This week’s Tuesday Tip, go paperless! I’ve automated some of my bills, though not all. However, that doesn’t mean I need to receive paper bills in the mail, even for the ones that don’t automatically debit from my bank account.
Tip # 6: Go paperless, use a personal calendar for reminders!
Going paperless can save you money, sort of.
- If you use a personal online calendars with reminders, you are less likely to make a late payment. I use MS Outlook for both my email and to schedule events. I set reminders up to pay certain bills that recur every month. Most of my reminders are set one week before the bill is due, giving me plenty of time to make my payment.
- Make payments online. Going paperless means you retrieve most of your billing information online. Most accounts I pay online can be paid the very same day the payment is due without incurring a late fee. Just make sure that you make the payment before their cut-off time.
Going paperless saves paper, saves trees, saves postage, reduces trash!
- I like knowing that when I check my mail box, it’s not crammed full of needless bills! Around the holidays, I got tired of pulling out a huge pile of ads and having to sort through them to find the important bills. Going paperless means I check my balances online. I make sure to set reminders to pay them before their due date. I save paper and stamps by not having to mail in my payment!
Have you gone paperless? Do you feel comfortable paying your bills online and checking your balances?
6 Comments
I don’t like relying on caledars for my bills, personally. Only because I tend to click them as ‘checked’ w/out paying attention to them. :0
But, what I have done is gone paperless, like you say. And I rather enjoy it. Since I have the same bills w/ generally the same amounts, I have a schedule about what gets paid on the first and what gets paid on the 15. So once a month, I verify the payments and then set them up to go out on the scheduled dates. For the last two months its been working great. But I feel at a loss as to what to do with my time besides checking my account balances and payment dates. LOL.
I think it is great to automate and go paperless as long as you generally hold the same bills/amounts each month.
.-= Money Funk´s last blog ..Sunday Brunch with Christine =-.
@Money Funk – I think you made a good point. If your bills fluctuate month to month, paperless billing would be a little more difficult. Having the same bills every months makes it a lot simpler. If only I could now remember to check my banking statements online (I’ve gone paperless with these as well, and reconcile them, I’d be looking good! – it’s my least favorite activity.)
Your ebook looks great! Will read it a bit later to let you know what I think. Do you mind if I throw it in my resources blog post section on Sunday?
.-= Money Funk´s last blog ..Sunday Brunch with Christine =-.
@Money Funk – I’d love it! Thanks for the link back. 🙂
I’m only half way there, but I don’t see myself going all the way paperless.
I have some of my bills automatically paid, but the one thing that I can give up is my brokerage statments. I know that I could do without, but I’ve been getting them since I was 6, and it just makes me feel secure.
Maybe some day, I’ll give up my paper security blanket (pun intended), but for now… 🙂
.-= Money Reasons´s last blog ..MoneyReasons Weekly Cache 2010, April 18 =-.
@Money Reasons – Since age 6!? Wow! I recently received my social security earnings (pitiful I must confess) and the year I was born I made $600. The following two years, I made about $11,000. Not really sure what ever happened to that money……..I guess my parents weren’t as financially savvy 😉
As for the paperless process, I haven’t completely ditched all the paper bills yet. I’m working on it!