Paying Your Bills on Time
Learning how to pay your bills on time is a big part of becoming a grown-up. Unfortunately, many grown-ups still haven’t learned that lesson. Frugal living requires on-time bill payments to avoid unnecessary fees or inconvenient service interruptions. Paying your bills late or avoiding paying them at all will only get you in more financial trouble in the future, and having your lights turned off when you don’t pay the power bill has nothing at all to do with true frugal living.
The benefits of paying bills on time can’t be overstated. Here are just a few of the most important reasons to pay your bills on time, every time:
- improved credit score
- improves chance of home-ownership
- maintains lowest possible interest rates on lines of credit
- eliminates late fees
- enjoy peace of mind
Even people who understand the benefits of paying bills on time sometimes struggle to keep all the deadlines, dates, and amounts together. For people who have trouble paying bills on time because of poor organizational skills, we have a few suggestions. Follow these tips to help keep your finances and bills in order.
1. Pay Your Bills the Day You Get Them
Not everyone can always afford to pay all bills the day they arrive, but if you make this a goal, you’ll find yourself facing fewer late fees, service interruptions, and marks on your credit score for late payments. Strive to pay your bills the day they arrive, and you’ll likely pay them within a few days or weeks of their arrival, rather than at the last minute or when you get a late notice.
2. Mark All Due Dates on a Calendar
If you don’t have a calendar, it’s time to get one. In fact, you should have a calendar dedicated just to bill payment dates. If you mark your due dates on a calendar ahead of time, you won’t have to scramble to figure out when your bills are due. You can also get a friend to help you watch your calendar, or someone in your household. Marking a calendar with due dates is also a great way to get kids involved in paying bills, either as accountability partners or to get them to financially contribute a small amount to the household utilities in order to teach money responsibility.
3. Change Your Due Dates to More Convenient Times
If you find that your bill due dates come at the worst possible times of the month, you can actually call and ask your creditors to move your due dates to a more convenient time. Explain to the creditor that you’re having trouble paying on your existing due date and see what they offer you. You may be surprised to find that your creditors are totally willing to work with you to get your bills paid on time.
