You've heard it before. "You always have to pay your bills ontime or it will hurt your credit rating". The fact is that ... your bills on time can also cost you a bunch of ... last time I You've heard it before. "You always have to pay your bills ontime or it will hurt your credit rating". The fact is that notpaying your bills on time can also cost you a bunch of money.The last time I checked being late on a credit card paymentcan cost you as much as $29 each time. In some cases this ismore than the payment.Most banks and loan companies also charge some sort of late fee. Even my electric company tacks on 10% if you don't pay on time.The bad part of this is that most of the time making late payments can be avoided. That's because they are simply aresult of a lack of organization. If your bills and receiptsaren't kept organized there is a good chance you will eventuallybe late on a payment.There is nothing more frustrating than receiving a bill forsomething you know you've already paid and not being ableto find the receipt or cancelled check. In this case, ifyou can't prove you already paid it then you still owe it.You have to have an organized filing system that you keepup with faithfully. At Budget Stretcher I have a system sothat you can have your budget, bill paying and filing systemall in one convenient 3 ring binder.To use this system you will need to setup a budget usingThe Complete Budget and Bill Organizer. This organizer isavailable free at http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/BBOonline.html . Iwould suggest visiting this page to setup your budget before you try to set up your organizer.Whether you decide to use my Bill Organizer system or anothersystem you need to have one. I am going to go through mysystem step by step.Keeping track of your bills each month can be a headache. How to organize your bill paying and keep track of those receipts, canceled checks, loan papers and other important paperwork canbe made easy.Below is a list of supplies you will need. These are availableat all department and office supply stores. 1 - Three Ring Binder 1 ½" 3 - Document Protectors(Designed to insert in 3 ring binder) 15 - Pocket Dividers 1 - Write on Tab Divider SETUP Step One: Open your three ring binder. Insert your pocket tab dividers. In front of the pocket dividers, place 1 Write on Tab Divider. The Write on Tab Divider is designed to provide support while you are writing on the Monthly Bill Summary. Step Two: After you complete your Budget as outlined in theThe Complete Budget and Bill Organizer http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/BBOonline.htmllabel the dividers. Start by labeling the first divider, Bills to be Paid. Then label the rest of the dividers with the names of your bills. See the below sample: Divider Tab's Labels Bills To Be Paid House Payment Car Payments Utilities Telephone etc.Continue this until you have a divider for each bill. If you dont have enough dividers I suggest that you combine similar bills. This could be all car payments, utilities or credit cards. Step Three: Place your Budget Form, Monthly Bill Summary and Page 2 of the Monthly Bill Summary in the document protectors. Then place them in the three ring binder in this order:Monthly Bill Summary (this will be the first form you see when you open your binder)Budget FormMonthly Bill Summary Page 2USING YOUR BILL ORGANIZER Step One: Gather all of your bill statements and payment books and place them in the pocket divider labeled Bills to be Paid. This is where all the bills are to be placed when you receive them. Step Two: On payday, look at section 2 of the Monthly Bill Summary to determine which bills need to be paid that payday. Write out your checks for these bills and get them ready to mail. On the statement for each bill or in your payment book, write the check number and date paid. Step Three: File all statements in the pocket divider corresponding to that bill. When you receive your bank statement and after you reconcile it, also put the canceled checks in the pocket divider corresponding to that bill. File any correspondence in these pocket dividers.Read more about Your Checking Account at:http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/checkingaccount.html One of the biggest problems people have with organizing theirbills and receipts is not knowing what to keep and what tothrow away.First, there are really four types of files. Personal (bill receipts, etc), tax files (any paperwork that is required for taxes), long term files (mortgages, car contracts, or any other contract) and important papers (will, birth certificates, etc.)Personal files are the files mentioned in the Bill Organizer. At the end of the year, if the files aren't too thick you can consolidate them into one folder labeled with the year. Examples of things in this category are: monthly insurance statements, credit card statements, mortgage receipts, and any other monthly statement. KEEP THESE RECORDS FOR TWO YEARS.Tax files can be filed in a folder or accordion folder. These items include: W2 forms, 1099 forms, All tax forms with attachments and any other form that you receive that must be reported on your taxes. KEEP THESE RECORDS FOR THREE YEARS. It is best to keep your previous years tax forms plus the three years before that. The IRS only audits back three years. You can destroy older files.Long Term files include your mortgage or lease agreements, notes on car purchases or any contract that is still in effect. Keep these files in a safe place. KEEP THESE FILES AT LEASE UNTIL THE AGREEMENT HAS ENDED. MY SUGGESTION IS TO KEEP THEM FOR FIVE YEARS AFTER THE AGREEMENT HAS ENDED.Important papers should be kept together where you can lay your hands on them quickly. You might want to use a safety deposit box or at least a locked drawer. These items include: wills, deeds, trusts, stock certificates, birth and death certificates and any other extremely important documents. KEEP THESE FILES INDEFINITLY.As you can see this organizer will help you keep everythingin order. However, no organizer will be any good if youdon't keep up with it.One tip that will help you keep this organizer neat is toeliminate any paper that doesn't need to be there. Manypeople keep the envelope that the bill is received in. Youwill find that this will clutter your organizer faster thananything else. It is also not a good idea to fold your receipts or copiesof your statements unless you absolutely must to make themfit.Having a system to file your bills and receipts will make itmuch easier to know what bills are due and when they are due.Once you know this paying your bills on time is much easier. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com