I totally suck at bills.

[pnoon]

You just need to practice, Scott.

Want to spend a few months paying mine?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by pnoon

You just need to practice, Scott.

Want to spend a few months paying mine?

Hehehehe.
I don't think you'd want me anywhere near your credit score.

[lightning9191]

I open all the bills when they come and put them in a pile according to the due date in my desk drawer. I don't have too many bills though so the pile doesn't fall over. I just make sure to check the pile every few days.....the next bill to be paid is on top and I know how close the due date is.

[Kneo]

I highly recommend MS Money or Quicken also. I have used MS Money for the past 8 years for my personnal accounts and use Quicken for my Home Business accounts.

Before I started using MS Money I was overdrawn alot and late on bills. Ever since I started using MS Money I have never overdrawn my account.

[tsolomon]

I use Quicken to balance my checkbook and online bill paying for all the bills. Quicken will allow you to put in your deposits or paychecks and then enter your bills as you pay them online. With online bill paying you can pay bills when they come in, but set the actual payment for the due date which is usually several weeks later. You can then see your balance over the month as money comes in and bills get paid.

[themoneycollector]

Usually you can add a CC to your recurring bills to pull it automatically as well.

[rack04]

I have an excel spreadsheet that I track all my purchases. This not only allows me to know where my money is being spent but also tells me when it's due. I separate all purchases into the following categories:

Groceries (self explanatory)
Gas (self explanatory)
Retail (includes general shopping and miscellaneous items)
Health (includes copays and prescriptions)
Entertainment (includes alcohol, cigars, and all my habits)
Bills (includes rent, water, electricity, etc.)

Using this spreadsheet I can tell where I need to cut back, ie. entertainment. It helped my wife and I transition to one salary. In fact just today while inputting my receipts I found out that a Mexican food place that my wife and I ate at last week overcharged me $20. I probably wouldn't have noticed this if I wasn't anal.

[Scottw]

Originally Posted by shilala

I've been divorced for about three years now and I still totally suck at paying bills.
I've developed a process that includes a giant fallen over pile and a check book. I sift for an hour and keep writing checks till there's no more money, then I try again in another month or two.
The problem is that I never paid the bills in my life. Ever. There was always a girlfriend or a wife that did it.
I don't think I'm genetically predisposed to pay bills. I lack the boobs and brain power to care. I've always been perfectly fine with "I'll make the money, honey. You go ahead and spend it. If you need some more, let me know and I'll get ya some more."
If we ever needed more money, I'd just get a job or do something else drastic like that.
How the hell does a guy develop a system to get this stuff done?

Get a new wife?

[TripleF]

Pretty easy actually bro.
Make money.
Subtract money.
Make more money.
Subtract money.


Have a mental calculator. That's the biggest thing right there. You should always know "ballpark" how much money you got where. Just should.

[Sauer Grapes]

I just use my banks onlne bill pay to schedule the payments the day the bill comes in. The date I schedule the bill to he paid is a day or two before the due date.

[hova45]

Originally Posted by shilala

I've been divorced for about three years now and I still totally suck at paying bills.
I've developed a process that includes a giant fallen over pile and a check book. I sift for an hour and keep writing checks till there's no more money, then I try again in another month or two.
The problem is that I never paid the bills in my life. Ever. There was always a girlfriend or a wife that did it.
I don't think I'm genetically predisposed to pay bills. I lack the boobs and brain power to care. I've always been perfectly fine with "I'll make the money, honey. You go ahead and spend it. If you need some more, let me know and I'll get ya some more."
If we ever needed more money, I'd just get a job or do something else drastic like that.
How the hell does a guy develop a system to get this stuff done?

Well I have always been great with my finances, but as mentioned above i would look into automatic bill payment, a calendar and a online bill payment system like Bank of America. Where you can add all of the companies which you owe money too every month aka payees... As soon as a bill comes in I make note of it on the calendar and put when its due or just pay it right away. Also you can ask most companies to bill you on a certain date so like that you pay everything at the same time.

[DPD6030]

Go off the grid and forget about bills all together! All kidding aside I have a paid and unpaid bills box arraged by date they are due.

[dunng]

Here is what you need... http://www.improvementscatalog.com/h...organizer.html

[RevSmoke]

Originally Posted by dunng

Here is what you need... http://www.improvementscatalog.com/h...organizer.html

That's a great little deal there. You put them in there like that, and then, when the paycheck/income comes in, you take them out and pay them.

Mine is simple. I get paid on the 1st & 15th and then right out my checks. Some happen every paycheck (2 to the church). Some are monthly, with a little bank book (they are usually 1st or 15th) depending on when they are due. The rest, you place there and they wait till that "income" comes in and then you pay all that remain. After they are paid, you start collecting for the next "income" time frame.

Ynab.

[Nabinger16]

I use a simple Word doc. Most people have the same bills every month, month after month. I do up a whole year at a time broken into each month in order of when the bill is due. When I pay the bill, I mark it as paid and the date I paid it. I have records of my bill and when I paid them for years.


Rent $000.00 04-01-09 PAID 03-25-09
Vehicle $000.00 04-05-09 PAID 03-31-09
Credit card $000.00 04-12-09
Gas/Electric $000.00 04-20-09

[Whee]

Originally Posted by shilala

I've been divorced for about three years now and I still totally suck at paying bills.
I've developed a process that includes a giant fallen over pile and a check book. I sift for an hour and keep writing checks till there's no more money, then I try again in another month or two.
The problem is that I never paid the bills in my life. Ever. There was always a girlfriend or a wife that did it.
I don't think I'm genetically predisposed to pay bills. I lack the boobs and brain power to care. I've always been perfectly fine with "I'll make the money, honey. You go ahead and spend it. If you need some more, let me know and I'll get ya some more."
If we ever needed more money, I'd just get a job or do something else drastic like that.
How the hell does a guy develop a system to get this stuff done?

Soooo, this isn't how you're supposed to do it? Been divorced twice and still hate to do it. I usually wait til the colored envelopes show up and then pay those. Those tend to be disconnect notices. when I get more than three calls a day from a creditor, I pay them.

A bad system is still a system, right?

[mithrilG60]

I use my credit card for everything from coffee at Starbucks on up, but only as a convenience card. I make a note of each purchase I make when I'm out in my Blackberry and then transfer the money back onto my CC via online banking the next time I'm in front of a computer. I never carry a balance and therefore never pay interest charges. For other bills such as insurance, cable, loans, etc. it's all automatically deducted from my bank account by the vendor. I also have them all set up to never send me a paper bill, just an electronic copy via email.

Perhaps it's just the difference between the US and Canad but I don't know anyone under the age of 50 that still uses cheques or a chequebook. Similarly almost no one I know ever carries cash. In fact I'll walk out of any business that accepts only cash since it's bigger hassle to go find cash then come back than it is to just find another business that accepts credit or debit (realistically 99% of businesses accept both so it's rarely an issue).

[Starscream]

I make the money, she takes care of the payments. I'd have to get a new wife too if I were in your situation.

[BamBam]

Originally Posted by shilala

I lack the boobs and brain power to care.
How the hell does a guy develop a system to get this stuff done?

Take a college course for the brain power and keep eatin them Girl Scout Cookies for the Man Boobs