be aware that if you pay a bill and the transaction is refused, Prism may charge you a $15 returned item fee in addition to any fees your bank may charge.

Keep tabs on your payments and bills using QuickBooks

Because users can send and manage invoices as well as automatically track mileage, QuickBooks Accounting was selected as the best expenditure tracking tool for small businesses. A built-in photo tool allows you to quickly and conveniently take images of receipts.

Advantages:

  • Automatic mileage tracking and receipt photography.
  • Send and follow up on invoices in several currencies.
  • Sync up your credit card and bank accounts

Disadvantages:

  • One of the priciest cost tracking programs.
  • E-signature is only accessible through the app.
  • No chat assistance.

QuickBooks is a pioneer in corporate accounting and bookkeeping and is owned by Intuit. With the use of its app, small businesses may handle the majority of their financial operations, send invoices, and track spending.

A free 30-day trial of QuickBooks Accounting to Keep tabs on your payments and bills is available without requiring a credit card or a commitment. Additionally, the Accounting app is cost-free if you use QuickBooks online. Alternately, pick from a range of packages starting at $7.50 a month.

Popular attributes for proprietors of small businesses include:

  • Integrations with more than 650 applications, including powerful CRM and inventory management.
  • Access your accountant.
  • Customize invoices with your company's information and logo.
  • Create and monitor bills in various currencies.
  • Create profit and loss statements.
  • Take pictures of receipts and include them with costs.
  • On-the-go sales and consumer tracking.
  • Classify your costs.
  • GPS is used for mileage tracking without exhausting the battery.
  • To set aside money for company payroll and taxes, forecast cash flow over the next 90 days, and utilize envelopes.
  • To keep track of income and spending, link your bank and credit card accounts.

Keep tabs on your payments and bills with MyCheckFree

What it is: This website offers bill-paying services, allowing you to pay bills from hundreds of businesses, ranging from A to Z, online.

Free is the price.

The main benefit is that it's free, and while the website isn't attractive, it still serves as a very functional bill-paying tool. That there is no longer a MyCheckFree mobile app is at least one drawback. However, you may use your mobile browser to access mycheckfree.com and pay your bills there.

It also takes a few days for the invoices to be processed, so it's preferable to try a provider if you have a payment that would be late if it isn't paid today. If you often use the website, you should get in the habit of setting up payments for invoices to be made a few days before they are due.

Important dates to remember to pay your bills on time

To keep tabs on your payments and bills, you must, Be Paying attention to your expenses doesn't have to be difficult. You can select a regimen that suits your needs. However, consistency is essential.

When the costs occur

You have the option of keeping tabs on your payments and other transactions in real-time. With a money management app linked to your bank account, this may be done automatically. Alternatively, you might manually record such transactions in your tracker, ledger, or spreadsheet.

When creating your budget each week

You shouldn't skip tracking your spending for more than a week. They won't only build up; you can also forget them. If you don't do it every day, set aside a dedicated day each week to review your spending and amend your budget.

Last but not least

Another fantastic strategy is to collect your receipts at the end of the day and enter them into your tracker. Now is the perfect time to make budget adjustments to make sure you're on track.

Set aside a certain period each night to evaluate your finances and ensure everything is in order.

Make it simple for yourself to remember to pay your bills!

Financial management doesn't have to be difficult. The tips offered here should help you manage your bills and payments easily.