Organizing Finances

How I take care of my finance

Submitted by ccs on Sat, 01/12/2008 - 06:09

Hello! I have the same problem and I have a contact at my bank who helps me with all that. She tells me about how much I have per month to live of, to structure my savings, explains difficult words and what it all means. I have lots of depts now and I will try to get a loan so everything can be paid of. She will help me with this to. I have one folder for medical bills for example and that one is blue, and all things that has got to do with medical things are blue, like texts, bills, in my calendar it´s all blue about medicin/doctors apointments etc. Everything about provisions are orange and so on. My cell phone has a calender with alarm wich is very useful for me, I would forgot to many things otherwise. //CCS

Financial Organization

Submitted by MelissaOrlov on Sat, 01/12/2008 - 10:14

You don't say whether or not you have the financial wherewithal to hire someone to help you on a very part-time basis. But if you have time to hire a personal organizer for the really critical areas, that might make both of your lives easier. Perhaps a retired person who lives in your area and is looking for some very part-time way to make a bit of extra money a few hours a week? If you have a senior center nearby, perhaps you could talk with them about posting this job. Sounds as if you need someone for financial organization mostly - paying bills and organizing your financial files.

I also like the idea of the banking person who helps out, though that person can't physically pay the bills for you.

You can also set up many of your bills to be on "autopay" at their websites. This means the money is automatically deducted from your account each month. This solves the problem of late payment fees, but you would still want to put aside time to review the bills to make sure that they were okay. (And you have to have enough in your account to pay for the bills that come in...)

I set aside a specific day each month to pay bills and deal with whatever comes in that month. To do this, cross that day off your calendar and mark it as bill day, then get your bill due dates aligned by calling your credit card companies (and any other one that might charge a due date). Set the payment due date for 7-9 days after your scheduled payment day to give the payment time to get there. (I also deal with school requests, registrations and all sorts of other stuff that comes into the house on that day). The other benefit of this is that if I finish early I can do something fun as a reward for my hard work!

Melissa Orlov

Financial Organization

Submitted by Hildy910 on Thu, 01/17/2008 - 15:01

Thanks! We could afford a part-time organizer--I want to find one that is ADD-friendly, b/c I think that much of the financial advice I've received over the years is just too detailed to be practicable for me. I have read about organizers who will actually physically pay your bills for you--that would be a dream come true. I didn't realize that you could get your payment due dates altered to suit yourself--that would definitely help in choosing one day a month to pay bills. The trouble is, I often just blow that day off when it comes around. I do have all my bills that are a fixed amount set on autopay, and I pay the rest online through the bank. It's taking the hour or so to actually sit down and pay the online bills that seems to be difficult. The 'auotpay' option might be an issue, as I freelance, and there is not always a reliable amount of money coming in. What is Checkfree?

Checkfree & auto pay

Submitted by Comissar on Sat, 01/19/2008 - 22:23

Checkfree is a free service supported by many credit card companies, utilities, large retailers & so forth. You sign up at Checkfree.com and look for companies on their list that you do business with. For each one you select, an electronic statement is sent to Checkfree rather than a paper one to you. Any time during the month, you can log on to their website and see what "electronic" bills are waiting, and either pay them yourself by mailing a check, or use Checkfree like a bank website to cause an electronic check to be issue from your regular checking account to pay it. The e-bills are stored online by vendor in .PDF form, so you can look back at them and don't need to keep paper copies. I had my electricity, water, gas, credit cards, telephone/cell phone, car insurance, and a few other things set up through Checkfree, and quit getting paper statements for all of them. You can often do the same thing with each biller, but then you have to log on to each website to see it. Either way you will usually get an email telling you that a new bill is due. BTW, you don't have to have a fixed amount to use auto pay, although something with a potentially large payment should probably be set up for a minimum monthly payment instead. With this feature, if you haven’t made a manual payment (of any amount) by the due date, the minimum payment is automatically made. To me, the trick was finding ways to make a decision only once. I don't need to decide whether or not to pay the water bill, so there's no reason to see or think about it. Larger bills, of course, aren't so simple unless you are fortunate enough to be able to keep a high minimum balance in your checking account. Remembering to pay yourself is just as important as other bills – via payroll deduction to a 401(k) through your employer, automatic monthly payment to an IRA, or automatic monthly transfer to a savings account. One other trick is to ask your bank for overdraft protection on your checking account, where an overdraft is covered by your credit card (this may require you to have a credit card with the same bank as your checking account). Every time it is invoked, you will get hit with a cash advance fee plus interest, but that's much cheaper than bounced check charges plus late payment fees. I've done both... Comissar

Some financial organization ideas that worked for us

Submitted by Comissar on Mon, 01/14/2008 - 20:00

Here are some things that worked for us. Use auto pay or automatic monthly minimum payment whenever possible to avoid late fees. This can save hundreds of dollars a year in fees and interest. I've had my electricity, water, and cable turned off at various times for lack of payment, and not due to lack of funds. Figure out how you best deal with statements. For some, it's putting unpaid bills in a folder, and tossing them when paid. Others like them via email or other online method. I like to stop paper statements and get my bills online through a bill presentment website like Checkfree. The goal is to a) not lose the bill, b) not forget to pay it on time; and c) know that you did pay it. Try online payments using Quicken, Checkfree and/or your bank's bill paying service. This eliminates the need for checks, envelopes and addressing, stamps that keep changing in value, and mail delay. It’s usually free. Consolidate services as much as you can to fewer businesses. Merge cell phone accounts and combine land line, cell phone, cable/satellite TV and Internet to a single provider. Get all your car and home insurance from the same company. Consider using the same or fewer companies for banking, credit cards, insurance, investments, retirement plans, etc. In almost all cases, you will get better pricing in the process and cut your mail volume substantially. When selecting the company, consider the convenience of the company’s web site - online bill paying, historical statements, service changes, etc. Kill off unnecessary credit cards. We didn't have a debt problem, but over the years had accumulated many cards - special offers, 0% interest rollovers, department store deals, airline miles, etc. But one $39 late fee is liable to wipe out much of the benefit of a card's original incentive. We now use a debit card, one major credit card, and a department store card that gives us substantial discounts for purchases made on their card. Of course, if you can use the debit card and save the credit card for emergencies, there's no monthly credit card statement at all. And here's an unexpected side effect - just by closing unused credit cards, our credit rating went UP. Reduce your filing burden. For years, I kept copies of past bank statements, credit card bills, utility bills, etc. "for my records", as if I was ever going to look at them again. They were a huge burden to file, and I was always behind with a big stack of stuff waiting to be filed. Now I do everything online, and only keep year-end statements for those things that have tax implications, which just get thrown into a single folder to deal with once at year end. Toss receipts as soon as it's clear that the item works, fits, or otherwise won't be immediately returned, unless the item is expensive enough that you might actually seek remedy under the warranty. The vast majority of inexpensive products that fail under warranty are just thrown away rather than returned for repair or credit. Reduce your mail volume. This is a personal crusade for me. Visit www.the-dma.com and look under “Commitment to Consumer Choice” to get off junk mail lists. The mailbox represents work to be done, decisions to be made, things with adverse consequences if ignored. By cutting mail volume, it's easier to avoid missing important stuff. While you're at it, visit www.donotcall.gov and get off telemarketer's lists - a time and hassle saver if there ever was one. You don’t have to deal with it if you just eliminate it (this applies to “stuff” around the house as well). We still don't like paying bills, but it takes less time now, we don’t make as many mistakes, we save money, and the inbox doesn't look like an impossible mountain of work. Cheers, Comissar

Financial organization

Submitted by Andrea Grenadier (not verified) on Wed, 01/16/2008 - 20:58

Comissar's list for financial organization is amazingly practical and useful — I don't have ADHD (or even a marriage!) but for any busy person whose life courses on many tracks, these are very helpful. I do most of these things, and it's streamlined my life immeasurably. The one thing I didn't know is that closing the accounts of credit cards you no longer use helps your credit rating. For several years, the general wisdom (which seems counterintuitive) says the opposite: that the more cards you have that you don't use increases your credit rating. I lean on the side of closing them. On the issue of receipts, I keep ALL receipts, and toss them in a box to be sorted out at tax time. This can become a habit very fast, and keeping them one one place is very helpful. Halfway through the year, I sort them according to medical, prescriptions, travel, etc.

Credit rating

Submitted by Comissar on Sat, 01/19/2008 - 22:14

I found out about the credit rating thing while applying for an airline miles credit card. Although I had virtually no debt, the card was denied. I had so many other cards that my "available credit" - if I ever chose to excercise it - was too large for my income. That got me looking at my credit report and cancelling cards, including some I had forgotten about. My FICO score went up, with no real change in my financial position. On reciepts, throwing everything into the box is probably the safest and requires the least thought. Minimal thought needed is good. Comissar

It does depend however.

Submitted by Tohanry on Thu, 04/03/2008 - 09:24

It does depend however. There is a point that closing credit card accounts becomes detrimental. But yes, if you have more credit than your income, it will help your score. Tohanry

What works for us

Submitted by Frazzledmom on Thu, 10/02/2008 - 14:40

Keeping organized financially has been a huge challenge for us. What has finally worked for us is using a combination of tracking and organzing tools. We both attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University a few years ago so we do have tools and knowledge.....using them consistently is the key. We use the allocated spending sheet from Dave Ramsay (we actaully made our own using a google doc) combined with a homemade spreadsheet that lays everything out-what's due when. Then we use Mvelopes from Crown Fianancial Concepts to track everything online. We try to enter all transactions within 24 hours. Debit cards are still devious, sneaky and dangerous if we forget to enter transactions. If you are living paycheck to paycheck and money is so tight you can't afford missing a transaction I would highly reccomend using cash only for food, gas/car expenses, clothing, and recreation/ misceallaneous.

Best Wishes and Blessings to you

Frazzledmom in WA

How to get my husband to keep records?

Submitted by Sueann on Thu, 07/22/2010 - 10:42

My husband and I functioned fairly well for a while with a joint checking account. I checked our account balances online. At least I knew how much we had.

But we have had to separate our finances to avoid someone I owe money to. (I was unable to keep the original payment arrangement because he stopped working.) He has his own account with the bulk of our money. He uses a debit card for everything. It would not be safe for him to carry large amounts of cash, and he needs to buy gas several times a week. He, of course, has no idea what he's spent. I can't get him to go to the bank or call them (he hates the phone) to get the pin for online banking. I can't get him to use the check register. He now finds himself 30 miles from home with no gas and a whole workday ahead of him. How can I get him to do what he needs to do even though it's not stimulating? Just spending until the card is declined is not the way to go.

Hello, I wanted to share

Submitted by hollyamy27 on Mon, 08/09/2010 - 11:31

Hello, I wanted to share what worked for me in helping my fiance grow more organized in the financial aspect, it took a little over a year before he was comfortable enough to go at it on his own w/o me hand holding as much but it worked. I reminded him twice a week to start what bills were due and he made an agreement to come home with the cash if I could organize the payments and companies & etc...after a while of doing this so I could figure out his financial state w/o him int he picture then I brought him into once I had it all organized. I used a spreadsheet to list company names, total owed amount to ech one and called each company to get the information on a monthly payment plan and the due date payments needed to be made by.

Once I had all this on a sheet as a 'visual' I showed it to him a few weeks after he came home consistently with money to pay all of his bills and not miss anything. After 2 or 3 months of just making sure he was coming home with the cash consistently, then I showed him the sheet and it was sort of shocking for him and he got upset when he realized how much money he owed to so many companies combined. However, I told him the reason this happened was because he ran away and ignored it for so long and did not seek help in how to organize it to begin with - he agreed then he asked me what to do about it and how.

Because I had already started off organizing everything into a sheet and had him making regular payments he was already knocking down the amounts though he did not see the effect it was having. I showed him the sheet when we began and then showed him the one where we were at current day and his response was "I never knew it could be this easy" He came to an understanding that it can be easy it just takes some consistency and little effort and of course his own 'will" to want to do better...

Once I had the comment from him in his 'own' time that he felt things had become a little easier which gave him a new perspective, I told him he will take this sheet post it somewhere he can see it every day and bring home the money he needs each week (which was printed on the sheet in weekly amounts, including his weekly budget for what he wants or needs aside from paying bills) so essentially he saw 4 weeks pre-listed with his personal budget and the amount he would need for that weeks bills separated on two lines. This left him less likely to go over each amount as he knew his targets.

He did wonderful with this and he has kept up with it on his own for the most part. He said having the information on paper was the thing that saved him.. He told me he just never knew where to start taking the info out of his head to get it organized in the right way that made sense so he could see it on paper - which made sense as it was something he struggle with naturally which I knew which is why I stepped in to help him...he now updates his own budget sheets and forecasts hi own spending and has not missed any bills in about a year. AMAZING improvement and all from a spread sheet that took me little time in comparison to put together so eventually he could help himself and realize he is capable of a lot more than he might have thought.

Hope this helps someone out there, if anyone has questions on how to set up an 'easy visual' spreadsheet I can share some helpful tips.

~Best~

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How I take care of my finance

Financial Organization

Financial Organization

Checkfree & auto pay

Some financial organization ideas that worked for us

Financial organization

Credit rating

It does depend however.

What works for us

How to get my husband to keep records?

Hello, I wanted to share