Auto Pay & Long/Short Term bill pay

Trying to keep up with your monthly bills can be a job. Most people hate to budget due to how time consuming it is, and honestly there is so much room for error. Yet there are tools that you can use to help you manage your money better that will help you stay out of the late fee cycle with little to no effort.

Today we will be going over 3 budgeting tools that will help you pay your bills on time and help you have more money month to month.

Auto Pay

Auto pay is a tool that can be used to make sure that your bills are paid on time. You can set it up with the bill company or most banks will let you auto pay your bills through your account.

Auto pay is a great tool as long as you use it the right way. There are some pros and cons to using auto pay and a wrong and right way to use it.

Pros/ Cons

Pros

1.Bills are paid on time

2.Free’s up time for you to use for other things

3. Takes the stress out of bill paying

4. Keeps you on budget

5. Stops late fees

Cons

1.Will give you overdraft fees if the money is not available

2. Some bills try to take out before the due date

3. Some bills don’t take out till days after the due date

4. Have to keep close watch of your account

5. If done wrong can screw up your account

How to manage Autopay the right way

  1. Pay all your bills for one full month before you switch to autopay
  2. When switching to autopay write down the day the money with draw from your account than a few days later (3 to 4 days) write down the date it posted to your account. This will help you know when the bill will come out your account.
  3. Make sure that you keep money in your account tell the bills clear
  4. Plan all shopping trips after your bills have cleared your account. This way you will not overspend, and all bill money is accounted for.
  5. Keep track of all payments

Example

  1. date it was paid
  2. amount paid
  3. balance- if not paid in full
  4. confirmation #/ Refence #
  5. Account # and or Company Name

I will be posting a templet on the blog that you will be able to download if you would like to make a Budget Binder.

Short/Long Term Bill Pay

Within your budget there are bills that you are able to eliminate for good. Other bills you can’t eliminate for good, but you can eliminate them from your month-to-month budget for a short or long term.

Short term elimination

This is when you pay your bills for 3 to 6 months. It helps you save money for a few months by not having to pay the bill every month. To do this you have to pay a lump sum up front. Yet it is a great benefit in the long wrong.

Long term elimination

This is when you pay your bills for a year or more. It helps you save money every month, by not having to pay the bill but once a year. Like short term you will have to pay a lump sum. However, most bills that allow you to pay for a year or more give you a discount for your onetime payment.

Long term elimination is great for subscriptions, business with low overhead (like blogging or online) car insurance, car payment (if you can), streaming services and tags for your car. This is just to name a few.

Yet you have to remember to write down the due date to these bills so you don’t forget they will be coming out of your account (if they are on auto pay) also you want to have the money to pay when it’s due.

By using these tools, you will save a lot of money every month. If you are able to put all your bills on auto pay and eliminate as much as you can for short or long term, you will be on the road to financial freedom.

Well, that’s all that I have for today, I hope this helps you on your journey.

Thank you for reading Everything Frugal.

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