personal organization help

akpeters

Hello,

 

I am in need of some personal organization help. I am not exactly interested in hiring someone to help, i just need some advice or good websites. I have recently caused a major mess with bills because i just can't stay organized mentally or in my house. I have also started to forget to do tasks for work. I use to be so good at this but lately i just have not done so well. TIA

candreco

At home, I use Google calendar to track bills, appointments, and other important dates, Google Notebook/Docs to keep lists (shopping lists, meal plans, etc.) and then I can also access all of these from my BlackBerry with the Google app, and I use the To Do list function on there to keep a running list with reminder alerts when necessary.  On the desk in the kitchen is a stand for bills to paid if it's something that has to be done by paper.

At work I use the Tasks function in Outlook to track to-do's, long term projects, and notes, and the calendar there as well.  I have one tray that is current projects, one that is long-term stuff, and a third that is documents that I need to refer to often but don't have electronically for some reason.  I'm also really anal about filing documents in appropriate folders on my computer, and cleaning out previous versions of things.

Nicole and Chris

With bills, I have a calendar that I keep on our desk that whenever one comes in, I mark down when it is due.  I pay online but don't do the automatic bill pay b/c of when paychecks come in (sometimes it is different every month).

I have a filing cabinet labeled with each of the files that we have so for each of the bills, once they are paid they get filed right at the front of it's file folder (I even mark paid at the top, date, and if there is a confirmation code, that too).  I've started to have paperless statements, so when I get the statement on my email, I put the due date on my calendar, pay it, and once I get the confirmation put both the statement and confirmation in a folder created on my email.  (I have hotmail and store a lot of my documents/statements on there so that I don't have all of this paper sitting around).

I used to save a years worth of bills just in case but now that things are going paperless, I am trying to as well.  If I do have any on paper still, I keep the previous month and what is current and shred anything from before that.

Kind of long, but as times change I try to change too.  Going paperless is the best thing for me so that I'm not having to keep up with my filing cabinet anymore.  I can't wait until that day! 

MrsToBe2011

I swear by the flylady.com she helps with organizing your home, bills, life and even body clutter! I get her daily email digest it's has helped me tremendously.

akpeters

Thanks for the ideas. My hubby has a way that we keep track of our bills but lately i have been horrible at paying attention to it. I guess i will keep track of them on my calendar.

Wahoo

I sit down and pay bills 2x a month - - on the 1st and 15th.  That way you never miss a 28 day cycle and (the dates USED TO coincide with my pay schedule, but now I get paid every other week - - I used to get paid on the 15th and 30th).  If you need to, post an email reminder.

I have a accordian file that I store bills by vendor name.  So, American Express is A.  PSE&G is in P, etc..  I store all of the bills there and then clean the file out at the end of the year.   

tgwedding07

these ideas were so helpful!! I'm off to set up my google calendar!