The fall always seems to be a busy time for me. I just can’t seem to avoid the hectic schedule as the weather becomes chillier (for the most part, that is!) – though it’s not the weather that makes for a busy schedule, it’s the time of year! I often can’t find as much time for my little pleasures, like blogging, as I can during other times of the year. I fall (no pun intended!) into the habit of barely being able to keep up with my financial paperwork, which is an extremely bad habit, even as organized as I am. To avoid late payments or missed bills, many of my bills are automated – I merely enter them ahead of time in my Quickbooks program and make sure I have the funds in my bank account. This one strategy helps me stay on my financial track to pay down my remaining debt and save for a rainy day (I’ve also automated paying myself first.)
A few quick tips for staying organized no matter how busy my schedule is:
- Automate most of the bills – DSL, auto and renter’s insurance, car payment, student loan payment, web hosting – bills that are the same amount every month (I could add phone and utilities, but these vary in price and I’m just not quite ready for these to be automated).
- Pay myself first – I’m just starting to get into the habit of doing this; automatically set up transfer payments into my savings account.
- Check my bank balance at least every other day, or every day if I have time – I really wish I could have my bank automatically update my Quickbooks program, but I don’t see this happening anytime soon. So, on a daily or every other day basis, I check my balance and enter any charges I may have missed. This doesn’t take any longer than 10 minutes; time I can usually find in the evenings.
- Set aside 20-30 minutes for finances on the weekends – I normally have a little more time on a Saturday or Sunday to devote to checking on my finances; bills I haven’t automated but need to check, entering expenses and income into Quickbooks. Thankfully I don’t dread doing this, I actually enjoy spending a few minutes on a weekend attending to this chore.
- Use my credit cards sparingly – This actually saves me time – I don’t have to check these bills every month since I don’t use them that often.
It’d be nice to have a personal accountant take care of all my finance responsibilities, but I’m not a high-roller. I also think that having to balance my checkbook and pay my bills myself makes me more responsible and accountable; I know exactly where my money is going and can’t blame anyone else for wasted cash!
Do you find this time of year to be hectic? Holidays, school obligations, kids…do you run around more during the fall season? How do you manage everyday tasks like finances?
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A couple hit the chequings automatically, and the rest I hammer out using online banking. I can pay down the CCs at the same time when I see a balance there!
.-= Kevin@InvestItWisely´s last blog ..Looking for a Solution to a Problem- but Can’t Find One SolutionAuctionscom is Here to Help =-.
How about a no credit card spend month?
.-= Financial Samurai´s last blog ..Instead Of Twitter Love What About A Twitter War =-.
I understand how you feel too! For some reason, I’ve been feeling “go go go” for the past few months. Like I’m always playing catch up with things I want done.
There’s a fantastic app (if you have a smart phone) call PageOnce I think, and it shows all your credit and debit card stuff on one screen, so you know how much you have on your credit card etc. I talk about it on a post coming up on Monday. =)
.-= youngandthrifty´s last blog ..Cheap and Good Eats- Toshi Sushi =-.
@Financial Samurai – Sometimes that happens; but every other month I have to make sure to use the cards so I’m continually building payment history!
@Young and Thrifty -Thanks for sharing that app info. I’ll have to check it out. I might be able to save some precious time!
Good ideas for staying organized. For us, we pay all our bills online through our bank. Many of them are set up as recurring payments, and the variable ones, we set up once a week!
.-= Khaleef @ KNS Financial´s last blog ..Firefighters Let House Burn and Pets Die Over 75 – Is the pay-to-spray fee a good idea =-.
I’m funny, I actually try to put as much as possible on the credit card.
But my wife really handles the normal bills. I just get stuck with the responsibility of doing the federal and state taxes (because of stock transactions)…
Sounds like you have a good system though
.-= Money Reasons´s last blog ..Debt Free- Now What =-.
@Money Reasons – I pretty much handle all the finances (minus the stock investments – that’s my husband’s domain). I’d like to think I have a good system, so far it’s been running smoothly.