How do you pay your bills on time?

[Corraleno]

I have almost everything on autopay except medical bills. Those I stick on the fridge as soon as I open them, and then in the next day or two, after I check that the bills are correct and insurance has paid their part, I call and pay them by phone. I do the same with any other random bills that come through.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Hm...I'll have to look into that.

 

 

[KathyBC]

I am having trouble keeping on top of my bills and paperwork, and would love to find out how everyone else does it.  We have two credit cards, which we pay in full each month, and assorted other bills (phone, internet, oil, electricity, etc.), but I am frequently paying late because I can't keep up with all of the bills and statements and different due dates.  Funds are not an issue, as I am fully capable of *paying* the bills (there is plenty in our account and bills are not a hardship).  It is just my poor executive function skills that makes it difficult for me to actually get the funds sent out.  Currently, I get a mix of paper and online statements, and I pay with online banking through my bank's website.

 

Do you all use a mobile app like Mint to keep track?  Set things on auto-pay?  Is this difficult for anyone else?

I pay all my bills one day of the month (for us that's the 20th). All bills get put into a drawer together until that day, sometimes unopened, depending on what's going on. Over the years I even phoned some of the vendors to get our billing dates to line up with what worked best for us. So sometime around the 20th I pull them all out, go through them, pay them online, file them, balance the chequebook.

[marbel]

I do as much as possible via automatic payment by credit card.  That limits the number of bills I have to pay attention to.  

 

Cellphone, Internet, Sewer, Gas and Electric are paid that way.

 

Mortgage, credit cards, and water bill are on autopay from the checking account.  I'd put the water bill and mortgage on the cc if they'd let me.

 

Credit cards are also set up for for autopay, the full balance each month. 

 

I do check before due dates (I get reminder emails) to be sure money is in the checking account to cover everything.  I like putting as much as possible on credit cards for the points. 

[AmandaVT]

I have a spreadsheet that lists all of our monthly bills and our monthly savings goals for various accounts (property taxes, Christmas savings, long term, etc.) I list the months across the top and type in the date I pay each bill when it's paid. That way, at the end of the month, I can see if any have been missed. 

 

Then, through my bank, I set up recurring payments for each of our bills as vendors and set up payments to go out to them on time. Some companies, like our cable and electric work with our bank and I can see the monthly bills in the bill pay section. We get paid on weekly, so I end up having to move the every 4 week payment occasionally so I don't end up paying too early and making two payments in a month, but it's pretty easy once it's set up in the bank account. We are on a monthly budget plan for electric and propane so we pay a set amount throughout the year and either catch up or pay less to end the year. We somehow always end up paying more than we should, so I never have a propane or electric bill in December, which is nice.

[Prairie~Phlox]

I do as much as possible via automatic payment by credit card. That limits the number of bills I have to pay attention to.

 

Cellphone, Internet, Sewer, Gas and Electric are paid that way.

 

Mortgage, credit cards, and water bill are on autopay from the checking account. I'd put the water bill and mortgage on the cc if they'd let me.

 

Credit cards are also set up for for autopay, the full balance each month.

 

I do check before due dates (I get reminder emails) to be sure money is in the checking account to cover everything. I like putting as much as possible on credit cards for the points.

This is exactly how I do it & I also use Quicken to manage our money. We've use some type of program since we got married.

[Ausmumof3]

I am having trouble keeping on top of my bills and paperwork, and would love to find out how everyone else does it. We have two credit cards, which we pay in full each month, and assorted other bills (phone, internet, oil, electricity, etc.), but I am frequently paying late because I can't keep up with all of the bills and statements and different due dates. Funds are not an issue, as I am fully capable of *paying* the bills (there is plenty in our account and bills are not a hardship). It is just my poor executive function skills that makes it difficult for me to actually get the funds sent out. Currently, I get a mix of paper and online statements, and I pay with online banking through my bank's website.

 

Do you all use a mobile app like Mint to keep track? Set things on auto-pay? Is this difficult for anyone else?

I miss them from time to time as well. When I'm on top of things what works is having one hour a week scheduled for bill paying appointment making and filing. I pay anything due in the next week. When things fall apart and my routines aren't working I do better if I pay as soon as it arrived. If you are short on cash that's tricky but if cashflow isn't a problem it can be easier.

[AprilTN]

I have a low-tech way that I keep up with the bills.  I've been doing this for years and it works well for me.  First, I print the "monthly portrait HTML calendar with Holidays" from http://printfree.com/category/calendars/monthly. I 3-hole punch the pages and put them in a binder.  As bills come in I put them in the binder pocket. I circle paydays in each month, and then for each bill I write the company name and amount in the square of the due date.  When dh gets paid, I pay all of the bills that are due before the next payday.  After paying them, I put a slash mark through them so I know I paid them.  I even write down the bills that are auto paid so that I can keep up with them.  When I sit down to pay bills, I just make sure the autopay bills are on my banking account and have been deducted. 

 

I also write any vacation days or days we will be out of town to make sure I don't forget a bill because we are out of town.

 

I have the current month as the first page when I open the binder.  After the month ends, I move it to the back and the new month is the first page.  

 

It's super simple but I seem to work better with a monthly paper calendar.  I print out 6 months at at time, and as a matter of fact, I printed Jan-June 2018 today and loaded them in my binder.  

[JFSinIL]

I have a large calendar hanging on the door leading to the basement. It is in the kitchen. I check it first thing every morning, and am diligent about writing things down on it...including notes to myself, just before the 15th and the end of the month, to "pay bills". I make note, too, of bills I need to pay on-line. Each month as I, for example, pay the Visa bill I also make a note on the next month a few days before it is due (again) to pay it (we pay the credit card in full each month, too).

 

Bills as they arrive in the mail go right into a small letter-holder that hangs close by. None are left laying around to get lost/misplaced. I am an oddball who still gets most bills via snailmail.

 

I love the Ansel Adams and Sierra Club wall calendars, they are attractive and have large squares on which to scribble all my reminders.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

I have a nice wooden box with slots that are numbered 1-31.  I put each bill in a slot that's one week before the due date.  For example, if it's due on the 17th of the month I'll put the bill in the slot marked the 10th.  I look at the box regularly so I know if I have bills to pay and then pull them out and take care of it that day.  

 

I would try to get my due dates changed to coordinate if you can.  

 

Also, if any paperless bills come in through my email, I don't delete them from my INBOX until the bill has been paid.  That way it's there as a reminder every time I open my email.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2017 by 1GirlTwinBoys

[kiwik]

Insurance is direct debited from an account I put money into for bills each payday, school fees, credit cards are paid from the same account fortnightly. Rent is paid by automatic payment weekly from main account. Internet and power are paid every second pay. Phone is prepaid and all other bills (doctor/dentist/mechanic) are paid before leaving. I don't have enough money. If I did I would just use auto pay or pay the minute the bill came.

[laundrycrisis]

Paying online, going paperless when possible, setting up automatic minimum payments as a safety net, and I also keep a spreadsheet with the last viewed date for each account, so nothing is forgotten. For odd paper bills, they are parked under my mousepad until they are paid.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

If you can afford to, pay everything online on the first. Only takes a few minutes once it’s all set up.

[2_girls_mommy]

I am a paper and pen type of girl. I have always kept a binder with a calendar in it with paydays marked. 

 

I keep two lists: one for each payday. Each list just lists the bills that come out of each paycheck. 

 

So the basic plan is easy. I do bills twice a month on payday. I sit and write out any checks that come out of each paycheck even if they aren't due for another week or two. I have two set days that I do bills. 

 

Now, honestly, most are automatic now, so there are only a couple of checks each pay period that I have to write anymore. But that two days of sitting, looking at the online bank statement and matching up with all of expenditures out of my handwritten checklist, seeing what has gone through and what is still outstanding is key to keeping on top of finances. While doing that I look at the calendar and make notes of extra things that will come out of each paycheck- things like dance recital fees are due in March. Yearly car tag payments in Feb and April. Homeschool convention in April, bdays and Christmas gifts, etc. Then I take time to budget those in and move any bonuses to savings while I am sitting there. 

[Hannah]

Cheques here were phased out about 10 years ago, so everything is paid electronically.

We have autopay on all our accounts eccept the municipal account.  I have a reminder on my calendar to check the bill 5 days before it is due and then I pay online.

[Rosika]

I have ADD, so it's important for me to have a streamlined process that doesn't change. For that reason, bill pay and automatic payments don't always work for me ... like when credit cards expire and I have to update the info, or when I switch cable companies, etc. Like, I can't manage that and try to keep up with the changes and figure out how to use this stupid technology stuff. I'm a pen and paper girl. But also, I have trust issues LOL so I like to stay on top of every bill. With auto pay, it's out of sight and out of mind. And that makes me jumpy. I also can't differentiate between auto pay, bill pay, and all of those options. It overwhelms me, so I just don't think of them as true options for me. 

 

So I pay every single bill by credit card. I pay it the minute it comes in. I call, or go online, or fill out the form ... however it comes in, I pay it that way with my (one and only) credit card. Immediately. Then I'm done with the bill. 

 

I get paid every other week. It's direct deposited into my checking account. Once a month I pay my credit card bill with the funds from my checking account. I do this on the anniversary of my birth date so that it's easy for me to remember. It's set on my google calendar, my phone, but it's also just burned into my brain that whatever day of the week it is ... on the 20th of every month, I pay my cc bill. It takes me two minutes to log-on, click "pay my bill" and log out. 

 

This works for me because my checking account hasn't changed in 27 years, and I don't anticipate it ever will. So once I entered it onto my online cc account, I was done thinking about it. As a bonus, I accrue a crap ton of points and have excellent credit! 

 

But for me, it needs to be as simple as 2 steps: (1) pay by cc the minute a bill comes in, and (2) pay my cc bill once a month on a set date. 

 

It doesn't get more easy than that. You could even pay the cc twice a month on paydays if you wanted. But really, so simple this way!

[EKS]

I've had two methods work for me.

 

The first was when I was younger and without kids.  I simply paid each bill the day after I received it and then mailed it from work.

 

Now I have a spot in my kitchen where I pile them and once a week, I open, pay, and mail them.  There are a few bills that I have to pay online, and these I haven't found a good system for and am forever paying them late (or right against the deadline).

[Lanny]

We have a very low-tech helper. On the door of the Refrigerator, with a Marking Pen (erasable) we have the things that must be paid each month.  After I pay each thing, I put a small magnet next to that, so we know it has been paid. This helps so we do not forget to pay something, if the Statement does not arrive. Some things, we do not receive a physical statement and need to print it from the web site of the utility or provider.  Last April, when I signed up for service from our new ISP, I elected not to receive paper statements from them. We get that by email from them.  So, we know those are not going to come to our mailbox and we print out one page of the 4 page Statement (the page with the Bar Code) and I pay that.  We only get 3 Statements in our mailbox now. One from the Electric utility (which also includes the Garbage and Trash collection) and one from the Water utility and one from the HOA.  

[Scarlett]

I am very old fashioned. I make a list of bills due for the month. On the first i pay everything that will be do that coming month I do on line bill pay but not automatic. Only Netflix is auto withdrawal .

[cintinative]

I have a home management binder and one of the pocket is "bills to pay"  and another is "bills paid." I write in my calendar when I pay the bills (the 6th of the month) and pay all of them then. 

 

We get paid once a month so this system works for us. Bills that come in mid-month or off-schedule that are due before the 6th I pay as soon as I receive them.

[Scarlett]

I have a home management binder and one of the pocket is "bills to pay" and another is "bills paid." I write in my calendar when I pay the bills (the 6th of the month) and pay all of them then.

 

We get paid once a month so this system works for us. Bills that come in mid-month or off-schedule that are due before the 6th I pay as soon as I receive them.

Dh gets paid once a month too. I get paid every 2 weeks but it goes to another account for savings and big ticket items ( taxes, a side of beef ect). So dhs check covers the bills and food and fuel ect. Even when Dh got paid once a week I still paid bills one time per month. My strategy was to gather X amount of money to have available by the first to pay that months bills. I only pay bills once a month. With rare exception. Edited December 18, 2017 by Scarlett

[SKL]

For the regular recurring bills (which most of mine are), I use autopay, and when possible I have it charge my credit card.  Then I have my credit cards send me a notice if it's getting close to the due date and I haven't paid yet.  I pay that online - it's not automatic, because I have to make sure I have the cash in the right account, but it's mostly set up so I just have to push a few buttons.  I try to do it well in advance, setting the date for later.

 

Back in the dark ages, I used to keep a detailed spreadsheet of due dates and amounts for my many student loans & other bills.  I would pay the next bills whenever I got a paycheck.  I did get behind a few times, just because I was busy with a lot of things.  Paying late is very costly, so I learned my lesson pretty quick.

[AHASRADA]

I have an app called "Easy Bill Reminder". I enter the names of all of my bills, their amounts and their due dates, and it sends me notifications x days before it's due (you choose the number of days ahead), then it continues to notify you every day until you mark it as paid. It also provides a total at the top next to the name of the month, so you can see the total cost of all your bills for the month (helps with budgeting), and will keep a running total of how much you've spent on the bills you've paid. You can set recurring bills or add in ones that are for that month only. It is really helpful to see all my bills and their due dates at a glance, and I can stop worrying about remember when everything is due.

 

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