Paperless Bills and Bill-paying

We've talked before about going paperless, and I've pretty much completed my transition! The only paper bills I deal with now are those that come irregularly (doctor's offices, home repairs, etc.), and those that don't give me the option of being paperless (mostly insurance policies). I've also gone paperless with all of our account statements from financial institutions.

And my life is so much easier.
I can pay the bills faster because I don't have to wait for them to arrive in the mail.

I have so much less paper clutter that I no longer have a pile of papers waiting to be filed. I file five sheets of paper per month, tops! Plus I'm saving time, which I never have enough of.

TWO important steps make this system work for me.

1. Back up documents regularly. I have an external hard drive that I copy my documents to once a week. I also have an external hard drive that I keep in our safe deposit box at the bank, and I plan to swap the hard drives at least twice a year to keep the one at the bank somewhat up to date.

2. Keep track of bills as the emails arrive and sync payment due dates. I don't know about utilities, but most financial institutions will adjust your payment due date to one that's convenient for you. I find that having all of my bills due later in the month means I can pay them in one go at the beginning of the month, so that's what I do. I also print out a sheet of paper each month that lists our monthly bills - then, as the email notifications of bills arrive, I save a copy of the bill to my hard drive, and jot down the amount due and the payment due date. It keeps all of the bill payment info on one sheet of paper, so I can see everything at a glance.

Have you gone paperless yet?

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by scottchan.