Are you looking for an easy way to save a few bucks, while also improving your credit score? Then pay your bills—ALL of them—on time each month.I hate to admit it, but doing this is a real challenge for me. It’s not that I intentionally mail my bills late. I always plan to pay on time, then completely forget to write out my checks, put them in the mailbox, and balance my ledger. Unfortunately, this forgetfulness translates to late fees and a lower FICO every single time I allow it to happen.
I keep promising myself I’ll do a better job getting the bills in the mail on time, but I have yet to achieve any real success in this area. Donnie recently suggested we sign up to have a few of our bills debited from our checking account each month. I think doing this may be the right choice for us, since it will help counterbalance my forgetful ways.
Do you struggle with any particular aspect of frugal living, even if it’s something as silly as forgetting to get the bills out the door on time? What strategies have you used—successfully or unsuccessfully—to compensate?
4 comments:
We pay every single one of our bills, except Dr. visits, online. For the ones that allow it, we set up an automatic withdrawal from our checking account. It means we never forget! For the ones that can't set up the automatic payments, Zach has set up reminders on his computer so that he receives an e-mail alert telling him to pay the bill. When he gets the -mail, it means he is online, so he immediately goes and pays it.
We haven't had a late bill...ever. (I can't take much credit, the only bills that I am in charge of as the stay at home mom are my credit cards!)
In my house I'm in charge of paying bills. One thing that I do is create an Excel spreadsheet for all bills for a year, broken down by month. This way I can see how much is being spent per month and also compare it to expenses from previous months. I keep it open frequently so that I can always see what needs to be paid and what has been. I will also make a note for each bill as to when it is due to remind me by using the notepad on Google toolbar. This works very well for me. Case and point: I forgot to keep it open last month and forgot to pay my first bill in FOREVER! I was shocked by all the more convinced of my system.
Hope this helps!
Wow, just found your place and am enjoying it.
I, too, struggle to remember the bills on time. My situation is aggrivated by the fact that I don't have a checking account, so I have to go out and get money orders for everything. Talk about a hassle!
I don't know which I would prefer, getting a checking account and paying my bills at night when I am at work (I could send them in with works mail) or setting up automatic payments online.
I'm not great at it, but I'm much, much better than I was a few years ago. Paying over the phone helps. Yes, there's usually a fee. But that $9 is better than a $35 late fee and a bad credit report!
Here is one thing that I found helps me a lot. I decided to look back over the past year and record when bills are generally due. I know that Discover is always due on the 25th. My Sears bill is due around the 5th.
Once I had the dates listed, I made a graph over two pages in a notebook (I keep records of bills paid in a black-and-white notebook, not a check register). The graph has 13 columns: the first for each of the bills to be paid, the next 12 for the months of the year. I put them in the order they'll be due. And I look at it frequently! This way, if I see it's the 15th and my electric bill is due, I call it in! (Utilities don't seem to charge for the service like CCs do).
So what do I do with the monthly columns? Well, each time a bill is paid, I mark it off! That way, I can see at a glance each month what has been paid and what I still need to pay.
Maybe a graph would help you, too?
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