All my monthly bills are paperless except one. When I get that one I know it’s time to go online and schedule payments for all of them including the paper bill. I also keep a hard copy. It’s a lot easier and faster for me to flip through the hard copies than looking online for the proof the IRS wants when they audit me. I wish they had an “Honest taxpayer flag” in their system. 4 audits in the last 12 years because of fluctuating medical expenses and after I send the requested documentation (They always look at everything on schedule D) they have always responded “OK Fine”. 2018 should be another audit year. Sigh!
99.99% of my mail is flyers and ads. I bought a giant mailbox (the 3-foot tall mail drop you see in some commercial places) so I don’t need to empty it more than once a month if I choose. When I empty it out I bring the recycling can and usually end up placing all my mail into it.
I still get two, my water supply coop and the City garbage. Neither uses email, and and both either do not take credit cards or charge extra for it. Those two get a check from the bank’s Bill Pay. Everyone else automatically charges the card. I do receive one monthly payment to me by paper check. It’s my state volunteer firefighter pension, the magnificent sum of $32 a month. I save them up and cash three at a time for walking around money.
I’ll get plenty of mail, so long as there are satellite TV companies, chiseling small loan outfits, funeral homes, car dealers, politicians and free local shopping newspapers. Oh, and those people who want so badly to cremate me.
I still get my Century Link bill through the mail even though I chose the automatic, not-so-paperless option. It was handy for establishing residence so I could get an enhanced ID card.
Even the amount of junk mail has gone down. I rarely get any mail more than once a week.
I only pay one bill by check, and that’s my rent. I recently had to order new checks for the first time in years, so my landlord will be the only person to see my Winnie the Pooh checks.
Nothing financial online – and we are major users of our computers for almost everything else. Do mean computers -which are a waste.
Bills come in – I match slips to them to make sure they are correct. I then write the amount due and a date the week before the due date on the end of the envelope it came in and add in date order to holder next to my desk.
When a bill is due I pay it – with 3 exceptions in over 50 years of paying bills – in full. My latest system is to scan the check and the front page of the paid bill into my computer. (Data all goes on flash drives – not the hard drive – so I can move it and take it with me in an emergency.) At the end of my work session on the computer all files are backed up to one of two backup flash drives (A and B) alternating. On Friday night I make a weekly backup of all data. There are 6 backups (weeks) of each data file on the drive and I update the oldest one. On or around the 15th of the month I back up all data file to an external hard drive. On the quarter months I make an additional backup of all the data to a different external hard drive. Computer is also backed up to hard drive at the same time as monthly and quarterly backups. Once a month I back up the data to one of another pair of flash drives – one is in our bank vault as an offsite backup, the other waiting to be used for the next month and I switch them when the new update is made. Early in year I move last year’s data from current data drives to archive drive which is also backed up to the other drives.
We have one credit card with a $1000 balance (at our request) that we use for any online purchases that we have to make as we cannot get the item locally. Not often used.
No cloud used – ever. Cloud = someone else’s hard drive, which is more likely to be hacked than mine.
We went to a quilt show over the weekend. This year for first time they take credit cards for admission – something which made husband happy and I said “Sure, charge it to the business card.” No one told me that we would not get a receipt until it comes by email for the charge or I would have told him NO!!! If they overcharged us or there is computer error overcharging us how do we fight it without any proof of what we agreed to pay. (And now they have his email address, something we have refused to give them in the past.)
whahoppened over 4 years ago
I think mail is safer for bill paying and I want to support the usps.
Charliegirl Premium Member over 4 years ago
I get paperless bills for everything, and then I print them out and file them when I pay them online. Not paperless at all.
PoodleGroomer over 4 years ago
Burning paper bills and junk mail in a wood-burning stove is a part of sustainable energy consumption.
nosirrom over 4 years ago
All my monthly bills are paperless except one. When I get that one I know it’s time to go online and schedule payments for all of them including the paper bill. I also keep a hard copy. It’s a lot easier and faster for me to flip through the hard copies than looking online for the proof the IRS wants when they audit me. I wish they had an “Honest taxpayer flag” in their system. 4 audits in the last 12 years because of fluctuating medical expenses and after I send the requested documentation (They always look at everything on schedule D) they have always responded “OK Fine”. 2018 should be another audit year. Sigh!
jarvisloop over 4 years ago
Is Arlo putting the junk mail in the trash or the recycling bin?
jarvisloop over 4 years ago
On another note: How long before postal mail and physical newspapers completely disappear?
Mr. Organization over 4 years ago
99.99% of my mail is flyers and ads. I bought a giant mailbox (the 3-foot tall mail drop you see in some commercial places) so I don’t need to empty it more than once a month if I choose. When I empty it out I bring the recycling can and usually end up placing all my mail into it.
MeGoNow Premium Member over 4 years ago
I still get two, my water supply coop and the City garbage. Neither uses email, and and both either do not take credit cards or charge extra for it. Those two get a check from the bank’s Bill Pay. Everyone else automatically charges the card. I do receive one monthly payment to me by paper check. It’s my state volunteer firefighter pension, the magnificent sum of $32 a month. I save them up and cash three at a time for walking around money.
I’ll get plenty of mail, so long as there are satellite TV companies, chiseling small loan outfits, funeral homes, car dealers, politicians and free local shopping newspapers. Oh, and those people who want so badly to cremate me.
david_42 over 4 years ago
I get one of my CC bills in the mail, because the bank wasn’t able to send the bills to my email. They were able to send late notices, though.
micromos over 4 years ago
What would happen if you refused your mail?
Ermine Notyours over 4 years ago
I still get my Century Link bill through the mail even though I chose the automatic, not-so-paperless option. It was handy for establishing residence so I could get an enhanced ID card.
Even the amount of junk mail has gone down. I rarely get any mail more than once a week.
I only pay one bill by check, and that’s my rent. I recently had to order new checks for the first time in years, so my landlord will be the only person to see my Winnie the Pooh checks.
Rabies65 over 4 years ago
If the utilities would each rebate me the 52 cents per month not spent on postage, I will gladly convert to paperless.
TCA1799 Premium Member over 4 years ago
Much better if Arlo had stood over the recycle bin and dumped the junk mail into that bin rather than what appears to be the trash.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 4 years ago
Save a lot of paper.
jonesbeltone over 4 years ago
Just realized Arlo was being sarcastic. Blew right by Janis. And me.
mafastore over 4 years ago
Nothing financial online – and we are major users of our computers for almost everything else. Do mean computers -which are a waste.
Bills come in – I match slips to them to make sure they are correct. I then write the amount due and a date the week before the due date on the end of the envelope it came in and add in date order to holder next to my desk.
When a bill is due I pay it – with 3 exceptions in over 50 years of paying bills – in full. My latest system is to scan the check and the front page of the paid bill into my computer. (Data all goes on flash drives – not the hard drive – so I can move it and take it with me in an emergency.) At the end of my work session on the computer all files are backed up to one of two backup flash drives (A and B) alternating. On Friday night I make a weekly backup of all data. There are 6 backups (weeks) of each data file on the drive and I update the oldest one. On or around the 15th of the month I back up all data file to an external hard drive. On the quarter months I make an additional backup of all the data to a different external hard drive. Computer is also backed up to hard drive at the same time as monthly and quarterly backups. Once a month I back up the data to one of another pair of flash drives – one is in our bank vault as an offsite backup, the other waiting to be used for the next month and I switch them when the new update is made. Early in year I move last year’s data from current data drives to archive drive which is also backed up to the other drives.
We have one credit card with a $1000 balance (at our request) that we use for any online purchases that we have to make as we cannot get the item locally. Not often used.
No cloud used – ever. Cloud = someone else’s hard drive, which is more likely to be hacked than mine.
mafastore over 4 years ago
We went to a quilt show over the weekend. This year for first time they take credit cards for admission – something which made husband happy and I said “Sure, charge it to the business card.” No one told me that we would not get a receipt until it comes by email for the charge or I would have told him NO!!! If they overcharged us or there is computer error overcharging us how do we fight it without any proof of what we agreed to pay. (And now they have his email address, something we have refused to give them in the past.)