Bill Payment Checklist

Living together means having to pay bills together. This has been one of the adjustments we've had to make since moving in together and it can get a little confusing who has to pay what when! Each of us has our own credit cards, insurance, etc and now we share responsibility of paying for rent, cable, and electricity. We are very lucky that our rent also includes gas heat (which also works the stove), and water so that is one less bill to worry about. However, we have plenty on our minds every day that I was getting nervous we might accidentally miss a bill deadline.

I have used bill checklists before but it was only to keep track of my own payments so it was time to make one that we could both utilize. Keeping it in a binder seemed like a great idea until Tim mentioned he wanted something that he could look at every day; like a calendar. I wasn't totally sold on the idea of a calendar marking our bills and having to write them in every single month so I came up with a solution that seems like it's the best of both worlds.

I put everything in order of when it's due each month so we can visually see how the month is progressing as we pay everything off. Some bills are ones that only I need to worry about so I've marked them with my name. Some are ones Tim worries about so the same goes for him. We also have our own way of paying things- when I paid $100 towards our couch payment, he paid $100 towards groceries for the week. It all works out in the end :)

This chart was made easily on Microsoft Word and I printed and laminated it so we could mark off each payment with dry erase markers. So far I manage to get to the chart first and Tim is a bit jealous he hasn't had the opportunity to check anything off :)

It hangs nicely on our fridge, an easy reminder for what's coming up and easily accessible!

So that's how we are organizing our bill paying now, how do you?

Also, if you are intrigued by the photo magnets on our fridge come back Wednesday to learn how to get your own!