How I track my monthly bills (and shameless plug)

In the olden days when we received our bills via snail mail, I would collect and file each billing statement in neatly labeled folders. Those folders are still around somewhere in my house, collecting dust as I type. I much prefer electronic bills but only a few companies offered that option until recent years. Thankfully all my billers now provide digital bill statements and convenient online payment options. It has made it much easier for me to pay my bills on time.

I then started tracking my bills on a spreadsheet. After each payment, I automatically logged it in my tracker. I thought it was just me but apparently there are lots of other people who spreadsheets everything. You can even buy ready to use tracker spreadsheets on stores like Etsy! *hint hint*

My 2019-2020 spreadsheet looked like this. I didn't just track how much and when I paid, I also put in the bill number, consumption, and which platform I used. I liked having it all on the spreadsheet so I could see all the information I wanted at a glance. It's not the cleanest or even prettiest looking tracker but it worked for me.

With 2020 being an unprecented shit show, I had time to work on my tracker and spruce it up a bit. It looks like this now. I put the overview table on top and color coded each biller company. Certain cells lit up based on the date or if I already paid so it's easier for me to see which bills are paid or unpaid. I do have calendar alerts reminding me to pay my bills but those are individually set and I don't always automatically pay. Sometimes I'm busy and defer until evening or the following day, or I may forget altogether. So it helps me when I pay for one biller, log it in the tracker, and see that I overlooked paying another biller. Very helpful trackers are.

I use this tracker (both on my laptop and my android devices) a lot so I thought maybe someone else who likes no fuss spreadsheets would like it too. I put this and the vertically stacked version of this template up on my Etsy if you want to buy the template and support me. It's PHP 100 or about USD 2.00 so it's very cheap. You don't have to of course, but it would be much appreciated it. :)

Here's a closer look. I know I'm biased but isn't it pretty? <3