How do you organize your bills?

Several years ago, my aunt and uncle made my sisters and I french memo boards for Christmas. Here's an example of one: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/168/435954938_50019fad70_o.jpg I use it to put important papers (including bills) that I will need in the near future that I don't want to misplace.

I created a Google Doc for all my bills for each month. So whenever I get a bill in the mail or in my email, I log it into my doc. There is a category for the date, bill name, amount and confirmation #. It has saved my life!

I've always used Excel to keep myself on track. I have a tab for my checkbook; a tab for all debt (credit cards, student loans, mortgage) that shows by month when it's due, min payment, when i paid, what i paid, new charges & interest for the next month; tab for each months bills (electricity, gym, insurance, etc).

I find it very helpful to have all my information in one month and to show month over month. It makes it really satisfying to see where I started the year and where I ended.

Plus I also use Mint.com, which helps to show overall trends for shopping -- and makes it easy to look back for tax purposes (for example i can sort by all charitable organizations and easily see what I donated).

When I get a bill I put it on my computer keyboard. Since I pay 99% of my bills on-line, the next time I'm on the computer I schedule the payment so I don't forget and then I enter it into my Excel spreadsheet (checkbook).

I pay all my bills online. I put recurrances in my Outlook calendar around the time a bill is going to be due (ie: if I know my Visa bill is usually due around the 3rd of a month, I make an event on the 1st so it's not late), and then it reminds me to pay it. But usually I also just check the mail every day, and as soon as we get a bill, it goes into the "pile" on the edge of the counter, and every weekend we just try to pay the bills that are there. But in case we ever forgot (which we never have) it's in my calendar to remind me. The best part about the calendar is that it also reminds me of what needs to be paid for budgetting purposes...I also have my paydays written on there as well.

The key is probably not to always wait until the last minute to pay them. If you can't remember to do it, do it ASAP when you get it.

I do paper-less billing for everything. I pay everything online or automatically. Most banks do that now now so you can set it up for recurring bills and that way you won't be able to forget and not pay, the bank will take care of it for you as long as the money is there.

I have everything hit my credit card so I don't have to worry about paying them on the company's time frame. I keep my budget in an Excel spreadsheet, and include tabs for future bills, such as car registrations and such, and larger goals like saving for a house or car.

When I get a bill through e-mail or in my mailbox I immediately log the bill amount and when its due into the calender on my phone. Typically I enter that its due a few days before the actual due date, so I give the bank a few days to process the payments. I schedule an alert on my phone to "1 day before" and I immediately write the check or make the online payment upon receiving notification. Then I log that information in my check book, yes, the good ol' check book.

I have an Excel file for my budget and I also list everything I buy or pay for on a daily basis, I use Outlook as a reminder for some payments that I don't get a bill or email for, I get the statements by email when possible (also ecologic!) and I pay them as soon as I receive them. With this system I've never been behind on anything.

Hi! This is a very common problem for everyone. The easiest (and best) solution is that we would all have NO bills... wouldn't that be great? But since we're in the real world, here's what I do...
When I get my mail, I immediately open and sort my bills into the beginning of the month and the end of the month on my desk. Right above my desk is a dry erase calendar with the due date of each bill I have (that way I can never get behind). There's something about seeing everything written out that helps me get a handle on it all. I hope this helps!

go paperless and set up auto-withdrawl. as long as you keep enough in your accounts to cover the totals, you won't even have to think about it!

Different people have different ways of dealing with things. When it comes to handling bills, here's what I do:
The moment I get the statement in the mail, I open it, discard the envelop and other unnecessary inserts, then mark my calendar for the date that I want it paid and the amount, then place it in my IN basket (or pin on the corkboard, etc). Once I'm done paying it, I file it immediately in the appropriate folder. As for e-bills, I again mark my calendar for the payment date and amount, then file it in the "financial" folder in my computer.