CONFESSIONS OF A SLOPPY BILL PAYER!

I’ve already confessed to you that although I write books and articles on how to organize information for caregivers, I am a terribly disorganized person myself, right? Well, I have an even bigger confession to make: I cannot pay my bills on time.

***GASP***

In order to understand the full gravity of what I have just told you, let me explain a few things about myself that you may not know. First of all, I worked for 13 years in the credit bureau industry (please don’t hold that against me!), so I know what bad credit can do to one’s life. Also, I am the Treasurer for my sons’ cub scout pack. And lastly, I take care of the books for Karmel Publishing.

And I was/am very successful at all of these things. But when it comes to my personal finances, I am a disorganized mess. Now, I’m never late enough that it would show up on a credit report. I’m usually just a couple of days late, but enough so that I get a hefty late fee the next month on my statement. I never fight it, because I know it’s my own damn fault and I figure it’s my well-deserved punishment.

I’ve tried various things. I have a bill organizer on my desk so the bills are sorted by their due date. But sometimes the bills are still in piles in the kitchen and don’t make it upstairs until after they are due. Or they make it upstairs, but stay in another pile and not into the organizer until, yep, you guessed it, after the due date.

I also have a monthly calendar taped above my desk, showing what bills are due on what date. But that doesn’t work at all, because if I see that a bill is due and it’s not in my organizer, I have no idea if it’s not there because I paid it already or if it never made it in. **sigh**

Seriously, somebody has GOT to give me some suggestions. What works for you?

Karen