Bill Paying and Timing

[marla]

I would love to pay off all my bills when they first come in, but I get paid 2 times a month. Sometimes there isn't enough money in my checking account to pay off the bill when it arrives. Then I put it aside and sometime accidently forget about it. How can I solve this problem?

[sdc2027]

I write mine on the calendar- a nice size wall calender helps and then also write down when you get paid with a little $ sign or something. When you get paid the 1st time in the month- figure out all the bills owed up to the 2nd time you get paid for the month- when the 2nd time you get paid for the month, figure out what is owed up to the 1st of the next month- write them all down.
Keeping track will allow you to not rely on that memory.

[kelijene]

Bills paid late used to be a regular occurrence in our home, until we needed to tighten our budget dramatically. We estimated the cost of the bills for a whole year and then divide it by the # times salary is paid per year.
This is how much per pay you need to have aside for bills.
You can either put this amount aside into another account and just pay bills from that account, or, what we did, because our budget was tight and I didn't want to stuff up, was to make monthly payments towards all our bills whether due or not. (our pay is monthly). We've been doing this for over 12 months now, and not had one bill late. Often times we find that one bill needs a little more money paid and one a little less, I just adjust the portions for the month, but so far it has averaged out pretty right.

[LuxLiving]

Try Jesse's 'You Need A Budget'. Throw a .com after that and I think you'll have these bumps smoothed out in no time! No, I'm not affiliated, just a well satisfied customer!

-LuxLivingFrugalis

[Kris10Leigh]

I think Kelijene's advice is good. We do exactly this and no longer owe late fees. The only difference is, we have everything either automatically deducted from that checking account or automatically paid out. I love it! We do have two accounts- one for bills only and one for living expenses.

[gotalkmoney]

I have most of my bills deducted directly from my savings account. I never touch the money in that account. This way, I'm able to budget my money in that account, so I'm not short, etc.

If I don't have the bill deducted, I will simply throw a reminder on my cell phone schedule and it will go off until I pay it, this really helps since I tend to forget a lot

[Ima saver]

I keep mine all written down. I pay all the bills due the 10-15th plus my car about the 6th of the month. Then I pay bills due the 25th-30th, about the 2oth of the month. Sinc e I always have the full amount tucked away in each envelope, it is no hassel.

[greedy4chips]

A couple ideas to try

1. Find something you do everyday like take medication, brush teeth and put the bills there in order of due date.

2. Use Yahoo Calendar with an email notification you set to announce when something is due, say 5 days in advance it emails you with the alert...bad idea unless you check your yahoo email each day!

3. Use a desktop calendar software that you can set similar alerts in.

I hate the writing notes on a calendar, because I never check it on a regular basis.

[LuxLiving]

Ohhhh-yeah Greedy that's good practical advice. I used to mark the date a bill needed to be mailed out by by subtracting 10 days for delivery time - so if was due on the 15th it got a 5th written on the upper right corner of the payment envelope as soon as I opened it and then it got leaned right in front of my monitor (behind the keyboard) in numerical order. With it there I saw it daily until on the 5th I slapped a stamp over the number and walked it to the mailbox. And so on... due on the 1st it usually got mailed out on the 20th of the preceding month, etc., etc. etc. Nowdays most all of mine are automated so tis easier and I just sit down on the 1st and pay everything else that needs paying for the month and viola I'm done for the month.

-LuxLivingFrugalis

[PrincessPerky]

We worked hard to have enough in the account to cover half a months bills without a check, so we don't care if the bill comes before the check..that and all ours are automatically deducted...so they can't be late. I would like the whole month sitting there, but for now half is good enough. (we get paid twice a month)

[Dido]

I solved all my late bill paying problems by getting online bill pay with my checking account. There was a small fee when I started but now my bank offers the service free, as more and more banks are. I have my paychecks direct deposited, and I know when they are coming in, and I can schedule bill payments ahead of time and the bank makes sure the checks go out when they need to. So, I might have a $150 gas bill that comes today, but don't get a paycheck until next Friday the 25th. Today when I have the bill in hand, I can schedule that $150 to be sent to the gas company on the 25th. I deal with it today, then forget it. Actually, you can set billpay up to be automatic. I know *about* what each of my bills is, so I set it up that all the montly bills are automatically paid and I go in and adjust the amounts when necessary. I avoid both late payments and postage paying my bills this way!

[getforfree]

We usually have enough money in our checking, so I pay my bills as soon as I get it. I just have to be careful if I just paid mortgage and withdrawed some money, not to pay any until the paycheck will come in. I have 2 bills that are taken automatically, and I usually write them into my checkbook as soon as I get it, to make sure, that I don't take too much money out.

As of late payments and stuff, we never had any. Except one time we paid one car registration a few days later, because we didn't get the bill, and lucky for us, I look at our registration and noticed that it's due. It cost us like $13 or something extra because of just a few days.

If I would pay my mortgage payment late, they would charge me extra $60 for a late fee.

Late fees cost too much. Most of the times it's cheaper to borrow and pay interest, than paying a late fee.

[autoxer]

I don't keep much money in my checking account, because I want to use as much as I can toward getting out of debt. I pay my bills as soon as my paycheck gets deposited. I use a calendar to schedule which bills get paid which weeks, but it is pretty much the same each month. The first friday, I pay the rent, the third friday I pay the car note and the other two paychecks go mostly toward getting out of debt.

Another option would be to schedule an online payment as soon as the bill arrives, but schedule it to occur with the next paycheck. The online bill pay won't forget it.

[Diolla]

Some bills will let you adjust the due dates, you just have to call the company and say 'the due date of xx doesn't work well with my budget I would prefer a due date around the xx day of the month'. I set mine up so that they are all due near the first and then put away 1/2 each payday. I had to use a little savings to get it set but now it is working fine.

BTW the first bill after you move the date can be larger or smaller than usual.

[rduell]

I have bill reminders set up in my Quicken program. I have it remind me 10 days ahead of the due date for those that I send through the mail and 5 days ahead for those that I pay online or in person. This works well for me since I log into Quicken every day anyway.

[PriceLimbo]

I think we all have had that issue, and continue to have that issue as we grow in life. Just to name a few reasons why we may struggle: vehicles, mortgage, CHILDREN, clothing, GAS, food, utilities, rent, medical, taxes, accidents, activities, pets, and on, and on, and on.......

A few years ago I decided to work 2 full time jobs during the winter months. It hurt, but it put me ahead and helped me get out of debt. I recommend that to anyone who has monthly income/debt issues.

[vsjhoc]

It's interesting how we each have our own system.

I need an idiot-proof system. And I have an almost irrational fear of paying late. It doesn't just cost you a late fee, it can hurt your credit.

I don't pay any bills by mail. Everything is paid via auto debit -- mortgage, house insurance, car insurance, electricity, gas, water, telephone, cell phone, security system, newspaper, ISP (Internet service), web hosting, savings, etc. I know some people think "oh, my gosh, that's so risky, they're gonna go into your account and take everything!" I've been doing this for years and I've never had a problem.

The only bills I have to actually pay are 2 or 3 credit card bills, and I do it on-line at the card company's site (as opposed to my bank's site). I schedule them at least 5 days before the due date because even though you specify the date you want it paid, it might not post until the next day.

Do whatever works for you!

[tinapbeana]

i get paid the 15th and 30th of every month as opposed to bi-weekly, so i sat down and figured out which bills are due the 1-15 and which are due 15-31. The check i got the 30th of september pays bills due the 1-15 of october, while the check i got october 15th pays bills due the 16-31 (withsavings and whatnot all budgeted in around, of course). with this method, i deposit my check from work,come home, and write up the bills that are due anytime the next 15 days and pay them all at once (even have my online bills set up to pay accordin to this schedule).

the other thing is to get used to paying bills early as opposed to when they're due.

[Marketiva]

Originally Posted by marla

I would love to pay off all my bills when they first come in, but I get paid 2 times a month. Sometimes there isn't enough money in my checking account to pay off the bill when it arrives. Then I put it aside and sometime accidently forget about it. How can I solve this problem?

You can solve this problem with the following procedure:
When you get your bill(s) you should determine the sum of the bill(s). May be on the moment you have not enough money on your checking account but it's not problem, because you can set a transaction date according to the prompt of your bill(s). The setting of future Wire Transfer(s) is very easy. So maybe you'll forget the pay off but your bank not -

[LivingAlmostLarge]

We get paid biweekly for DH and monthly for me. What I do is live a month ahead. Have a month in cash reserves. It can take time to build up that reserve. I also deposit monthly bills which are due monthly.