Advice on paying bills

[ilovedoxies]

After being married for 5 years I still haven't come up with a better way to do this. Typically, my husband gets paid every monday, and then I immediately pay whatever bills are due that week before the next pay check. But this way is horrible because some weeks we have more bills than other weeks and one minute we're strapped and then a few weeks later we go a little crazy spending because we were strapped a few weeks back.

I was thinking ideally we would put a month's worth of bill money into our "bill account" (all our bills come out automatically) so from that point onward we are always a month ahead and can divide up each paycheck properly.
(Does that make sense)?

Wondering how everyone else pays bills? I can't do it paycheck to paycheck anymore! Especially the mortgage is almost 1 whole paycheck and we are always dead broke that week.

[Emerald]

I get paid bi-weekly. Since the pay days vary each month, I find it easier to keep a month's pay in my checking account. Most of my bills come out of the first check, along with food and gas. The rest of the bills and sinking/savings funds come out of the second check. I physically move money into savings accounts to avoid any temptation to spend it.

[scubatim84]

I pay most of my bills with my credit card so I get the rewards miles. Every pay day, I just pay some of the balance, move some into investments or savings and spend the rest. This way, I just keep paying off the balance at the end of each month and it makes for a nice, steady cash fllow. Alternatively, I would say just have an inbox and pay off an equal cash value of bills each paycheck. If you have say $2,000 worth of bills, and $1,000 of those bills are for say rent, try to pay $500 each week in bills. If all that is left is rent, skip paying bills one week and then pay rent the next. As long as you pay them by the due date, you're not wasting money in late fees.

[snafu]

We keep a $ 1,000. 'float' in our chequing a/c [mostly because we get all sorts of free bank services] which can cover any shortfall or cash emergency. Since you have weekly pay and monthly bills, I'd run a one month's float in chequing. It helps to have a linked saving a/c to transfer money between a/cs with a few clicks on your computer.

[chrisburke21]

I agree with Tim in the fact when I can pay a bill using a credit card I do. This is so I can get the cash back reward. Its like everything has a 2% off coupon. Otherwise I have set up things like my mortgage to be deducted automatically biweekly. This allows me to make an additional payment toward my mortgage every year (in turn pay it off faster) and I don't have to worry about budgeting for this expense it is just easier. I also have automated my savings so this is transferred to my bank every pay day. Then what is left over is what I can spend. There is no budgeting. When its gone its gone.

[twest]

We were kinda in the same boat as you because we had a lot of our bills due at the same time and then toward the end of the month hardly any bills were due. So we are a month ahead on our bills and I absolutely love it. So right now in the month of July I have already put back half of our money to pay bills for August. It has really given me peace of mind. If something does come up that we weren't expecting a lot of times we can work it out before next months bill are due without touching emergency fund. So if I were you I would give it a shot you can always try something different if you don't like it.

[scubatim84]

We were kinda in the same boat as you because we had a lot of our bills due at the same time and then toward the end of the month hardly any bills were due. So we are a month ahead on our bills and I absolutely love it. So right now in the month of July I have already put back half of our money to pay bills for August. It has really given me peace of mind. If something does come up that we weren't expecting a lot of times we can work it out before next months bill are due without touching emergency fund. So if I were you I would give it a shot you can always try something different if you don't like it.

Yeah at the end of the month is when everything comes due for us...last week of each month our two car payments, my student loan payment, mortgage payment, HOA dues, etc. all come due. The way I make it work for cash flow is paying off the bills as I get them in the mail (which is several weeks beforehand). This way, by the time you get the paycheck that is allocated for the house payment, that's the only bill you have left.

[Petunia 100]

Yeah at the end of the month is when everything comes due for us...last week of each month our two car payments, my student loan payment, mortgage payment, HOA dues, etc. all come due. The way I make it work for cash flow is paying off the bills as I get them in the mail (which is several weeks beforehand). This way, by the time you get the paycheck that is allocated for the house payment, that's the only bill you have left.

The beginning of the month is when I am short on cash. I keep $500 from my mid-month paycheck to use towards the first of the next month's bills.

[BMEPhDinCO]

I budget for the next month - so July paychecks will cover August expenses, August paychecks will cover September, etc... It can take a bit of time to get to that point, if you are used to living paycheck-to-paycheck, but it is so worth it!

If you are interested, "you need a budget" has a lot of information about how that all works and how to get started (free forums & videos, software is extra).

I would also say, write out every expense and every due date and every paycheck date and then perhaps assign expenses to paychecks based on due dates - anything left over can be applied to groceries (set a max limit), gas for the cars, etc and then savings to build up that next month early!

[AccountantSalary]

This is only slightly off-topic, but one way to lower your bills is to call your cable or Internet provider and ask for lower fees. This is probably best done around renewal time. Threaten to leave for another provider if they don't give you a reduction. I've pretty much kept my Internet and cable bills at the same level for the past 3-4 years with this strategy. It's also worked numerous times with getting late charges and the like removed from credit card and bank statements.

[cptacek]

I have a bill account, and a certain amount of my paycheck goes into that every two weeks. I then made a spreadsheet that looks like a check book ledger and projected out for the next 6 months what the bills/income will be. (I have kept track for a couple years what each bill has been, and I budget the highest amount for each bill each month. So, if the highest water bill has been $150 one month, I budget $150 every month for it).

I have it color coded so that blue = manual payment, orange = log into a website and pay it, and yellow = auto draft. When I make the payment (or in the case of the autodraft, the day passes) I color code it gray. So, gray ones are paid, colored ones need to be paid, and the balance tells me if I have enough to cover it. When I reconcile my checkbook, I put an x in a column to indicate that. I can put once every 6 month bills, once a year bills, etc., in the spreadsheet, and I can make sure I have enough.

[cptacek]

Oh, yes, and if the bill comes in lower, I change that month's amount, but keep the higher amount in the rest of the spreadsheet. I can then look forward, and if that gives me a cushion, I can pay more to a credit card or other large bill.

[riverwed070707]

Kind of surprised no one has asked this but after your weeks with fewer bills, why don't you still have money left over? If your spending is so tight that you're cutting it close to pay bills then you have an income/spending problem, not a due date problem. On the same lines of getting a month ahead, you need to start looking at your income as a monthly figure, not a weekly otherwise you'll never get away from feeling like you're paycheck to paycheck.You make the same amount of money either way, you just need to make sure you're spending within your means and then change the way you see the figures.