Comments on: My least fave adult activity: bill paying

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:07:21 +0000

I use MyCheckFree.com for paying my bills and it has been a real lifesaver for me. My bank does not offer free bill paying (jerks!) so I had to find a third party to do this. I also called companies directly and just use the automated service.

When I was paying more bills online, I would write the due date in the corner where the stamp would go and make two piles of them (separated by a post-it note), which divided them into the two pay periods. I would just stack them in order and could see the absolute-last-minute day that I could send the bills in.

Yeah, that’s how we roll over in our house!

By: Dayngr

Dayngr — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:07:19 +0000

Also, try to change your billing dates to coincide with your pay days so that you can get bill paying down to once or twice a month. Nothing will drive you crazier faster than paying bills every single week. Online bill pay and quicken is a blessing along with a good filing system.

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 02:37:26 +0000

Buy an accordian style file folder. As soon as you walk in the door with your mail….open it next to a waste basket…..throw out all of the junk mail and extra flyers….file all bill immediately by their due date. If you get paid on the first and 15th or every Friday…..check what is due pay all that are do before the next pay period….this way you never lose/miss place a bill…..always avoiding late fees and negative impact on your credit score….Pam

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:30:41 +0000

Imabug, the problem I have with automatic draft is if there is ever a dispute it is very difficult to recoup your money. For certain things like the mortgage which is typically unchanging (except for those with ARMs and such)an automatic draft makes complete sense. However, with the phone/internet company where there may be unexplained charges, hidden fees, or interrupted service I don’t know that I would authorize automatic deduction.

By: imabug

imabug — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 10:48:56 +0000

I set up automatic draft for all the utility bills that offer it so I don’t have to worry about it. Payments are automatically made (roughly) the same day each month so nothing is ever late.

For the bills that don’t have an automatic draft, I put them by the computer and serves as a reminder every time I sit down in front of it to do stuff. They usually don’t sit there more than a few days before getting paid.

I also have all my recurring payments set up in Quicken where it shows up a few days in advance of the set payment date. It serves as yet another reminder to make sure all the bills get paid.