Bill payment tracker: the columns you need, a 20-minute setup and free printable, sheet and app versions

A bill payment tracker is a single list of every bill you pay, with its due date, amount and a box to tick when it's paid. That's it. Most missed payments don't happen because people can't afford the bill; they happen because the bill lives in an email, a paper envelope and an autopay setting nobody looks at. Here's how to set up a tracker that works, the columns it needs, and three ways to keep it: printable, spreadsheet or app.

Short answer: list every bill once with its due day, amount, how you pay it and the account it comes out of. Sort by due day, tick each one off when it's paid, and check the list once a week. A free printable bill payment tracker or the free Bill Organizer app does the layout for you.

The columns a bill payment tracker needs

How to set it up in 20 minutes

1. Collect last month's bills. Go through your bank and card statements line by line; anything that repeats is a bill. Add yearly ones from last year's statements.
2. Write each bill once, with the columns above.
3. Sort by due day and split the month in two: bills due on the 1st–15th and on the 16th–31st. Most people are paid twice a month, and matching bills to paychecks is the easiest way to avoid a short week.
4. Total each half and compare it with the paycheck that covers it. If one half is much heavier, ask the biller to move the due date; most utilities and card issuers will.
5. Set reminders three days before each due date, even for autopay, so you can check there's money in the account.

Printable, spreadsheet or app?

• Printable: best if you like paper and pay bills at a desk. Use one sheet a month on the fridge or in a binder. Free: printable bill tracker and payment checklist (PDF).
• Spreadsheet: best if you want totals and a year at a glance. Free: bill tracker template for Excel and Google Sheets. For a whole-budget version, the Finance Mastery Pack adds a monthly budget, subscription tracker and debt payoff sheets.
• App: best if the problem is remembering. An app sends the reminder, so the tracker doesn't depend on you opening it.

What to look for in a bill tracker app

• No bank login required. You don't need to hand over your banking password to remember a due date.
• Repeating bills (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly) so you enter each one once.
• Reminders before the due date, not on it.
• A monthly total of what's due and what's paid.
• One-tap "paid", with the date recorded.
• A backup you control, so a new phone doesn't mean starting over.

Bill Organizer does all six. It's free on iPhone and Android, has no bank linking and no account, and there's a free online bill tracker in the browser that uses the same backup file. For a month-view of due dates, the bill calendar maker prints one page per month.

A ten-minute weekly check

1. Tick off everything paid since last week and note the date.
2. Look at the next 10 days: is the money in the right account?
3. Update the amount of any bill that changed.
4. Add anything new: a subscription, a medical bill, a one-off fee.

For the full system, from paper piles to a filing routine, read how to organize bills; to compare apps, see the best bill organizer app and our roundup of bill tracker apps.