Budget Step Four

This page brought to you by Office Depot. Get the Basics You Need in a CLICK at Office Depot! Everything you need to budget effectively can be bought at Office Depot at a great price and delivered to your door!

If possible the following items should be purchased. Click on the pictures below for easy ordering.

Then it is the time to use all those supplies you have purchased.

As you check your mail everyday put your bills (still in their envelopes) into a pile and pick one or two days a week to organize it all.

Pick a day and grab that pile of mail and start working.

1. Immediately put any junk mail that has your name and/or address on it into the shredder.

2. Place all bills in one pile, all other items that need action (like invitations that need to be RSVP) into another pile and then put any other mail that you need to keep (like receipts, paid invoices and statements) into your large plastic bin.

3. Any bank statement need to be placed into your binder and all tax related documents (like interest statements, 1099's and W2's) into the front pocket of the binder so that they will be easily accessable for tax preparation.

4. Anything you don't need (like envelopes or junk mail without your personal information needs to go immediately into the trash can. This is your work area. You need to keep it clean and orderly so you can stay focused.

5. Dust off your Bill Organizer and install Quicken. It's time to get organized!

6. Quicken will walk you through a set up. Enter all of your bills and obligations into Quicken. Be sure to enter your bills in the reminder area too. By doing so Quicken will then automatically prompt you to pay your bills in the future and this will act as one of your double checks to make sure that your bills are paid on time. The other check will be a manual one. You'll be able to have a physical reminder too! The Physical reminder happens when you use the bill organizer.

*Remember those piles you made in #2? The pile that needs action should get just that, action. Take care of this pile first. Write on them what action you took, be it, RSVP'ed with Jane Doe at 5:00pm June 12, 2005, or a confirmation number if it was a call in payment. And then put the papers into your file box as they are completed. Only completed items go in your box.

*If you are doing the paper route (not Quicken) take out your calender and write the name of the payee and amount due for every bill you have to pay on the corresponding date due. Make sure you enter the info. about a week before the actual due date so you have time to mail the bill out and allow time for the payee to receive it. Either way, Quicken or calender, you have just created one of your two ways to make sure your bills will be paid on time. If you are using the calender way make sure you mark of the bill after you mail it out. Just put a single line through it. Do not completely cover it as you'll want to see when it was scheduled and mailed. Mail it on the exact day that you have it on the calender so that your calender will be accurate.

7. After you enter the bill in Quicken or the Calender seperate the bills as follows.

Bills/Items that must be mailed- Tear off the payment coupon. Write out a check to pay the bill. Date the check for the day that you will be mailing it. I always send my bills exactly one week ahead of the due date. Take into account holidays and weekends and add extra time for transit if needed. You know your local mail service. If you think you should mail out your bill earlier, do it! Enter the check and payment in Quicken. If you are using a calender method write the check number and date on the non-coupon part of the bill so you will have a record incase it's not credited to your account.

Bills Items that can be paid online ahead of time (scheduled- Go ahead and go to the individual creditor's websites and pay your bills. I like to schedule them to be paid (taken out of my checking account and credited to the creditor) at least 2 days before the due date. Be VERY CAREFUL not to schedule on weekends or holidays unless the creditor clearly says there will be no penalty for doing so. I never want to chance it so I always schedule them Mon-Fri. and never on holidays! After you pay them enter them in Quicken. If using the calender system record them in your checkbook register. This can get a little difficult when using the paper method, but it can be done. You are going to have to keep a running list of paid bills that have not been mailed and then check the list everyday and then enter them into your "real" check register before you make your daily trip to the post office to mail your bills.

Bills/Items that can not paid ahead of time and need to be entered into your calender/Quicken as a reminder to be paid on that day. - These items need to be entered directly into the Quicken reminder. Every morning you should check your reminder area to see which bills need to be scheduled. Most creditors are offering online payment options. I love this as you don't have to pay for a stamp, don't have to go to the post office and you don't need to worry about anything getting lost in the mail. Although alot of creditors offer this service, some are still lagging behind by only allowing you to pay the bill on the day you log on to your account instead of scheduling it for a later date. Calender people need to write in these bills on the day you need to pay them, normally at least 2 days before the due date. Circle these bills so they stand out so you know they still need to actually be paid.

Next put anything that has not already been scheduled physically into the correct date slot on your bill organizer. Now put all of the checks you wrote in the correct date slot. They need to already be stamped and have a return address on them. Do not seal them. In case you need to check anything, you want to be able to look without ruining an envelope! Again put it about 1 week before the due date so you will know to mail it then and it will be on time.

You just created a system that can not fail. Even if your computer fails or the calender is lost, you still have the bill organizer as a backup. Every morning you should check both the computer/calender and the bill organizer. Anything in the that days date needs to be mailed, paid on the computer or phone or other action needs to be taken. The reason you enter everything into the calender or Quicken when you've already taken care of it is so that you will notice if you are missing a bill. Even if a creditor does not mail out a bill you are still responsible for the amount due. Not receiving a bill is not a reason for you to not be sent to collections or have a ding put on your credit report.

When you enter your bills in the Quicken reminder center, Quicken will automatically remind you every month that your bills is due and the amount you need to pay. If either of these change you need to change them in Quicken.

If you are using the calender method you need to check the prior months bills to see if anything is missing!

At the end of every month take all of the papers in your box and put them in a file labeled with the month and year and then put the entire file into a permanent file box. By doing so you will have organized and filed your financial history and if needed you will be able to pull out records, in record time!!!!

You are almost done... go to STEP FIVE!