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Less Paper to File

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RecordsI have stumbled upon, what I believe to be, an easier way to keep track of items paid on-line.
I signed up to receive my credit card and utility billings on-line. The following is how it works. I:
  • get notices via e-mail;
  • go the the site;
  • print only the page on my bill that contains the actual billed items (all their advertising, etc. can stay unprinted);
  • set-up/schedule my payment for a couple days before the due date;
  • print the confirmation of payment scheduled on the BACK of the billed items page;
  • go to my accounting software, record the upcoming payment (I enter the confirmation # as memo);
  • file only one sheet of paper.
I haven’t written a check in months except in local stores where I cannot use a credit card.

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About Maesz

Glenna Mae Hendricks. She is an entrepreneur and income tax consultant, so we get lots of good tax tips from her. She is an oenophile (“look that up in your Funk and Wagnall’s,” she says), and a wine enjoyment teacher/guide who also writes wine notes at the Allen’s Retail Liquors site. Her political thoughts (and occasional outbursts of domesticity) appear at Old Feminist and Wild-eyed Liberal.

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Comments

  1. we have cut way down on our check writing. It helps with all kinds of clutter. What would be great would be the local stores figuring out the simple way to do this, too. Thanks!

  2. jon, thanks for the kind words.

    I, too, have been amazed by the reduction in clutter. The bank even keeps my statements online accessible for 3 years.

  3. I think that this type of thing is going to become more and more popular. I can’t stand sorting through all the paperwork. I would like to present a tool that will also let businesses approach their invoices, bills, statements, etc from the same perspective with their clients. Many small businesses can’t support that right now.

    Jeremy
    http://refocusing.wordpress.com

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