Paying bills weekly

**Jaded** · 09-30-2007, 09:44 AM

For those of you who pay bills mostly online and get paid weekly or biweekly, do you pay a little with each paycheck, or once a month?

I'm having a problem with getting late charges because I forget to pay bills, so I'm going to start paying bills weekly, a little at a time, so I don't get any late charges.

With the $29 late charge on my cc last month, I had about $40 just in late charges! Some of that is because I'm a month behind still on some bills, so I get a late charge every month, but some of it is just forgetfulness.

I figure if I FORCE myself to go into my account every week and pay something, then I'll more than likely avoid late fees.

**Jaded** · 09-30-2007, 09:45 AM

Can't edit, so I'll add here that it will also keep me from robbing envelopes or spending the money on something else.

**Droppedonmyhead** · 09-30-2007, 09:54 AM

I get paid every 2 weeks, so I pay mine that way. On a calendar, I mark all of my paydays for the year. As each month comes up and I receive a bill, I write the bill and amount on the due date in the calendar. That way I can see at a glance what has to be paid within that 2 week period. It works for me!

**monkeywrangler71** · 09-30-2007, 09:56 AM

Does your bank let you postdate bill payments?
With ours you can choose the date that you want something to be paid, and automatically repeat as many times as you want. If you have that option, you could set it up to pay a set amount every pay and you wouldn't have to worry about forgetting.

My description kind of sounds like pre-authorized debits, but it isn't, this one you just set up yourself and can edit or delete any time you want. I refuse to do pre-authorized debits, saw way too many horror stories when I worked at the bank.

**claimsgirl66** · 09-30-2007, 10:10 AM

I too am paid bi-weekly and this year came up with a "system". After joining FV I was inspired to be more organized with my bill paying!

I saved my old bills for a couple of months & figured out approximate due dates during the month : electric usually due around 13th, phone around the 2nd, car on the 19th, etc....so I could break them into the 2 parts of the month due. Then I took a monthly desk planner,(vendors are always giving these things away at my workplace), but any planner, calendar or printout from your computer will work. Then I actually will go a few months ahead, write out when my paydays are, & then list the bills, in order of date due , so I have in my head which ones I need to pay and when. Then I cross them off as I pay them. Things like "saving" or '"debt reduction, after making the minimum payment, are then allocated to have a little something extra paid with each paycheck, as you had thought of doing. Hope I explained that well!

I do also do the deferred payment on my online bank as well. You can pretty much pick any day for the transcaction to process. Play around with a system that works for you!

**Jaded** · 09-30-2007, 10:12 AM

That bank thing sounds great! The only reason I don't use the bank payments more is because it takes them about 5 days to process it. I'd have to do it a week before the due date.

**Jaded** · 09-30-2007, 10:47 AM

Checked with my bank, and yes, they do let you do that! I'm glad you mentioned it. That will solve a big part of my problem.

**lisettelovebug** · 09-30-2007, 11:12 AM

I use online banking and it helps a lot. Have not had a late payment since and I believe I started 2-3 years ago. I have several bills (like physician and doc bills) that I pay a set amount each week. This seems to hurt a little less than taking the full amount out each month. I have also in the past set it up so I was sending cc's a full payment every 2 weeks. Trying to get them paid off as quick as possible. Our online system lets you set up weekly, bi-weekly, twice a month, monthly, quarterly and yearly. Or you can send a one time payment. It really is a convenience. THey usually take 3 days if they can send it electronically (this is usually cc's, other large comps) and 5 days for them to get an actual check. If you're worried it's going to be late, I would pay an extra week's worth that first week. That way when the actual due date rolls around you will be 1 week ahead and not have to worry whether the full amount is in there.

**inneedofhope** · 09-30-2007, 01:05 PM

I keep all my bills in a folder as they come in. Once a week I go online and balance my checkbook, go through the folder and pay what I can. Once it's paid, the invoice goes in the paid folder with the check #, date, and amount paid, so I can look back an verify payment if I need to.

**druidessemily** · 09-30-2007, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by claimsgirl66

I too am paid bi-weekly and this year came up with a "system". After joining FV I was inspired to be more organized with my bill paying!

I saved my old bills for a couple of months & figured out approximate due dates during the month : electric usually due around 13th, phone around the 2nd, car on the 19th, etc....so I could break them into the 2 parts of the month due. Then I took a monthly desk planner,(vendors are always giving these things away at my workplace), but any planner, calendar or printout from your computer will work. Then I actually will go a few months ahead, write out when my paydays are, & then list the bills, in order of date due , so I have in my head which ones I need to pay and when. Then I cross them off as I pay them. Things like "saving" or '"debt reduction, after making the minimum payment, are then allocated to have a little something extra paid with each paycheck, as you had thought of doing. Hope I explained that well!

I do also do the deferred payment on my online bank as well. You can pretty much pick any day for the transcaction to process. Play around with a system that works for you!

This sounds almost exactly what we do.

**guest002** · 09-30-2007, 01:30 PM

I schedule my online payments for the next month when my cc bills post.

**mikandmari** · 09-30-2007, 03:40 PM

After I started hanging out on this forum, I wrote a list of all my bills and the due date for each. Then I divided them into 4 separate groups (DH gets paid weekly) and each week when his direct deposit is made, I sit down and pay the bills for that week. I'm part-time & paid bi-monthly, my checks go towards auto insurance and extra stuff.

I was slightly behind when I started, but thru sheer determination and penny pinching I got on track, and now we're ahead of the game.

**Jessiquita** · 09-30-2007, 04:30 PM

This isn't exactly a system, but as soon as a bill comes in the mail I open it up, walk to the computer, sign on to my bank account and pay it.
I am so disorganized that this is the only way I won't forget to pay my bills!

**chatterweb** · 09-30-2007, 05:45 PM

I keep all of my bills that come in the mail on a cork board on the wall. I open each bill, and highlight the due date and the amount due. For online bills, I mark my calendar, which is on the wall next to my cork board.
I do not do auto bill pay, I go online to each website and pay the bills. It works for me!

**Kitten20** · 10-02-2007, 01:31 PM

I don't let anything withdraw from my account automatically. I've had too many... well, we'll call them mishaps, using that method!

What I've done is created a word document w/ a table. There is a column titled "Pay Day", which is where I note which dates the boyf and I get paid that month (between the two of us, we get paid weekly), "Due Date" which is obviously the day the bills is due, "Pay To" which is who/what we owe, "Amount" which is the amount owed, "Check #" which is where I note what method of payment was used (check #, debit, M.O., etc.), and "Status" which I fill in with the date it was paid.

Every pay day (Thursday for us), I check the document for that month and pay whatever needs to be paid immeditalely. Oh yeah... it's all already been budgeted. I know how much we have for "bill money" each period and how much we need for groceries, gas, etc. and plan out the month (usually a month in advance) accordingly.

This probably sounds very confusing and I've drawn it out a lot, but it's really the best method I have come up with for myself. I am so paranoid about money and paying things on time. I also seem to forget if I have paid something, so this way, I can go back and check to see exactly what day I paid and how I paid.