Dear Friends,

I got this message on Saturday. I thought it was a good one for helping you get gain control over your bills and paper.

Good evening,

Could you tell me what bill organizer you use?

Thanks,

Susan

Dear Susan,

We all need a place for our bills. Putting them in files gets them out of our sight. This means we will probably be forgetting them. When a bill comes in the mail here is what you do.

1. Open it don’t pile on the kitchen counter.
2. Throw away the trash in the envelope
3. Look for the due date and post on your calendar to remind you
4. Put the date on the envelope where the stamp goes.
5. Place the bill in your office in a bag to be paid.
6. Establish a day to pay your bills each week.

Many of us rarely use checks these days. Unless you have your bills set up to pay them automatically, you will need a schedule to pay them. Get this on your calendar. Friday is our day to pay bills.

This is the reason the Office in a Bag was born when I was a young mother. This great tool went with me everywhere. I was able to spend a few minutes on my lunch hour to plan menus, pay bills, and send birthday cards.

Here is another question about what goes in the Office in a Bag.

FlyLady

Dear FlyLady,

Alright, I think I may have a silly question, but here it goes? What goes into an office in a bag? How do you set one up?

I am in the process of building my Control Journal. Step by step. But what are the steps to building an Office in a Bag?

I love the idea I’m just not sure how to pull it off. Your testimonial today helped. But I could sure use a few pointers. I’d like to get my desk in order so I am ready for end of the year Tax stuff before March/April next year. I have begun to work 15 minutes at a time on filing my piles now instead of the week before my tax appointment. Miracles never cease to happen! Thanks for all of your inspiration.

Fluttering in the Desert

Dear Fluttering in Desert,

I want you to think of the Office in a Bag as a portable desk. Imagine that you are sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for hours. What would you need if you wanted to send a card?

You would need …..

1. A greeting card
2. A pen
3. A stamp

Let say you needed to make a grocery list.

You would need ……

4. A Pencil
5. A Piece of paper or a notepad

Let’s say you want to pay some bills.

You would need……

6. Your bills
7. More stamps
8. Envelopes
9. A small calculator
10. Your checkbook

Let’s say you want to draw a scale drawing of your living room to play with rearranging your furniture.

You might need……..

11. A little ruler
12. Some Graph Paper
13. Some colored pencils or markers

Here are a few more things you might need.

14. A small stapler
15. A few rubber bands
16. A few paper clips
17. A Birthday card
18. Some Thank You Notes
19. Pretty stationery
20. Your address book
21. Some people keep their Control Journal in it.

See it is not that hard to think of the things you may need. It is an office in a bag or your Desk drawer in a bag. It can help you get rid of a piece of furniture that becomes a huge hotspot!

Keep it to a minimum because we can get too much in them before we know it. Now that there are school supplies everywhere you can find some little $1. items to go into it.

FlyLady

We have 3 colors of our  Office in a Bag. You can get it with our Control Journal too and save a little money.

The Office in a Bag comes in Red, Blue, and Black!

FlyLady here: Christmas will be here before we know it! Think about giving clutter-free gifts! My favorite consumable gift is our FlyLady Calendar!

Young people love it and our parents love it! You can see it from across the room. Use our stickers to make it fun and informative. We have kid stickers and adult stickers.