Missing bills totally sucks. It doesn’t happen to most of us very often, but when it does it is frustrating. It can cost us money in fees, extra time and stress, and for some bills can even lower our credit scores. To avoid this totally sucky thing, here are a few tips to never miss a bill again.
Bills Calendar
Most of our bills are on the same date every month. You can print out a bills calendar that sits by your computer, desk, on your fridge, or wherever you do your work best and won’t forget. That simple calendar may be all it takes. Here are some blank calendar templates to get you started.
Another option is to use an online calendar. I already use the free Google Calendar for all of my planning, and it ties into my email, smart phone, and work calendar so I only need to look one place. You can setup recurring reminders for each bill with an email to you so you don’t forget.
Auto-Pay
If you are anything like me, you’d probably rather just skip the work and have the bill pay itself. For every bill other than my credit cards, that’s exactly what I do.
My internet, cell phone, and Netflix bills are automatically charged to my credit card every month. Nothing to worry about. And I get miles from paying my bills. With a Chase Ink card, you get 5x points for phone bills.
My mortgage and HOA are paid using my bank’s bill pay automatically each month. My mortgage is paid electronically and the HOA gets a check, but it all works the same for me now that they are setup.
The only bill I pay manually is my credit card, which I pay twice per month on payday.
Bill Reminders
As an extra reminder, most of your billers probably offer an email reminder option. If you are not on auto-pay, you can setup the site to send you an email reminder before each bill is paid so you don’t forget.
If you are not able to setup a reminder, you can also use a to-do list tool like Wunderlist to send you emails every month before your bill is due.
Batch Your Bills
If your bills are due different days all over the month, you may be able to get the dates moved to all be due on the same day, or at least the same few days, during the month.
Almost all credit card and utility providers are happy to change your due date if you call and ask. Some even let you make the request online.
If you pay all of your bills at once, you are less likely to forget that odd bill due another time of the month.
How Do You Remember Your Bills?
What tricks and tips do you have to remember to pay every bill on time? Please share your best ideas in the comments. Who knows, maybe you’ll even help me make my bill payment better!
Image by i am real estate photographer / flickr
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Do keep a watchful eye over any bills you set up for auto-pay. Billing statements often contain errors so if you don’t still monitor them then you could be auto-paying the incorrect amount!
Also, I don’t know what the chances are (they’ve got to be one in a bajillion), but the address listed on the verizon pic in the post is the same exact street I used to live on! Crazy-ness.
Very, very good point. Auto pay can make you lazy, but it can also cost you money if you don’t look at everything each month.
The odds are crazy that you lived on that street! I just found the image on Flickr searching for pictures of phone bills!
Eric, I’m a Wells Fargo customer and I’ve really enjoyed their billpay service (which is free), because you can set up auto-payments for certain vendors, even if the bill varies in amount. I believe I have 3 or 4 of mine on auto-pay, which means that the amount is sent from the vendor electronically to my billpay service and as long as it doesn’t go over a fixed amount that I set (i.e. $80 for the water bill) then the billpay service pays it for me. If it does go over that amount, I get a notification email every few days until I resolve it. Nice feature!
My bill pay at Schwab works the exact same way. I really like getting my bills all in one place instead of having to go to the different websites to pay each one.
I just go through my bills once a week and enter them in my bill pay then and there. As long as I do this, I don’t miss any and haven’t missed a bill in years.
Can you automate any of those? How long does it take each week?