Late fees, expired rebate offers, 11 boxes of crayons: collateral damage of a disorganized office. Follow these tips to tame the paper tiger and get the bills paid with time to spare.

4 Office Tools You Need

• Calendar: A calendar is your first line of defense against late payments. The 1st of the month (the traditional due date for mortgage/rent payments) can sneak up on you. Post a calendar in plain sight in your office and–this is the hard part–look at it daily.
• Budget: Call it a “spending plan” if it makes you feel better, but you need to know how much money is coming in, and how much money is going out. No, you can’t just “feel it.” Well, you can, but you’ll never beat the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.
• Postal Scale: Weigh all letters and packages to make sure you’re not overpaying postage.
  • Calculate postage at USPS.com.
  • Sell a few items on ebay or Craigslist to fund your postal scale purchase, or just use your food scale.
  • Use carrier pickup to save time and gas–you only need to have 1 Priority Mail item in the lot to qualify for free pickup. Check the difference between Priority Mail and Parcel post–if you’d spend more in gas to get to the post office, it’s worth the upgrade.
• Direct Deposit: Setting your paychecks up for direct deposit takes just a few minutes. Once the info is entered by your employer, you’ll never worry again about picking up your check, getting to the bank before closing, and waiting for the ATM hold to lift because you didn’t make it on time (yes, your checks will bounce, even though you technically have the money in your account, and banks typically process withdrawals before deposits.)
  • Bonus: Your checks may be direct deposited into your account 2-3 days before your less-organized coworkers receive their paper checks, depending on your bank’s practices.

4 Completely Unrelated Office Tips

• No More Late Fees!
  • Set up automatic payments on as many bills as possible. (Having direct deposit in place ensures the money will be there when the payments come due.)
  • If you pay bills through snail mail (why?), send them out at least 10 business days before the due date.
  • If you pay bills online, give yourself 3 business days of wiggle room–computers crash, websites go “under maintenance”, and holidays throw business day timing out of whack.
• How Many Office Supplies Does One Family Need?
  • The August school supplies sales are just around the corner. It doesn’t matter if rulers, crayons, or notebooks are 1 penny each–if you’re already stocked up, don’t waste your money on the deals.
  • Go through your school supplies stash now and note (on one of the 6,000 index cards you bought last year) what you have, and what you need.
• Managing Rebates
  • Send rebate information out the same day you buy the item, while it’s fresh in your mind.
  • Many stores now offer rebate receipts that you can send in without needing to give up your original receipt or make photocopies. Even if you’re not a rebater, if the register spits out a rebate form, take the 90 seconds to fill it out and mail it in–are you really going to turn up your nose at free money?
  • Note the contact address, phone number, and the date you mailed the rebate info in your calendar, on the date of the last day of the expected processing time. If the check hasn’t arrived, you’ll have the contact info right in front of you.
• Receipts to Keep
  • Hold onto all receipts of items you haven’t used yet, in case you decide to return them.
    • Many stores can do receipt lookup for items purchased with credit cards, checks, and gift cards–but if you follow an “all cash” budget (good girl!), you’ll need a receipt.
  • Keep receipts of items under warranty–you’ll need the receipt as proof of purchase.
    • Staple the receipt to the warranty information, and keep that with the product instructions–much easier to locate than rifling through an envelope of receipts.

3 Office Facts You Need to Know

• Your net pay. Can’t make a budget without it. Yes, your gross pay sounds a bit more grand, but you should know your net monthly salary off the top of your head, to the penny.
• When big bills are due: Property taxes are due in December and April. Car registrations are due in February and July. 6 month auto insurance renews in June and December…. Big bills come with hefty late payment fees. Anticipate their arrival and save accordingly.
• Last year’s utility bill numbers: Making a budget based on last month’s utility bills doesn’t work. Your electricity bill may skyrocket from May to June, and your water usage may plummet from August to September. Plus, gas and electric bills aren’t usually on a strict month-long cycle. Your best bet for estimating utility costs is to compare the cost of the same month last year.
  • Beware the “level pay plan”: Knowing exactly how much your electric bill will be every month seems great, but without a fluctuating bill to check you, you’ll have to be diligent about policing your family’s energy usage. Plus, if this year’s energy use exceeds last year’s, the overage will be tacked on at the end of year, causing a big hike in your electric bill payments next year.

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