Bills, Bills, Bills!

@o2bnocn (2992)
United States
September 16, 2010 2:46pm CST
Almost everyone has at least a few bills to pay. Whether it is the electric, rent, insurance, credit cards, phone, internet, cable or other bills. Most of us have to pay all of those bills and some of us have even more bills to pay. How do you pay your bills? Most of the time I sit down one day out of the month and pay all the bills that I need to pay. If I don't have the money for a certain bill then I will wait and pay it later. Another way that I will pay bills is that I will set a reminder on my phone about the bill so I don't forget and then pay the bill when it is due. I like to pay all or most of the bills at the same time so they are all paid and I don't have to worry about it. I know some of us can't pay all the bills at the same time due to money issues. I run into this problem on occasion. I have even had to go a couple of months without a cell phone because I couldn't afford to pay the bill and there for a long time I didn't even have a cell phone.
3 people like this
15 responses
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Sep 10
We pay the bills as they come in. When we get a statement we write a check and send it back off. We might wait a few days but we usually send it off shortly after it arrives. My husband and I only pay a few things so there's not much to worry about. We don't have our own place yet, so no bills like electricity or other utilities.
@o2bnocn (2992)
• United States
21 Sep 10
Money is not that easy to dig.... I wish I could dig up some money!
• United States
17 Sep 10
well, good for you guys..but no matter what we need to spend wisely nowadays money is not that easy to dig..
@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
16 Sep 10
I pay them as they come in. i have a checklist where I write the amount. if i cannot pay it right away, I place it with the check list, and pay it at the next paycheck. i have email reminders for the due dates of all of my bills. When I know I am going to be short, I normally call the company. if you call and explain the situation, and you are not habitually late, they will work with you, sometimes even waiving the late fee.
@caecal07 (197)
• United States
17 Sep 10
I do something similar to this post. Except I use a calendar if I cant pay a bill or I only pay part of a bill I make a photocopy of the statement and put it away... If I can't pay all or part of the bill I write it on the calendar for the a week before the final date and I make sure to pay it by the time I get to that day.
@o2bnocn (2992)
• United States
23 Sep 10
If I have to I use the calendar on my cell phone and a real calendar on a wall. I usually write the due date a couple days before it is really due. This way in case I don't have the money or forget I have a couple of more days to pay it before it is late. I hate forgetting and having to pay a late fee plus it is not good on my credit. I hate not being organized so I try to stay as organized as I can with my bills. I also put the bill statements in my top drawer and keep track of them. It depends on what I do with the statements. Some of the bills I pay online and other bills I pay with a check. The problem with a check is that you have to pay ahead of time to make sure the check gets their in time. That's another reason I like to write that the bill is due a couple of days before it really is.
@lynboobsy11 (11343)
• Philippines
17 Sep 10
I do have lots of monthly bills that's why I decided to have a small business here in my house I own a little store and I'm happily said that It covers up my monthly bills. Most of my bills has a notification receipt so that it reminds me before the due date I must pay it.
@o2bnocn (2992)
• United States
23 Sep 10
That's good to hear. Congrats to you!
• United States
17 Sep 10
Yup, paying bills is a part of everyone's life. Last year I lived in the dorms and electricity and water were included in the boarding fees but this year I'm moving into a house with friends and would be paying my own bills. I'm actually a little excited and nervous to be paying my own bills. I'm not exactly sure how it works but writing monthly checks sounds like fun.
@o2bnocn (2992)
• United States
23 Sep 10
I would be excited and nervous also if I was moving out on my own. At lest you are going to have friends living with you. I think you will be just fine. Just be sure to pay the bills on time and keep track of your money. I don't have that many bills right now to pay. My biggest one is a loan for school. The other ones are small amounts. Although it will get better in time for me. One day I will be out on my own. Or I may just be living with my boyfriend.... hopefully one day husband. Hopefully I will move in with him. So I don't know if I will ever live alone. Although I am excited to be moving in with my boyfriend. He has talked about it once or twice and us getting married. Guess then we will both have bills to worry about.
• United States
17 Sep 10
I think this bill is part of our life unless you live in the mountain live like a tarzan....it's only babies are exempted on it.yeah Bills is really hard to manage sometimes when money issues is tight. we experienced sometime we just stay home couldn't go anywhere else for fun..but now we are doing fine we finally closed all credit cards and take easy on our phone usage and the way we spend money!
@o2bnocn (2992)
• United States
23 Sep 10
That's good to hear. I would like to get my credit cards paid off. Then I am getting rid of one because I hate it. They packed on a annual fee of $8 a month after I have had the card for a long time. I also don't like the card because the finance charge is outrageous. My other credit cards are not bad at all and actually like those. I am keeping those but I am going to not use them unless it is an emergency. Even when I do use them it is going to be small amounts. I don't owe that much in credit cards so it shouldn't be that hard for me to pay them off. Hopefully I can pay them off in a year tops. I would be happy about that. The less I have to pay each month and the less I have to owe is good.
@yspmyl (3435)
• Malaysia
17 Sep 10
I was used to pay my bills at the counter, and that really waste me a lot of time, I first need to drive my car to the post office to pay some of my utility's bills, then I have to drive to the bank to pay off my credit card's bill. After that I need to drive to the local counsel to pay my tax. This is only talk about the time spend on the journey, I still have not mention about the time I spend on queuing up. Normally, in one place I will need to queue about at least 1/2 hour if people are lesser and there are many counter, that will be worst when there are many people and sometime I need to queue up to 1 hours plus. That was what I did during the past old day. Today, it is very much easier for me, I only pay my bills when the due date is near, and I do not need to drive all the way to the counter, bank, local counsel or post office anymore just to pay bills. And no more long queue and wasting my precious time. I now paying all my bills using the internet banking. It is so simple and save me plenty of time. I just need to spend less than 10 minutes to settle all my bills.
@o2bnocn (2992)
• United States
23 Sep 10
That's good to hear. That was a lot of time you were using to pay bills. I use the internet for most of my bills. I write a check or two for a few of the bills. Most of the time I only write one check that goes to a loan for school. The other bills are paid by internet. Occasionally I will use the phone if it is free to pay over the phone. I have a few bills that charge to pay over the phone so I don't use that feature. One of my bills cost $10 just to pay over the phone. I think that is ridiculous. All of my bills that I can pay on the internet are free to pay online. I do know that my mom has a few bills that cost a couple of dollars to pay online.
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
16 Sep 10
my hubby generally pays our bills online. he is really good at doing it.
@o2bnocn (2992)
• United States
23 Sep 10
I used to pay all the bills online but now my mother pays her bills and I pay mine. It was too much because I had to check the balance, ask her how much to pay, and ask her when to pay it. Now she takes care of all of her bills and I only worry about the bills that are in my name.
@greenline (14838)
• Canada
16 Sep 10
I try my best to meet the dates for paying the bills. What I do is keep a list of the payments to make in each month with the dates to meet. Some are set for automatic payments from my account. And, some I make the payments online at least one or two days ahead of the date. I try my best not to lose the credit rating especially with the credit cards.
@o2bnocn (2992)
• United States
23 Sep 10
I also pay the bills ahead of the date just to make sure. I don't have any of the bills on automatic payment though. I do a pretty good job of keeping track of the payments and the bills. I try my hardest to pay over the bill when I can so that I don't owe as much on bills such as college loans and credit cards. In a couple of months I will have one less bill because I won't have to pay on my loan for a while which will be nice. It's also nice knowing that I am paying on it now and getting it to a lower amount though so that way when I am finished with school I will not owe as much money.
@missybear (11391)
• United States
17 Sep 10
I get paid twice a month and have to pay bills out of both checks. One for the rent the other for all my bills, so it's easy for me to remember. I never have a check just for myself
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
17 Sep 10
Sometimes it can't be helped and we have to do without things...I use phone banking and schedule the bills to be paid as soon as they arrive so I don’t have to worry about them. I use my credit card to pay for everything and once a month I cover everything out of my bills account. It works well because having learned my billing date I can make sure that I schedule for the next billing cycle if I can so that it will give me more time to pay.
@shafiya (26)
• India
17 Sep 10
yes, nowadays bills are playing an important role in our life. because today is computer world. today we all use computer, phone, etc.. so we must need it and also we buy them and pay the bills monthly once. for example, net bill, current bill, etc. in my home the company provide a member to collect net bills. so, the man come and collect it. but the eb bill we must only pay. so, that is the important one. so, i pay all the bills at a time. because if i didnt pay anyone bill i forget it.
• Bulgaria
17 Sep 10
I personally pay them to stop.Always looking to pay the first electricity and water that important they will pay all of then left.Maybe if you pay via internet will be much easier and will not wait 2 hours in a queue but I was so sure
16 Sep 10
Yup I always set reminders on my phone or computer. The last thing I need coming out of college is to kill my credit. I've been doing pretty well though considering how hard it is to pay for everything. Another job would definitely be nice, help pay for the huge cell phone bill.
@o2bnocn (2992)
• United States
16 Sep 10
You don't want to ruin your credit. Thats usually what I do. I have been doing pretty good also, better than before.
@porwest (90937)
• United States
8 Nov 23
I never have this problem. I pay myself a salary at the beginning of the month and pay my bills through my bill pay access in my checking account, and of course, for me, money is simply not an issue.
@wrangel15 (1443)
• Philippines
17 Sep 10
Yes, everyone has bills to pay but I think the bills I pay every month is not too many compared to other people. I am renting an apartment and it is one major bill I have to pay. Along with the apartment rent is the payment for the water, electricity, and Internet in just one receipt. I pay it all to my landlady. As of now, I have no bills to pay for credit card, insurance, landline, cable and some other bills since I don't own a TV, I don't want to apply for credit card and I still don't own a car for insurance. In the office, they already deduct the payment for my social security system, taxes and even my health cards. Instead of planning on paying my bills, I just focus on budgeting my money every paydays.