Growing up, I remember my mom sitting at the kitchen table with a stack of envelopes and the checkbook.
The process seemed simple enough: Have a bill, write a check, mail it off. Easy peasy. Every bill arrived at your home and required its own paper trail to be paid so forgetting to pay wasn’t often a problem.
Modern Day Bill Pay
In today’s world, life is all about convenience and that is never more true than with our finances.
Related: How to Make a Budget
Paperless billing, online bill pay, and automatic payments are just a few of the ways we have become out of touch with our monthly bills.
These methods of payment can be helpful and even convenient when they are used properly. But when the busyness of life gets in the way, these new conveniences can make it easy to forget to pay a bill.
Monthly Bills and Late Fees
Keeping track of monthly bills and ensuring they are paid, is not only a good idea, but it is essential to achieving financial goals.
Related: The Importance of Setting Financial Goals
Most monthly bills do extend grace before submitting late bills to any sort of collections agency. But that “grace” most often comes in the form of a late fee.
Sure these late fees are generally a few dollars here or there BUT in some instances, they can be more.
And no matter the amount, late fees are not often part of a family budget. So every time a late fee is paid, that is money that is taken away from achieving financial goals.
Monthly Bill Payment Tracker Printable
As a busy mom, I will be the first to admit that I have forgotten to pay bills and cost my family money due to late fees.
In order to put an end to forgetting I created a monthly bill payment tracker printable. This printable is a single sheet of paper, but I would argue the single most important tool when it comes to maintaining my budget.
The monthly bill payment tracker provides a place to see what bills have been paid and what ones need to be paid each month. At a quick glance, I am able to handle any bills in a timely manner.
How to Use the Monthly Bill Payment Tracker
Using the monthly bill payment tracker is quick and easy!
1. Print a copy! You can grab a free one below or there is an advanced edition included in your purchase of the Well Planned Budget Planner. Grab your copy today!
2. Take a minute to fill out each of your recurring bills and their due dates. Do this even for your automatically paid bills. This will help you to make sure they are paid each month as well. You may even decide later to cancel recurrent services you’re no longer using.
3. Pick a day to focus on finances! I recommend committing to a time each week to “check in” on your finances. Set aside a specific day, and pull out your monthly bill payment tracker. Review what needs to be paid, what has been paid, and what still needs to be paid.
As you pay a bill (or it is automatically paid) check the box that corresponds with the bill. Now you can see quickly what bills need to be paid and which ones are settled for the month.
If you find that a bill is due but you can’t find the statement, simply give the company a call.
Often times you can pay over the phone or at the very least, they can give you the balance due. After you know the balance you can use your bank’s bill pay or mail in a check.
Sign Up Below to Get Your Own Monthly Bill Payment Tracker
Do you find yourself wishing you had more help with setting up a budget? Do you wish you knew how to stick with a budget? Let me help you! Sign up below to join my FREE budgeting course and learn step by step how to create a budget, learn the basics of budgeting and finances, and learn tips for sticking with your budget.
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