I can be a very disorganized person so paying bills has always been a challenge for me. I have a tendency to rifle through my mail and then leave it in a pile somewhere. Often I have a hard time finding a specific letter or bill (or check!) which I know I received.

I have adopted a couple strategies which have really helped keep me organized and ensure that I always pay my bills on time.

First, I try to pay bills as soon as I get them. For credit cards this means that I actually save some interest since the money is credited to my account earlier. I don't get any benefit from paying utility bills early, but at least I avoid the penalties that can accrue if I don't pay on time.

Second, I have been using a calendar program (iCal) to keep track of all my bills. Every time I pay a bill I make sure that it is noted in my calendar and I set up a repeating event so the same bill shows up every month or every two months in the future. I check the calendar every day and can see what bills I expect to pay in the next few days and what bills I should have already payed.

Finally, I use online bill pay for whatever bills I can. Most of my bills go through a single Web site (MyCheckFree) so I can simply check that site once a week and make sure that all my bills have been paid. The site even lets me pay different bills from different accounts so I can keep track of my personal bills and also shared utility bills.

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