How to Keep Track of Bills: A Simple System (with a Free Bill Calendar Template)
By Filipe de Castro, founder of SetBucks · · 8 min read
The simplest way to keep track of bills is to write every bill down in one place, put each due date on a calendar, and check that calendar once a week. That's the whole system. The rest of this guide shows you how to set it up so it actually sticks, plus a free bill calendar template you can open in any spreadsheet app.
Make one complete list of every bill
Most missed payments don't happen because someone can't pay. They happen because a bill wasn't on anyone's radar. So the first job is a full list, in one place, with nothing left out.
Give yourself 30 minutes and pull from these sources:
- Your bank and credit card statements. Scroll back two or three months. Anything that shows up every month is a bill, even if it's small.
- Your email. Search your inbox for words like "statement," "payment due," "invoice," "receipt" and "renewal." This catches the bills that arrive by email and never touch paper.
- Your bank's app. Look for sections called something like "recurring payments," "bill pay" or "subscriptions." Not every bank has them, but when they exist, they're a quick way to see what's already set to go out.
- Your mail pile. Some utilities, medical offices and local governments still send paper bills.
- App store subscriptions. On an iPhone, go to Settings > your name > Subscriptions. On Android, open the Google Play Store app, tap your profile icon, then Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions.
Then think past the monthly stuff. The bills that surprise people are usually the ones that come once or twice a year:
- Car registration and inspection
- Car insurance, if you pay every six months
- Property taxes, if they're not included in your mortgage payment
- Annual memberships (warehouse clubs, software, domain names, professional dues)
- Quarterly bills like water or trash in some towns
For each bill, write down five things: the name, the usual amount, the due date, how often it comes, and which account pays it. If the amount changes month to month (electric, water, a credit card), write down a typical amount and note that it varies.
Put your bill due dates on a calendar
A list tells you what you owe. A bill calendar tells you when. You need both.
Take your list and place every bill on the day it's due. You can use a paper wall calendar, the calendar app on your phone, or a spreadsheet with one row per bill. The format matters less than two rules:
- Everything goes on the same calendar. If rent is on the fridge and the car payment lives in your head, the system has a hole.
- Yearly and quarterly bills go on too. Put car registration on the actual month it's due, and add a reminder a month earlier so it doesn't land on you all at once.
If you use a phone calendar, set each bill as a repeating event and add an alert two or three days before the due date. That gives you time to move money if you need to.
Seeing the month laid out often shows you something right away, like five bills landing in the same week. You'll use that in the next steps.
Autopay: when it helps and when it bites
Autopay is great for bills that are the same amount every month and that you'd never want to miss: rent or mortgage, a car loan, insurance premiums. Set it once and the payment goes out on time whether you remember or not.
It can cause trouble in a few situations.
Variable bills. If your electric bill jumps from $90 to $240 in a hot month, autopay will pull $240 without asking. That's fine if the money's there. It's a problem if you didn't see it coming.
A low balance. Autopay doesn't check whether your checking account can cover the payment. If the balance is short, you may get hit with an overdraft or returned payment fee from your bank, and a late fee from the biller on top of it.
Forgetting to watch. This is the sneaky one. Autopay makes bills invisible, so a price increase, a duplicate charge or a subscription you meant to cancel can run for months before you notice.
A reasonable middle ground:
- Use autopay for fixed bills, and keep them on your calendar anyway.
- For variable bills, some people prefer autopay set to the statement balance, and some prefer to pay by hand after looking at the amount. Either works if you look at the bill before it's due.
- For credit cards, many issuers let you choose between the minimum payment, the statement balance or a fixed amount. Pick the one that matches what you can reliably cover.
- Mark each bill on your list as autopay yes or no, so you always know which ones need a hand.
Line up bill due dates with your paydays
If you get paid on the 1st and the 15th, but your rent, car payment and credit card are all due on the 3rd, the first few days of the month will always feel tight. You can often fix that with a phone call.
Many billers will let you change your due date if you ask. Credit card issuers, utility companies, phone carriers and some lenders commonly allow it, sometimes right in your online account and sometimes by calling customer service. Not every company does, and some only let you change it once a year, but it's worth asking.
Here's one way to think about it. Say you're paid on the 1st and the 15th:
| Paycheck | Bills to put after it | Example amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Rent, car payment, phone | $1,500 + $350 + $60 |
| 15th | Credit card, electric, internet, insurance | $300 + $120 + $70 + $140 |
The goal isn't perfect balance. It's making sure each paycheck has enough behind it to cover the bills that come right after it, with a little left over.
If you're paid every two weeks, remember that a few months each year have three paydays instead of two. Those are good months to get ahead on a yearly bill or add to savings.
What to do when a bill is overdue
Even with a good system, it happens. A payment bounces, a bill goes to an old email address, or money is simply short one month. The worst thing you can do is ignore it. Here's what tends to help:
- Pay what you can, as soon as you can. A partial payment is usually better than nothing, and paying quickly can limit extra fees. Check with the biller first, since some apply partial payments differently.
- Call the company. Explain what happened and ask what your options are. Many billers can set up a payment plan, give you a few extra days, or waive a late fee, especially if it's the first time. You won't know unless you ask.
- Check the late fee. Your bill or account terms should say what the late fee is and when it applies. Knowing the number helps you decide what to pay first.
- Prioritize the bills that keep your life running. Housing, utilities, transportation to work and insurance usually come before things like streaming services.
- Fix the cause. If the bill was missed because of a wrong due date, a lost email or an autopay from a closed account, update that now so it doesn't happen again next month.
If you're falling behind on several bills at once, a nonprofit credit counseling agency can help you look at the whole picture.
A weekly 10-minute bill check-in
This is the habit that makes everything else work. Pick one day a week, the same day every week, and give it 10 minutes. Sunday evening or payday morning both work well.
During the check-in:
- Look at the next 7 days. Which bills are due? Is the money in the right account to cover them?
- Look back at last week. Did everything that was due get paid? Mark it as paid on your list or calendar.
- Check for anything overdue. If something slipped, deal with it now while it's small.
- Scan for surprises. A bill higher than usual, a new charge you don't recognize, a renewal coming up next month.
That's it. Ten minutes a week is about 40 minutes a month, and it replaces the background worry of wondering whether you forgot something.
Free bill calendar template
To make this easier, we put together a simple bill calendar template you can download and fill in:
Download the free bill calendar template (CSV)
It has one row per bill and these columns: Bill, Amount, Due day, How often, Autopay (Yes/No), Paid from, Paid this month (Yes/No) and Notes. The rows are filled with example bills and amounts so you can see how it works. Replace them with your own.
How to open it:
- Google Sheets: Create a new blank spreadsheet, then go to File > Import > Upload and choose the file.
- Excel: Open the file directly, or use File > Open and pick it.
- Numbers (Mac): Double-click the file, or use File > Open. Numbers turns it into a regular spreadsheet.
A few ways to use it well:
- Sort by the Due day column so your bills read like a calendar, top to bottom.
- Use the Paid this month column during your weekly check-in, and clear it at the start of each month.
- Add a row for every yearly bill, and write the month it's due in the Notes column.
- Use the Paid from column to see how much each account needs to cover.
The easier way to keep track of bills
Everything above works with a spreadsheet and a bit of discipline. The weak spot is that you have to keep it updated by hand: clearing the paid column every month, remembering the yearly bills, and actually opening the file each week.
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