Anyone who has ever forgotten to get something from the grocery store realizes that it requires a lot less time to buy everything one day than having to go get something as you need it. It requires a grocery list and a bit of foresight, but it saves you hours throughout the week by NOT having to go back to pick up missed items. Why not implement the same type of planning to the paying of your bills?
Rather than sporadically paying them as they come in, or checking a pile on your desk every few days, you should be able to designate 2 days a month to pay your bills. And of course, if you want to save even more time use bill pay.
4 tips to manage your bills
- Make a list of all of your bills and next to each one right the day that it is due. If there is not a due date just leave it blank.
- Decide on 2 days per month that you will pay your bills, I recommend the 2 days you when you get paid (if you receive a regular bi-monthly check).
- Assuming the days you get paid are the 1st and 15th – you would then take all of your bills due say the 22nd through the 6th and pay these on the 15th. And on the 1st of the month you would pay the bills due from the 7th -21st. This will give each bill at least a week to get to through the mail.
- Figure out what your monthly dollar amount needed for bills is and divide it by 2. If you get paid $1000 two times each month, then you will want to pay $1000 worth of bills on the 15th and $1000 worth on the 1st. Use the bills that don’t have a due date (i.e. savings accounts) to balance this out.
To see an example, download my bill payment schedule Excel spreadsheet. I also suggest having a designated checking account specifically to pay bills from. That way you can know exactly how much comes out (the monthly total of your bills), therefore you can know exactly how much to deposit.
Of course if your bill paying days don’t balance out perfectly (paying $1000 both days) don’t spend the money! If you paid $700 this time, you know you will have to pay $1300 next time. If you don’t touch it, you know it will be there waiting.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi,
I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know how much I have enjoyed your site today. I came across it this morning before church and was almost late for church because of reading your posts. My husband and I have made about $270k in mistakes and we are now paying dearly for it. I’ve started my own blog, not really for the purpose of helping others, but for myself so that I can have a visual picture of what’s going on with our finances. Most importantly, two years down the road see that I have been making progress.
I have been looking at other PF blogs for ideas on financial freedom, but I believe yours by far is the best. The reason why your site is far better is because you take a Christian perspective on money when most have a worldly perspective.
Again, thank you so much for the time and effort that you put in to this site. I pray God’s blessings on you in this ministry.
michelle
This is really great advice. I don’t know why I never thought of doing this. Thank you!
Hello! I just want you to know that I have learned a lot from your posts. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. God bless you.
Cathy,
Glad to hear it – I appreciate the encouragement!!
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Thanks for your bill payment schedule document. This is exactly what I needed to remind me to pay my bills online and on time!!! A life saver.
This is a great spreadsheet to help figure out bills so there are no surprises. Any suggestions for those bills that we pay quarterly or annually? Or property taxes, we only pay every other month at the end of Jan, Mar, May, July? How would you suggest setting these up? Have you seen any way of doing that? Thanks
I would like to thank you for your helpful information. You made it easy to read and understand. Thank you
Bjorn, Mary Hunt from debtproofliving.com has a solution for those infrequent but known bills that crop up. Its called the financial freedom account. To give credit where due, you should look this up on her site because she gives awesome, christian financial advice, and ways to save money too.