Look At Bill, Pay The Bill, Forget About Bill.
Bills as in "the accounts you owe", not the Clintons or O'Reillys ;) (Although, some would prefer to forget about them as well, but that's a whole other topic)Today, I share with you my 3 super fantastic steps to managing those pesky bills of yours. Or at least the way I prefer to handle them! I look at 'em, I pay 'em, and then I happily ever afterly forget about 'em! Nice and easy, right? Here's how to do it:
Look at the Bill. Does it look about right? Were you expecting it to be a lot higher or lower? One of the perks of getting your bills down to a relatively small number is that you can easily give it a thumbs up or thumbs down upon first glance. You can do this by cutting back & getting rid of some completely (the best way), or you could do it by throwing as many bills as you possibly can on a credit card (my personal method, but not great for everyone). Either way, you get a general idea of what those totals should look like every time a bill comes in. If it looks good, move on to step #2! If it's jacked up? Do your research and get it all squared away.
Pay the Bill. Similar to the credit card method, I try and funnel as many bills as possible one way - electronically. I do everything I can to attach it to my online world since I know I'll be connected to it almost every single day ;) I set up email alerts, online billpay, and as many automatic payments as feasible. The more you can get technology working on your side, the more you can spend on the exciting & important stuff in your life. For all those bills I can't automate, I pay right away as soon as I confirm the amount's legit. I don't like them lingering around and tempting me to forget!
Forget about the Bill. The whole out of sight, out of mind idea - except you're conscientiously choosing to for this ;) No one likes looking at bills more than they have to, right? As long as I'm budgeting for them okay and following steps #1 and #2 above, I can safely cross them off the list and move on with my wonderful life. No pressure, no problem!
That's it! The secrets to my stress-free bill paying. Of course, the more bills you cut back on the less you have to worry about, but easier said than done ;) We'll always have something or another popping up to eat our money, but if you have that game plan locked in there's less chance of it phasing you. And that's really what it's all about.
Labels: advice, bills, debt, money management
posted by J. Money at
12:01 PM
13 Comments:
Darn bills!
I have any bill that is a set amount every month on ING Electric Orange Auto-pay. Then my fluctuating bills are paid manually each month after being carefully combed over for mistakes. For example, the last few months I have had to manually report utility meter readings which ended up saving me $160 over two months.
Like I said before...darn bills!
nicely organized sir, I dig it. it's all about getting into a rhythm that works well for you :) one day we'll find away to narrow it all down to just 1 main bill! i would be one happy kid.
That's pretty much how I do it now. Its definitely less stressful. When I was unemployed, it was a little more difficult - especially the *paying* part. ;)
I need to start doing that when I get a Bill I look at it and then it sits for a while. starting to get the habit of just paying it.
I use a online bill paying service and click on everything that is due and set the day for it to come out of my paycheck and then I "fogetta bout it". A friend of mine got me hip to paying extra on bills too.....sometimes I can and sometimes I can't. I have also started unplugging a bunch of stuff around the house not inuse and my power bill went down by $20!
I also pay as many bills as I can electronically but I can't seem to "forget" them until I confirmed the account has been credited and it has been withdrawn from my bank account.
I keep telling myself that I am going to start paying the bills as soon as they come in but I like to hold onto my money as long as possible.
Love my online bill pay. I don't know how we survived without it!
I use the online bill pay as well. I love it! With my credit union I can set the day I want the bill paid, and it will show me the guaranteed arrival date. That way I can set up the payment right away, but like SingleMoneyGuy the payment doesn't leave my account until it has to. (I usually give myself an extra day just to be safe.) My credit union also lets me set up automatic payments that go out each and every month at the same time for things like the mortgage that don't change month to month. It is great! I haven't had a late bill in years - as opposed to the old days when I would "See the bill - Forget the bill - find the bill under junk mail on the coffee table - scramble to pay the bill."
I have a system similar to yours J. All bills go to Discover or Chase so I can get cash back on the ones that qualify. I have a general idea of what the irregular things like electricity should be so I have a set amount of money going to each card via ING....so I basically don't even have to 'pay' the bill.
I love ING and I love automating my finances!!!!
This is my strategy as well! I use MoneyDance to keep track of my finances, which allows me to input re-occurring bills and see when bills are due around our paydays. I then pay all the bills as they come in through billpay and mark the dates to coincide with their due dates and when I'll have the money available. Sometimes my bills are scheduled a whole month in advance!
Yeah, you guys know what's up! I'm sure there are other systems that work equally as good for people, so as long as there IS a system in place I think it makes everything much less stressful :)
@Carla - unemployment certainly does make paying it harder! so scary to think about...glad it was "when" you were unemployed, as in the past ;)
@SingleGuyMoney - I used to be the same way - i'd save all the bills up and pay them at the last second so i'd hold the money in my accounts building interest before i had to give it up. but then i realized that a) i always messed up in some form or another and ended up with at least 1 late payment, and b) the .30 or so of interest isn't really worth it ;) so now i just pay right away and be done with it. even thought the bank account never looks all that sexy.
@Andrea - btw, what is MoneyDance? sounds pretty interesting...although probably because it sounds like exotic dancing or something ;) haha...
Man, what a timely read for me to peep this today. I have been struggling the last few weeks with paying down some bills from my savings or try and pay them down from my paycheck. I finally have seen the bill and paid the bill. Done deal, lock it up.
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