Bill Paying Caddy

 I have this beautiful wooden caddy. I have been using it as a bill paying station. It's mobile and keeps all I need in it for bill paying (as well as some extras!). The basket caddy in the left rear of the photo is where I keep stickers, pens, markers and pencils for updating my personal planner or doing homeschooling with my children. (See...you can organize with so many beautiful things...it doesn't have to only be restricted to plastic bins and totes!).

It is really nice that it is mobile. At the moment, it sits on my desk in the schoolroom. In the winter however, that room gets terribly cold. It will be nice to have the option to just grab the caddy and bring it into the dining room so I can pay bills. 

Inside of the caddy I keep my bill payment binder (more on that below), bills to be paid, some stickers and pens, scissors and tabs and a return address stamp. 

Then I have my folders...one for Bills to Pay (if I don't want them directly placed in the caddy), the second one is for bill stubs and other things that need to be filed...and the last folder is for things I need to shred. 

Now into my bill paying binder....I am using November's pages so as not to reveal all our bills to be paid that I have filled in on previous months (normally many more dates would be filled in)! I use the month-on-two-pages refills only. You can find these planners inexpensively HERE. I added tabs and then wrote down all the dates of our bills on the date they are due and their amounts (once paid, I check it off). Where it is highlighted in yellow ~ that is a pay day. Where it is highlighted in blue ~ those are days that we have bills taken directly out of our account. This way I never forget anything and I can easily keep everything paid...on time and in our budget. **I also keep stamps and address labels in this binder so I have everything I need to pay bills!**

Although I tweaked this planner to work for me, I cannot claim to have thought it up. I read about it HERE and found it to be a great idea to keep bills paid. Many of us don't have a lot of extra money to buy expensive planners as she has (but some of us do...and if you can, that is wonderful). For me, I make use of what I can and what is affordable for our family. She uses hers as a wallet as well as a payment binder. I do not....I keep this at home with my bill paying items.

Everyone has to do things the way that works best for them. My way may not work for you...or maybe it will...you just have to tweak things to make them your own. That is what I am constantly doing ~ always tweaking to make things more beneficial for my family and me. Who knows...maybe I will tweak my system again at some point...if I do, I'll share all about it!