Keys to Organization

The key to organization is to break down larger projects into smaller projects, allowing each project to becoming more manageable. Today, we are talking about managing your bills, so that each month you will not have to scramble looking as to where that bill happened to be placed.

Organization of your Monthly Bills.

Setting Up Your Filing System. To start organizing your bills, you will need a small two drawer filing cabinet. The first drawer will be set up with a file for each company that you receive a bill from, in alphabetical order. The second drawer will be labeled January thru December, using the green hanging file folders with the tab listing the month, and each hanging folder you will have a manila folder with the title January 2009, or whichever month you are in when you start. Make sure that you put the year on the manila folder, for you will repeat this cycle every year.

Begin Using Your Drawer.

During the Month that you are in, when you begin receiving your monthly bills; simply place the bill in the corresponding file that it belongs in. Usually in the middle of the month, I set up the next month’s folder, for you will begin receiving bills for the upcoming month.

Setting Up an Excel Spreadsheet.

Once you have finished setting up your file system, you will create a basic list of bills using the Excel Spreadsheet. At the top of the sheet you will write Month______________. Your spreadsheet will have four columns. Listing your Bills. Starting with column one, and moving parallel ending with column four, list the following (1) the name of the bill, preferably in alphabetical order. (2) The amount due on the bill, (3) date in which the bill was paid, (4) method that was used to pay it. (I.e. credit card, online check.) Save this as and label it Master Copy- Monthly Bills.

Creating a New Month.

Begin a new month by listing the month and year at the top of your page. Begin to fill out your list using your monthly folder, by filing out each column of your spreadsheet. Once completed, save as a document, labeled May 2009, for example. Place a copy of your spreadsheet in your monthly folder. You will have this folder to reference back at a later date. After about 90 days, clean out your monthly folder by putting each bill in their labeled folder in drawer one.

This is our first lesson on getting organized.