Timing of payments?

**Ponderer** · 11-11-2011, 10:17 AM

I am just curious of what others do if in a similar situation to me. I am paid twice monthly and my snowball is made up of equal parts each payday of $250, for a total of $500.

Do you opt to make your additional payments on whatever bill you are currently putting the extra on as soon as the money is available? Or do you wait until you have it gathered for the month and do it all at once?

I am opting to pay as soon as it is available as it does me more good being paid to them, and not just sitting in my account for a few extra weeks.

**Greebo** · 11-11-2011, 11:39 AM

We always did extra payments at the end of the month because there's always the possibility that a budgeted item might have been incorrect, and you don't want to be short on something that has to be paid for (gas, food, etc) because of payments above the minimum on debts paid too early.

**mateosbaby** · 11-11-2011, 03:58 PM

I do the same as Greebo. I like to make absolutely sure that I didn't goof (and ask my hubby how many times that has happened LOL) or something else more important doesn't come up before I go and pay anything besides bills. I pay all my bills on the 1st of the month, and when we were still snowballing that meant the snowball part was technically from the month prior.

**Ponderer** · 11-11-2011, 04:00 PM

I can see where it would be necessary to wait, especially with multiple people involved.

My budget and household is only me and the 2 cats, plus I do have a bit of a cushion in my checking account that I ignore.

It is just nice to hear what others are doing too. :-)

**Palooka** · 11-12-2011, 12:45 AM

This is interesting to me. We get paid twice a month too and I try to budget with the snowball before payday, but sometimes run into problems. You know like those pesky things that can come up and you could have really used that extra 20 dollars.

Hmmm, maybe I will try to throw the snowball at the end of the pay period instead of the first?? Seems like we run out of money really fast because I'm trying to pay off debt first, but I don't leave us with much left the last few days until pay day again.

**ladytoysdream** · 11-12-2011, 07:31 AM

Originally Posted by Palooka

Hmmm, maybe I will try to throw the snowball at the end of the pay period instead of the first?? Seems like we run out of money really fast because I'm trying to pay off debt first, but I don't leave us with much left the last few days until pay day again.

Always leave yourself a bit of a cushion in the checking account.

Hubby gets paid every other week. If I have to pay something big, like the school or property taxes, I usually have to double check everything before I write that check. I do a sinking fund monthly and leave money in the account but sometimes it ends up being emergency funds, like repairs on the trucks. He can't walk to work.

**Wendy99** · 11-12-2011, 09:49 AM

What a great question that I really never thought of. We do our payments right on payday, often leaving us short towards the end of the pay period. I always want that money on the debt right away as it feels great watching it go down, but then we struggle and sometimes end up using more credit to make it to the end of the pay period. I'm going to start doing this now with our next pay. Thanks - good question.