How I really feel about paying bills!

I'm going to let you all in on a little secret- I love paying bills! Nope, it's not April Fool's Day... it's really true! There is something wonderful about sealing an envelope with a check in it, because I feel like I'm that much closer to being debt-free!

In the past month alone, we have been able to pay off almost $1000 in bills, simply by being more careful (much more careful!) about how we're spending. I also am doing daily check-ups of our checking account balance and making sure that every penny is being used for good.

I made up this cute little PDF that I've been using to track the spending from our checking account. It is basically the same as balancing a checkbook, but we also use it to track bank card swipes, which are much more frequent! Every night, I sit down and deduct all purchases from that day, and then write checks if I am able to. (You read that right... it gets done every single night!) I decided to begin this system because I was going absolutely crazy writing checks and then forgetting the amount, or just forgetting that I wrote them, or... whatever. With this system, I know exactly how much is in the bank at any given moment. It's usually different from what my "mobile banking" tells me, too, since the mobile banking doesn't know about checks I've sent out that haven't been taken out of our account yet. I feel so confident in our ability to pay off our debt so soon!

Here's how I use it- the first column is (obviously) for the date. The next is for a short memo- I usually shorten as much as possible! The next column (again, obviously) is for the amount. In the "check number" column, I put an X if it wasn't a check so that I don't accidentally fill in the wrong slot next time I do write a check (is this making sense?!) and then, I deduct the amount from the previous "Final Amount," which tells me how much money we actually have. Oh, and I outline "Deposit" rows in green and make sure to ADD it to the previous "Final Amount!"

Some may think it's too complicated of a system, but it definitely works for me. I like being in control of my money, because if not... my money will be in control of me!

Here's the PDF for you to use!

To print this PDF, just right-click and choose "Open this link in new tab." Enjoy! :)