How I Pay Bills

This is the habit that I've gotten into for paying monthly bills. First of all, I use the PREVIOUS month's pay to pay for the following month. I didn't always do this, and there have been issues in the past when a paycheck was coming later than expected and we had 19 cents in our checking account. With this, at least I don't miss a payment or go into negative numbers in the checking account.

For example: I got paid on August 31st, my husband got paid on August 10th & 24th. I add up the total of those three paychecks, and that is how much money we have to live on during the month of September.

On September 1st, I pay ALL of my bills that are due in September. (some haven't arrived yet, but I estimate the cost, and pay them as soon as the bill arrives.) About a 2 years ago, I asked for e-statements for all of my bills. I flag all the e-statements in my inbox, and pay them on the 1st. I only write checks for daycare and dance lessons, since they currently don't have online payments available.

I have a spreadsheet file that has really helped me out. I will post a sample soon. In it, I keep track of all due dates, the amounts or expected amounts due, and subtract those from the total of the previous month's paychecks.

The leftover money is what we have to live on for the month...our budgeted expenses. Any amount over our budget goes directly to savings or debt repayment. It used to go to debt repayment, but some issues last year depleted our savings...so right now, it is going to refill savings.