How do you pay the bills?

Daisy77 · July 2010

Do you (or DH) sit down and write out checks or do you have everything set up online?

I'm a check writer. It's a tedious job but it eases my mind. If I set up something to come out of our account automatically, I *will* forget about it and won't transfer the money in time. Plus with writing out the checks and marking it in my record book, I know it's paid and there won't be any "surprises" in the account when I log on.

mermaid150 · July 2010

Online for everything. BOA is very easy to use, tells you the date everything will come out of the acct and I also like to get the email reminders for certain bills monthly.

almostjennifer · July 2010

Online for everything. DH gets paid every other Friday. On those days I set aside some time to pay the bills online and balance the account. The only thing that gets automatically deducted is the house payment; the rest I pay online.

I used to be a check writer too. Now I can't figure out why I waited so long to do it online. So much easier and no stamps!

Julie004 · July 2010

I pay everything online. We have USAA and it makes it soooo easy to pay them online. I have it set up so I can see everything we pay and when it gets paid.

mtbowlin · July 2010

I normally pay all the bills in our house, but only by check because my husband is truly scared of anything online. He found this great bill holder a couple years ago that has numbered slots in it, so that when the bills come they go in the date they are due, that way I can just glance real quick and see if anything needs to be paid soon. Though with the awful memory I seem to have lately (pregnancy brain Wink

) I have let him take over paying the bills for now.

ashleywebber · July 2010

Most of our bills are automated from either the credit card or checking account. For the non-automated bills, I either go online to put them through or I manually write a check (just for our mortgage, van payment, and HOAs). I keep a calendar that tells me when it is due, what the amount will be, and how to pay it (whether it is auto, I have to go online, or write a check). It's super helpful. I have to pay some on the first and in the middle of the month so I balance the checkbook, pay the bills, and am done. It only takes a few minutes.

Scooter359 · July 2010

Everything is online. I get an email for the bill to remind me, and go online and pay it with our bank account, maybe not right away depending on when our checks get cashed but I don't think vie written more then two checks my whole life.

kcisthebombdotcom · July 2010

Just about all our bills, including our mortgage, is set up on automatic bill pay, so our bills get automatically paid every month. Both of our checks are put in direct deposit and we automatically transfer funds to savings every week. I can count on one hand the amount of checks I've written ever.

HarrietNJMommy · July 2010

ONLINE!

Beachbride2005 · July 2010

I do both, some manual checks, and most online. I don't have it set up automated though, so I can pay it when I want to.

GeminA1 · July 2010

I am just now switching everything over to online!

I do not like the automatic payments though....I need to be in control of what goes where and when haha! So, as I get bills I just do an online transfer.

doyalnr · July 2010

DH takes care of paying the bills. He pays everything online except for my car payment and the mortgage, which he pays by check, because they charge a fee to pay it online.

Stacyc625 · July 2010

everything is online.

lol- I don't even know where my checkbook is or the last time i used it- (i take that back- i thought about it- it is in the safe but I seriously don't know the last time I wrote a check)

babypuplove · July 2010

Most everything is automatic and/or online, and the few that aren't, DH is on top of, so I don't even have to think about it. :-)

Lucy_Plus_One! · July 2010

I do everything except rent online. I can't pay rent online or I would do that too. I only have a few things set up on auto pay (all CCs and loans, etc - so they don't get late fees) and then pay other things online myself by signing in. That way I still feel in control of it all.

getnmarried910 · July 2010

Online for everything except our water/sewer/trash. They don't do it online. We keep track in our register book. Most things are automatic, I have to schedule them, so no surprises. The automatic ones are netflix, car insurance and a lawyer bill.

JCM · July 2010

I do everything online. I use my banks bill pay and set the dates I want the payments to arrive. I sit down once or twice per month and do this. I also have my check register in excel so I can sort by date so as I schedule the payments online I also put the post date in my excel check register.

eaglesfan700 · July 2010

I am like you and do everything with actual checks. I just cannot get into the online bill paying, as you said it just eases my mind to write the check and record it.

I am borderline OCD about certain things and finances is a huge one. Online bill paying would make me crazy. I have a whole system set up and I write on the bill the amount that was paid, the date it was paid and the check number it was paid with.

I also cannot let a bill sit unpaid, I have to pay it within a couple days of when it comes in. I know I sound nuts - I get it from my dad.

Daisy77 · July 2010

Wow, I'm really behind in the times, lol Wink

I do pay some online if it's down to the day but it's not a regular habit I have made. I would probably use online more if we received a regular paycheck, but we don't. The whole pay system for our line of business is wonky, some weeks we'll get 4-5 checks and then we'll go 3 weeks with nothing while waiting for our stuff to go through someone else's system. Or we'll get a check every single week for a month. So the day(s) that I write out checks/pay bills is always different, I can't set up dates for it to be electronically taken from our account because there isn't a guarantee the money will be there on that date. Oh well, maybe someday we'll get there...or be forced there, lol.

Temp174496125006552 · July 2010

I pay some bills online and some I mail a check for.

My electric company charges a fee for online payments, so I always mail them a check. The water company, I don't even know if you can pay the bill online, so I mail a check. The cable/internet/phone is all one company and I pay that online. I pay credit card bills, my cell phone and the mortgage online. We get the Sunday paper and I mail them a check. You can set up auto pay by giving them a credit card number, but they are such a PITA to deal with, that I don't want them having it. I get a quarterly statement for my life insurance and I mail them a check. My car insurance comes right out of my checking account on the same day each month.

DH pays for his life insurance policy, and all of his other personal bills (credit cards, his car, etc.), online. He hates having to write checks.

Daisy77 · July 2010

eaglesfan700:
I am like you and do everything with actual checks. I just cannot get into the online bill paying, as you said it just eases my mind to write the check and record it.

I am borderline OCD about certain things and finances is a huge one. Online bill paying would make me crazy. I have a whole system set up and I write on the bill the amount that was paid, the date it was paid and the check number it was paid with.

I also cannot let a bill sit unpaid, I have to pay it within a couple days of when it comes in. I know I sound nuts - I get it from my dad.

I think that's part of my "problem". I write each bill in my record book so I know what is due and when. Then I check it off when paid and I file the bill as well. I keep our checkbooks balanced to the penny...if I'm off by $0.02, I'll find it and have had people tell me I'm crazy for it.

Carol*Brady · July 2010

DH does them on-line

MrsRebecca · July 2010

I do everything online. I operate our budget a month ahead because DH is paid weekly. That way I never have to wait for payday to pay bills- the money is already there.

I don't like auto payments though- each month I go in and set them manually.

safy · July 2010

I do as much as I can online. I hate and do not trust the USPS anymore because they're always losing stuff. I don't have automatic payment for anything except mortgage because I like having control over when and how much I'm doling out. I much prefer the online method because 99% of the time, I get a confirmation # so I have proof I paid. With the USPS, I drop the check in the mail and it's gone. No proof that it was sent and paid on time. It's left to the apathy and disorganization of the postal service. I find I have a lot less surprises doing it electronically.

jenifairies · July 2010

We have to mail rent, storage, water, and trash (there's no online options). My insurance and car payments are on auto-withdrawal. Everything else I pay online on pay day - if I try to wait for due dates I just get all messed up.

I have a notebook where I copy down the bills every month, put in amt due, then when I pay them I mark paid. When they've posted, I note that as well. It's worked for me great for almost 4 years now.

gatogrrl · July 2010

I pay the bills online for almost everything. The condo assoc. only accepts checks, and the mortgage comes directly out of DH's paycheck. But everything else, I find a lot easier to flag when the email comes in, then pay the flagged bills every two weeks or so. I try to spend as little time as possible on it.

Rink08 · July 2010

Online. I rarely use my checkbook and DH doesn't carry one with him.

MidwestTexan · July 2010

I don't write checks, I do online bill pay, BUT I don't have any automatic payments set up, I still do them manually (after I receive the paper statement in the mail).

Shozzies · July 2010

I do mostly everything online. My water company charges to make online payments, so I usually pay in person. It's right across the street from the library, so it's not really out of my way. I don't do automatic payments. I'm always afraid I will forget about them.

UltrazGSD · July 2010

I have everything set up online or on automatic withdrawal.

Want a personalized experience?

How do you pay the bills?

Re: How do you pay the bills?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards