Ok, so calling our BILL BOX, a box of “wonders,” is a little stretch, but it isn’t if you look at it like organization in this area saves us time AND money!
Today we have a GUEST LINK to www.crapivemade.blogspot.com.
Below is an example of Char’s Bill Box that she has agreed to share with us today. I have highlighted her entire post in BLUE. You really should jump over and check her out, she is AMAZING! Thank you Char for today’s post.
Today, I'm showing you my bill box. Oh how I love my bill box! Going out to buy one *might* be my favorite part of the new year.
You've all seen these accordion files before, right? You can get a solid colored one at any office supply store or super center. Those run about $8. I usually spend a little more and get a cute one to make my bill paying life more pleasant.
Here's last year's: 
I label it with the year clearly on the outside.
Some of these files come pre-labeled. I don't really like their categories, so I re-label. I bought a pack of file folder labels for just a few dollars 7 or 8 years ago and I still haven't used them all.
You can label them however fits your needs. I use the following categories:
Bank Account
Cable
Chase/Old Navy/TCP
Debit Receipts/Check Duplicates (I clear this one out after I've entered receipts and reconciled statements)
Dental
Insurance
Medical
Mortgage
Newspaper/Magazines
Pay Stubs
Questar (gas)
Qwest (phone)
Receipts (for major purchases)
Retirement
Taxes
Tithing
Utah Power (electric)
Water
At the end of the year, I take the entire box downstairs to our storage room. It doesn't take up a lot of room and it's easy to locate something should the need arise. Like the time the cable company turned us over to collections for a $16 bill because they hooked cable up at a house we hadn't lived in for THREE YEARS and then tried to tell me I never paid off our original account.
Thank you CHAR! www.crapivemade.blogspot.com
Another way of using this system that I learned years ago when I was teaching organization classes and had a friend guest speak on her BILL BOX is the following.
My friend, Jill Mason (CA), had a similar system to Char’s above, with just a little different twist.
Jill uses the same great BILL BOX base, but separates hers’ into the months of the year, with the front pocket being used for incoming bills. She talked about how when current bills came in, they went in the TO PAY front pocket.
She would sit down once or twice a month, pay the bills and then store the paid bills in the month that corresponds.
At the end of the year, she takes all 12 utility bills, puts them in order, staples them in the corner and stores them in her main file cabinet.
She then shreds the set from FIVE years back that no longer needs to be kept.
VIOLA!
So simple.
She can even tote her little box to the park, let her kids play and complete her bill paying for the month.
Thank you Char! Thank you Jill!
I love both ideas.
This little BILL BOX can also be used for lots of other things.
Just a few I have thought of are:
To store sheet music
Organize Personal Progress
Store cards
Organize paper
So many ideas, so little time.
We may cover some of these ideas later in the year, but for now organize those bills.
For tomorrow:
If you are not done with all your paper, don’t panic, just keep sorting or working on the stage you are in, because we are tackling the tails of the paper Mon, Tues and Wed of next week.
Tomorrow, we are going to tackle a mystery closet, so don’t miss it.
See you tomorrow.
~Laura
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