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susanjoneslewis - 17 Jun 2004 21:11 GMT

Last night Mark and I laid in bed with my big desk calendar and looked
at our bills. Right now the method we have is not working.. Let me
explain.

Between the 2 of us we have 4 mailing addresses where we get mail. My po
box, his po box, our physical address, his old physical address(he still
owns the property and goes by 2x a week and checks the mail and does
assorted other upkeep tasks) So, when our bills come in from one of
these addresses, it gets put in a basket on our bar, we(I) then take the
bill at some point in time and write the amt and due date on the big
calendar. This worked for me for years. For us as a couple now, it aint
workin'. There's "his" money(checkbook), "my money"(checkbook) "our
money"(checkbook), house money(checkbook) and 3 diff savings accounts,
which does not include the kids accounts.

Needless to say our bill paying is absolute chaos. We need to keep the
current accounts we have because a.) we are all set up with direct
deposits and so forth and I don't think either one of us want to give up
our little bit of individuality that the individual accounts gives
us(silly to some, but it's how we are at this point).

My income/account is pretty much responsible for the little stuff. The
monthly bills like the cable bill, phone, water, groceries and a few old
bills from before we met(credit card and 2 dept store cards) House
account gets x amt of dollars from each of our accounts via transfers
from individual accounts which pays our housepayment/insurance and
escrow for taxes. His income/account pays for most of our fun stuff,
auto insurance, savings and his bills from before we met(child support
and a few credit cards). The money part really isn't why I need feed
back from ya'll.

What I'm wondering is.. does anyone know of a free-to-reasonable online
source for managing all this where we both could ditch the big desk
calendar and enter things online with some features like a budget
planner or tips/tools for making things easier? Something with lots of
room to enter in notes along with our bills due and maybe it has a place
to hyperlink our banking accounts? Is this asking too much? lol. I
tried googling for something and I'm not seeing anything like I need. Or
maybe I need to invest in software? If so, what type?

Thanks in advance. Hope this makes sense.

Susan
260/192/140

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Beverly - 17 Jun 2004 22:15 GMT

I have an Excel spreadsheet setup for paying my bills. It has a column for
each month with regular bills listed. I simply add those one-time bills
when I receive them.

I pay most bills through my bank's online service. For those bills that I
pay directly I have their URL listed in a column on the spreadsheet.

I never thought I would give up my paper system for paying bills but I've
been doing this for a couple of years and it has worked out well for me. I
still have a notebook with about 20 years of the old manual paper system<g>

Beverly

> Last night Mark and I laid in bed with my big desk calendar and looked
> at our bills. Right now the method we have is not working.. Let me
[quoted text clipped - 40 lines]
> Susan
> 260/192/140

Reply to this Message

jayjay - 17 Jun 2004 22:38 GMT

>Last night Mark and I laid in bed with my big desk calendar and looked
>at our bills. Right now the method we have is not working.. Let me
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>money"(checkbook), house money(checkbook) and 3 diff savings accounts,
>which does not include the kids accounts.

First of all - why do you each have your own PO boxes?

Secondly, can't he have his mail to the other house forwarded to
someplace, and work on changing the mailing addresses for those bills
to another address. Having to juggle that many mailboxes is jsut
plain stupid.

Now, as for bill paying, My DH and I keep alot of stuff separate
ourselves.

One suggestions, if you are the type to pay bills only as they are
due, or live paycheck to paycheck and can't pay until that week for
the $$ sake. Go buy one of those 31day orgainizers. They have many
of them, from cheap cardstock paper containers up to really nice
wooden ones that look nice and decrative on the counters. (my DH
and I do this but we have a 3 slot wooden box. Mine, His and my
son's. All incoming mail gets sorted into those boxes.

When a bill arrives, Place it into the slot for the date its due.

>What I'm wondering is.. does anyone know of a free-to-reasonable online
>source for managing all this where we both could ditch the big desk
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>tried googling for something and I'm not seeing anything like I need. Or
>maybe I need to invest in software? If so, what type?

DH and I are lucky enough to have our finances worked out. We both
sit down one night a month and gather all our bills together and pay
them. I've arranged most my bills to be due about the same time.
My account is pretty much such that by the end of the month when I sit
to pay my bills, there's enough $$ there to pay them all in one shot.
That way I'm not resigned to paying multiple times a month.

For me, my monthly accounting lasts about 1 hr. The last week of
the month I sit down w/ computer (online banking) and bills and
checkbook.

Step 1. I login to my bank account
2. Pay all bills.
3. Download the month's transactions to a spreadsheet I keep.
4. check off atm/debit transactions w/ the receipts I keep.
3. Reconcile bank account and look at spending habits for trends.

Then again, most my spending is done on my debit card. All my bills
are set for online payments. I use direct deposit, as well as auto
deduction for things like insurance, gym memberships, etc.

The only checks I write each month is: one to DH to go towards the
house payment and whatever misc. expenses I need to write for DS's
needs. (school lunches, field trips, etc).

As for software suggestions.

1. Outlook has a calendar feature that will set up reminders. But
that is the full version of outlook, not OE and it has to be turned on
to have the reminders work.

2. I personally use just a simple excel spreadsheet to track my
finances. Its setup as a simple ledger format.

3. Cheap and easy program that is easy to use and many banks have a
download feature for easy import is Quicken. They do offer free
trials of the software. This is an accounting software.

4. My mom uses MSMoney and has for years and loves it. She also
downloads all her banking info to it.

I believe both Quicken and MSMoney do have bill pay reminders.

Also, check into online banking if you don't already. My bank offers
a bill pay reminder service as part of the bill pay/online banking
service. Its pretty cool.

Reply to this Message

JMA - 17 Jun 2004 22:59 GMT

> 4. My mom uses MSMoney and has for years and loves it. She also
> downloads all her banking info to it.
>
> I believe both Quicken and MSMoney do have bill pay reminders.

I've used MSMoney for years too and I like it. It has the ability to set up
multiple accounts - I have one for each of my credit cards, bank accounts,
and investment accounts. It has bill reminders and auto entry for things
that are automatically paid.

DH also uses MSMoney for his accounts, including his business ones. At the
end of the year we are able to print up reports (personal and business) for
the tax accountant in less than an hour - sorting out the receipts takes
another hour ;)

We kept things separate to protect my assets from his business and his
assets from my ex and never merged them when we eventually married. It works
fine for us.

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susanjoneslewis - 17 Jun 2004 23:03 GMT

> First of all - why do you each have your own PO boxes?
>
> Secondly, can't he have his mail to the other house forwarded to
> someplace, and work on changing the mailing addresses for those bills
> to another address. Having to juggle that many mailboxes is just
> plain stupid.

LOL, gee jayjay, thanks for making me feel like a complete dumbass LOL
(jk :)
The po box thing is this..
I've had my po box number since 1985. He's had his since 1974. I'm not
willing to give mine up as its on everything I've ever
owned/written/bought etc. And.. I actually LIKE going to my post office
as it's small town and not your average post office visit when I go, I
see folks there and chitchat with them. I get to find out who died, who
gave birth, who's sleeping with who, and other assorted gossip lol. I
think his is much the same way except with one added issue. He owns his
own business(general contractor) and it's also his business address.

As far as the address at the property, We have pretty much been trying
to phase that one out a little at a time and soon I will get all its
remaining mail fwd'ed.

> One suggestions, if you are the type to pay bills only as they are
> due, or live paycheck to paycheck and can't pay until that week for
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> When a bill arrives, Place it into the slot for the date its due.

I like that idea, I think he would also. However it doesn't really solve
the issue of journaling the bills so that when we look back and try to
determine a better way account to pay them from or how to cut back here
and there. Unfortunately there isn't always enough money to have allot
of cushion right now so that tends me to be one of those folks who takes
a look at her finances/bills on almost a daily basis. Mark however would
rather do the 1x a month thing, personally that would cause allot of
sleepless nights for me.

His bank, my bank and our house bank(who is the lender on the new house
we bought) all have online banking/bill paying and we use about 50% of
the features on each I would guess. I like to pay with check on the
other 50% of my bills. *shrug*

Great suggestions on the MSMoney and Quicken. I used Quicken a few times
for a friend when she was ill(long term) and I did like it's features.
Maybe I will try that. Thus far I have not ever had a real need for
Excel skills, I guess I need to change that.

Thanks again :)

Susan
260/192/140

> >Last night Mark and I laid in bed with my big desk calendar and looked
> >at our bills. Right now the method we have is not working.. Let me
[quoted text clipped - 86 lines]
> a bill pay reminder service as part of the bill pay/online banking
> service. Its pretty cool.

Reply to this Message

JayJay - 18 Jun 2004 02:12 GMT

> Great suggestions on the MSMoney and Quicken. I used Quicken a few times
> for a friend when she was ill(long term) and I did like it's features.
> Maybe I will try that. Thus far I have not ever had a real need for
> Excel skills, I guess I need to change that.

the excel spreadsheet I use is pretty basic.
I'd have to turn on my laptop to get the real thing, but basically I do the
opposite of Beverly,
I use columns for all my stuff, and rows for each entry. It really does
look like a general ledger from accounting green books. :)
Date, trans type/checknum, description, debit, credit, rolling balance,
Then I have columns for each basic "expense" or whatever. 1)income,
2)house, 3)car, 4)insurance, 5)childcare, 6)cable, 7)groceries, 8)misc
spending cash, 9)child expenses, etc.... categorizing things into specific
categories where I can.

Each row will have the date, type, description, amount, balance and then
copy the amount the cell that corresponds w/ the category. At the end of
the month you just do a sum of the columns to tell you how much is spent.

Reply to this Message

Dewolla Stepon - 17 Jun 2004 23:20 GMT

Susan, I'd like to recommend the method I use. I think you need to invest
in some software.

First, I use the program Quicken to keep track of all my income and
expenses. You can set up as many checking accounts (or credit card
accounts, savings accounts, cash accounts, etc.) as you like and you can
keep it simple or detailed, whichever you prefer. Quicken is pretty easy to
set up and use, and if you need help I'd be glad to assist.

Second, I learned the wisdom years ago of the "touch it once" principle.
You can put all your bills into a basket but then discipline yourselves to
go through that basket each week, on the same day of the week. Then when
you have a bill, write the check immediately and make out the payment coupon
and put in the envelope but don't mail it right away. On the bill's
envelope, on the lower left corner, write a date 3 or 4 days before the bill
is due. That will be the day you mail it. Put the envelopes in a basket by
the front door and check it each day as you leave the house. If today's
date (or yesterday's!) is on the envelope, set it out for pickup.

Hope this helps.

- Dewolla
Financial Analyst

> Last night Mark and I laid in bed with my big desk calendar and looked
> at our bills. Right now the method we have is not working.. Let me
[quoted text clipped - 40 lines]
> Susan
> 260/192/140

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A Ross - 18 Jun 2004 12:45 GMT

In article
<FVmAc.6879$nK1.3090@newssvr22.news.prodigy.com>,
"susanjoneslewis" <susanjoneslewis@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

> Last night Mark and I laid in bed with my big desk
> calendar and looked
> at our bills. Right now the method we have is not
> working.. Let me
> explain.

snip

> What I'm wondering is.. does anyone know of a
> free-to-reasonable online
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> Susan
> 260/192/140

Hi Susan,

I have a simple method--I track all of my bills in a
notebook, and pay all but two on the web with a free
bill paying service (CheckFree).

Every month I write down the bill, amount due, and date
due. I cross it out when it gets paid, and note the
date I paid.

CheckFree is great--I get my bills via email, pay
through the online system, and am able to track who,
how much, and when I paid. You can download all of that
info to Quicken or excel, as well. I'm just not that
anal.

Oh--and I handle all of the finances in my house,
otherwise we'd be eating ATV's and hunting equipment.

Good luck,

Amy

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jmk - 18 Jun 2004 16:22 GMT

> What I'm wondering is.. does anyone know of a free-to-reasonable online
> source for managing all this where we both could ditch the big desk
> calendar and enter things online with some features like a budget
> planner or tips/tools for making things easier?

Well, it's not free and it's not online but DH and I have used Quicken
for about twelve years now.

Signature

jmk in NC

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