Pay Your Bills First
How To Pay Your Bills?
Paying your bills promptly will help you avoid late fees and interest charges. Follow these steps to ward off procrastination and keep your finances in good order:
1. Set aside a special place to put your bills when they arrive, such as a desk cubbyhole, a special section in a drawer or a bill inbox. As soon as you receive them, open your bills, then put them in this special place.
2. Set aside two times a month, two weeks apart, to pay bills. The middle and end of the month are good times.
3. Call the companies that send you bills and have them revise your payment due dates to correspond with one of the two times you plan to pay your bills each month.
4. Mark your calendar to remind you of bill-paying dates and to help you keep to your schedule.
5. Pay your bills with checks or money orders, then note the check number, the date and the amount paid on the receipt portion of each bill.
6. File these receipts away and keep them for seven years.
7. Place the envelopes containing your payments next to your keys so that you will remember to take them with you and mail them immediately.
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Some credit card companies, mortgage lenders and automobile financing companies change due dates. Check the due dates for such bills when they arrive.
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Utility and phone companies are usually a little more flexible and will wait for a few days before they send you a reminder notice or charge you a late fee. Credit card companies, mortgage and automobile lenders, oil companies and landlords are stricter.
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Many banks allow you to arrange for automatic bill payment from your checking account.
Additional Tips on How To Pay Your Bills
- If you move to a new address with new services, if you have the money, pay the first months' estimated bill the week you have your service started. this will reduce the chance of a future late payment as billing cycles can be a little erratic the first 60 days at a new address.
- Keep your check book balanced on a weekly basis using your bank account's online feature.
- If it makes more sense to change the dates around based on how often you are paid, do it, but keep the bi-monthly payment amounts roughly the same.
- If you decide to pay your bills online, keep a password protected spreadsheet of all the website addresses, your username, and password. Try not to use the same password at every place.
- If your company offers direct deposit for payroll, create a separate account just for bills. Have exactly the amount you need to pay every bill in full deposited into that account every payday, and have the rest of your check sent to your normal account. Set up automatic payment from that account for each bill, and never touch the account again. Now you have a regular account with only the money you can afford to spend!