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This article shares 9 helpful tips to manage bills each month. You will always pay on time and not miss payments by following the steps and strategies to stay organized.
Bills, bills, bills...some arrive on time every month, while others sneak up on us. We receive monthly bills for all kinds of things, including utility, rent, mortgage, telephone, credit cards, transportation, insurance, and more. It's hard to keep track of it all sometimes. Some bills must be paid on time to avoid late fees. Other bills, like credit cards and student loans, can affect our credit scores.
Statistics reveal that 1 in 5 Americans do not consistently pay bills on time. This is in large part due to the inflation in the economy. With the consumer price index up 7.5%, many Americans have to pay more for things now than they did 2 years ago. Adjusting is difficult, especially when wages do not match the inflation rate.
There are many advantages to paying bills on time, some of which include the following:
Seeing there are so many benefits and advantages to paying bills on time each month, plan to get back on track if you have fallen behind. Set some goals to get organized and on top of your finances in the next 3 months and implement some effective strategies to make it happen!
Use the following tips and ideas to manage monthly bills effectively and send payments on time. Focus on implementing 2 or 3 of them to get on track with your payments.
The best way to keep track of your bills is to use Microsoft Excel. Make one tab for each of the 12 months. Write down every possible bill you could have every month, even if they have zero balances. At the start of each month, look at all of them and highlight the ones you know you have money due. If you write down what you owe, you can track month-to-month. For instance, if you paid $86 for the electric bill last month, you will probably pay about the same next month. If you went shopping at Target a few weeks ago and used their card, you have a balance due that you have to track for this month.
Using Microsoft Excel and looking at it weekly will help you stay on top of all your debt and monthly bills. It's a great way to keep organized and systematic with your balances.
You can have a projected column to track what you expect to pay and an actual column to show what you spend daily and weekly for that category. If it's easier, just do 1 column that shows how much is coming in and how much is going out to budget effectively.
Get a planner and a calendar to stay organized with everything you have going on in your life, including appointments, due dates, events, and appointments. If you know you have bills that come due at the same time each year, write reminders. For example, home insurance comes due once a year, and so do property taxes. Car registrations come about the same time each year. Dog license renewal fees take place at the same time yearly. Even dental cleanings come twice a year and chances are you have co-payments for those. Write these dates down to account for them and not forget about them. The paperwork may get lost in the mail but you do not need to worry if you have reminders set up already.
Bills come at various times of the month. If you are not organized, you might lose track of paying one or two of them. Not paying will result in late fees and possibly affect your credit score. One suggestion is to pay all your bills at the top of the month, even if they are not due then. In other words, get them paid and out of the way so you do not have to worry about when which one is due.
Having a few hundred dollars set aside for unexpected emergencies is always a good idea. These include:
As difficult as it may be to save money, having about $500 to $1,000 for emergencies is necessary and essential. Even if you put away $10 per week, you'll have over $500 saved in 1 year. Other ways to save include selling items you do not use, putting aside birthday money or tax refund money, and economizing for a few weeks to put aside the extra money that you save.
Some people pay a little extra when they have the money towards their bills to have padding. For instance, if their electric bill comes to $68.42, they send $80 or $90. They have a credit built, so if there is an emergency and funds to pay are unavailable, that money can be used to cover the future. If you have a credit of $90 with your utility company, a bill that arrives for $70 in the future will be covered if you can't pay it. Your credit will cover it. This method is unconventional, but it is an idea! You can do this for car, mortgage, and rent payments.
The sooner you pay off your cards (or consolidate into 1 bill), the better for you. You'll have fewer bills to worry about each month!
You can sign up to receive emails when bills are due. If you are organized with your emails, you can even go green and request all billing notices to come to you electronically rather than on paper. Email reminders, along with the use of calendars and your own monthly budgeting system, will help serve as reminders that bills are due to be paid.
Have one main in-basket for all incoming mail. Go through the mail carefully every 2 to 3 days to have the bills paid as soon as possible. It's best to put the bills in a folder to pay them at the beginning of the month (as mentioned previously) or pay upon receipt. Make sure you write down on your monthly budget form that you paid the balances due.
In-baskets can be found on Amazon. Click HERE or on the image below to check out a variety.
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At least once a week, check your checking account. See what checks were cashed, what payments were withdrawn, what your balance is, and what is still outstanding. Update your personal monthly budget form to stay current and be in the know. You can even add a note in your calendar and planner to remind yourself to look at your online bank account for your income and expenses once a week (perhaps on the weekend). Be in complete control of your money.
Consider the 9 tips to pay bills on time each month. Choose 2 to 3 to implement immediately. Stay with the tips you choose for at least 3 months and monitor your progress. Get on top of your bills and your money. Reap the benefits and live a healthier financial life moving forward!
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Ruzanna Krdilyan Hernandez, Ed.D. is an award-winning educator and content creator writing books/articles on efficiency, organizing skills, productivity, goal-setting, time management, planning, self-development, and achieving more in life. Hernandez is the author of efficiencyandorganization.com, which focuses on six areas:
She writes in these focus areas on how people in every aspect of life can achieve more by being more organized and efficient with their processes to become consistent, timely, and successful. She is an expert and a lifelong learner of organization, time management, personal efficiency, and goal achievement. This article shares some of her strategies and other researched and proven tips, techniques, and strategies. The book, Efficiency and Organization, is available on Amazon. Her second book, Organization and Efficiency in Personal Finances, is also released and available on Amazon. Efficiency and Organization's YouTube channel has over 80 helpful videos.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I get earnings on qualified purchases.
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