I hate paying bills. I know, I know, everyone hates it. But it definitely in my Top Ten Things that Suck.
I've tried a variety of ways & systems and haven't really found any one thing that works for us. I tried Microsoft Money, I tried Excel spreadsheets, I tried the credit union bill pay system, I tried journaling. At times I've even tried the ill-advised Ignoring Method.
We fell into the credit card trap when we were first married and bought the house. It has taken us years to repair the damage. Years. Y.E.A.R.S. Now we don't have credit cards of any kind. We so learned our lesson there.
The only times we miss not having credit cards is when:
We go to Vegas. We get a reloadable Visa card when we travel.
The racecar is broken...Reason #1 we don't have credit cards.
Money is tight...Reason #2 we don't have credit cards.
I use cash for day-to-day expenses and online checks for bill payments. I write checks for groceries and get cash back. I believe I am the only 40-something that still writes checks.
Oh, bills. I was talking about bills. When I stopped working, I budgeted most of our bills to be due at the end of the month. I found that having a mass due date helped with the bill paying ADD. There are other bills that are auto-paid throughout the month like our Sirius, NetFlix, and my book obsession. Bills that don't junk punch the bank account if/when I forget to budget accordingly.
I frequently read about budgeting and like most everything in my life I cherry pick stuff from everything and mash it together to work.
How do you pay your bills?
4 comments:
Your not alone,we have the same problem over here.I dont have a credit card,I do have a debit card though which allows me to withdraw cash or pay by plastic,as long as Im in credit.I cant remember when I last wrote a cheque,I dont know where the cheque book is.Ive only been badly in debt once,it took a long time to clear.Blue skies are just around the corner,oh yeh.
i don't write many checks (school lunch money, fundraises, book fairs, that's about it). i do online bill paying through our bank, mostly because any of those other things you mentioned would probably give me a panice attack. i am not good w/ numbers. the hubs and i have tried it different ways--doing it together (not); me doing it (this went on for decades it seemed) he did it (i mostly loved that except when he'd sit down to do them and ask me how much money i needed for the next two weeks--like i'd have a clue) and now we are back to me doing it. we have some auto drafts. i keep everything written down in a calender and we have a lump due at the first of the month and smaller lump in the middle. usually when the hubs gets paid i sit down to watch the money disappear.
i think i hate bill paying more than changing the litter box, cleaning the bathrooms and dusting combined.
I have a crap ton of bills. So like you, I did my best to make sure they all fell about the end of the month. So I break down my paycheck by how much goes to what bills. My Google calendar is most helpful. Always sending myself reminders, monthly breakdowns of bills, etc. Most of my bills are set to automatically be withdrawn from my checkign account at the end of the month. The others I have to pester myself to remember to pay them, usually with a check.
Ohh so weird thing, I just tried to comment and got that 503 Blogger Unavailable thing! What in the world...all because I read your post I'm sure...haha.
Anyway, I'm on a cash system, usually I do okay. i just have to stick with it!!
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