Death by papercuts

[smeddley]

My desk is again a mound of paperwork, waiting to be filed. The kitchen counter overflows with mail, some opened, some not. Some important, some not.

Again with the cleaning/organization. One of the main problems is that my mail sorting/opening/recycling center is the kitchen counter (and a small free-standing shelf in the kitchen that holds the recycling basket and a hanging file folder) but my real paperwork area is my desk upstairs. So everything important 'to be filed' gets crammed into one folder and then... eventually I have to schlep it upstairs and sort through it again. Not exactly a streamlined process.

One thing I need to do is find out if the utilities have paperless billing, though the last thing I need is more usernames/passwords. But some things that come about rarely (medical/dental/house stuff) obviously can't be dealt with that way, because it's not a reoccurring bill.

I also need to decide how long do I really need to keep utility bills? The knee-jerk reaction for most people seems to be a year, and that would be my off-the-cuff response. But thinking about it logically, why do I need anything but the current bill? It shows I paid last month, and that I'm not delinquent, and what else do I need? But at the same time, is it more or less efficient to switch out and recycle the month-old bill with the current bill than it is to cram them all into a folder and once a year (or so) go through all of them and weed them out?

*sob* All I want is a clear desk, is that so much to ask? And a clean kitchen counter. And maybe a kitchen floor that isn't white tile. Who in their right mind does that?

As much as I dislike FlyLady, I will admit that babysteps are important. Looking at the sheer amount of crap I have to do (and comparing it to the mounds of things I actually want to do, a comparison it will always lose to) sends me into paralytic shock. SO I have but one goal for this weekend. I want a clean desk. Yes, there are many other things I want - and need - to accomplish, but if I start with a list I might not be able to stop. For now, I have but one focus: desktop. *deep breath*

Comments

[dulcamatrix.livejournal.com]

i commiserate darlin'!

but... and please excuse me if i'm repeating something you already know...
about bills...
if you can access them online, why bother keeping them??

i am a paper person too. and i have the bill issue. i still have paper bills sent so i have something tangible to remind me to PAY THIS! but once the bill has been paid, i chuck the paper bill.
especially if the bill can be found online.

i also pay some bills online.
that eliminates the having to 'file' the bill too.

my bill paying is a bit contradictory i must admit (paper AND online bills... both! lolz)
but i am really happy to see the bill pile disappear ever month.

hope you are doing well hun!!

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I don't actually have access to those bills online - my auto-pay is an EFT, not the usual 'online bill pay'. So paper bills are all I have to really show I'm all up to date and whatnot. That's my big stumbling block!

I thought getting something like the Neat Receipts scanner would be cool, but... 1) I already have a regular scanner, it would be slower but it'd save my tons of money 2) those things cost a fortune and 3) let's be honest, would I really use it?

What I need are good habits. The problem is, I'm not a person of habit. *grumble*

[leaper.livejournal.com]

I've switched over to online billing everywhere that I can. Let me be clear on this. This is not the company saying "You owe us $X, and now we're taking it from your bank account." This is the company sending me an email that my bill is ready. I then login to their site. They will often have multiple views of the bill available. However the critical factor is that the bill can be at least downloaded as a PDF, and usually can be directly viewed as a PDF as well. In most, if not all, cases, there is a history of bills available. I then look the bill over, make sure everything is satisfactory. I then go to my bank's website, and instruct them to send over $X by date blah. I keep a copy of the PDF as a file on my hard drive.

Thus, I am in complete control regarding how much money leaves my account, and when it leaves my account. I have a record of what I was charged, what my balance was, and how much I paid. Further, I don't have to worry about how much space is in my filing system, regardless of whether I'm filing in a drawer (HA!) or on the nearest available surface, praying the tower of paper doesn't topple.

[leaper.livejournal.com]

Oh, almost forgot to mention how I manage the accounts. I use a password manager to keep track of them all. I've been using KeePass for ... 6 months now? I had been using STRIP before that, but they didn't migrate over to Android.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

My auto bill pay is the 'they suck money out of my account' type, because... I'm lazy and weirdly irresponsible. I think I'd be better at writing out checks than I would be doing online bill pay (also, at the time I set this all up eons ago, online bill pay cost money, EFTs were free). I do pay the credit cards online, and write checks for the house and car, but I do it all on the same date - and even that can be tricky. (The car payment isn't even due until the 23rd, but it gets paid on the 1st because otherwise I'm sure it would never get done on time)

I'm very happy with the EFT setup, I know a lot of people feel like it's not controlable, but I get the statement in plenty of time to stop payment if there's an issue (again, there's the staging problem there - I can't just type it into the computer when I open the bill, because I open the mail in the kitchen - usually right after I get home and right before we walk the dog - and my computer is upstairs). And, they take the money at the last possible moment and I don't have to do anything!

I've never used a password manager, I admit I don't like the idea of them. I'm sure they're secure and all, but not as secure as my head. I do a remarkable job, considering my sometimes dodgy memory, of remembering my passwords. Usually. For the important things, at least.