need some budget help

[tammyandtommy]

Hi, my name is Tammy. I am looking to organize our bills, some kind of calendar so we can try to pay bills better LOL, ok on time! We kep paying late and over extending ourselves I need some advice!
Any help, documents, ideas will be greatly appreciated

 

[usnuzuloose]

Hi Tammy, well I dont use a calendar but there are different programs you can use. There is quick books, if you google you can probably find a bunch of other different ones. I know someone had these things posted a while back and I cant remember what some of them were. How ever I am sure someone will answer that. But I only have ten bills, but I wrote down on paper the name of the co along with the due date and hang it up in front of my computer. That way when the mail comes in I will already know when it is due.

I also use a finance book and write down everything I spend money on so I know where the money is going. Take a look back at every month and add up what any finance charges or what ever it cost you for being late, and hang that up as a reminder how much money you gave away, when you could have saved it. If you dont mind me asking how do you fall behind? Do you just forget to pay when it is due? I am sure there will be plenty of more people that can help you more than I can. So take a deep breath, relax and get ready to learn alot from people here. Jo

 

[gk90]

I wish I knew, Tammy, organization is a problem in our household too and I've been thinking of buying one of these if it will help:

http://www.asseenontvus.com/wonder-file/

Better description here but DON'T open this link at work, it has a loud audio track
https://www.buywonderfile.com/

 

[indimom]

Hi, my name is Tammy. I am looking to organize our bills, some kind of calendar so we can try to pay bills better LOL, ok on time! We kep paying late and over extending ourselves I need some advice!
Any help, documents, ideas will be greatly appreciated

It depends on what exactly the situation is and how serious it is...
Are you forgetting what bills are coming in, then overspending prior to that so there isn't enough left when the bill comes?
Are you paying on past purchases or suffered a cut in pay; and basically your bills are running a week or two behind your paychecks??
Do you just have too many payments coming in to comfortably track or do the payments fluctuate too much for you to plan ahead for??
Does your pay vary week to week or season to season??
Long story short, you need to first figure out where the problem is, then you can decide how to address it.

Start by listing all your bills/debts and their due dates (including whether they are annual/semiannual/monthly/etc.) If your pay is steady week to week, you can try to assign certain bills to certain weeks. Each month, I know that Wk1 goes to our mortgage. Wk2 is utilities. Wk3 is CC. (which we pay off monthly). Wk4 goes into savings for the extras that pop up and the bills that do not come monthly (car insurance/medical expenses/property taxes/etc.). And if there is a WK5, well that's just gravy!!! This is fairly simplified, but you get the idea.

There are some financial gurus on here who can help you alot more than I, but would need a little more information first. If the main issue is accrued debt (credit cards/school loans/medical bills), you'll need to:
1. Cut back.
2. Find some extra income.
3. Build savings (an emergency fund) to cover life's little emergencies which cause people to backslide. "We need a new transmission so we have to put it on a credit card" That sort of thing.
4. Then set up a repayment schedule that fits your life.

Hope this helped some. Sorry, I feel like I wrote a book.

 

[jagafen]

We have a real low tech method...we use a calendar. When bills come in, we mark their due date on the calendar. We pay 95% of our bills online, and that makes it easier. For instance, DH and I both have school loans that are due on the 20th, and 24th of the month. They get paid on the 15th, about 5-9 days before either one is due. I keep the paper filed in a little desktop letter holder to remind me to pay it. I also take joy in shredding them once they're paid! We do the "paycheck" method for paying bills. When one of us gets paid, we pay the bills that are due before the next paycheck. Whatever is left over is ours to do with as we wish. I also think it's easier to charge whatever bills you can to your CC (that is, if you're "good" with CCs). Our cable, turnpike fees, and cell phones are charged to our CC. The CC gets paid down on with each paycheck too....we don't pay interest, since we don't carry a balance.

 

[bettymae1121]

I use Quicken (a previous poster mentioned Quick Books, but QB is more for running your own business, Quicken is geared towards personal finances). It's a lot like having a check book ledger on your computer, but you can do so much more with it. On top of tracking your checking account(s) you can also track savings accounts, credit cards, investments, and car/home loans. You can enter in your bills weeks before they are due and you can see what your low balance is, or if you won't be able to cover all your bills and need to move some things around. If a bill is due the same day every month you can set it up it up, so it will just pop up automaticly. You can download statements from many major banks, for example I can download all the purchases I make on my Chase Visa card, so I know what's on my statement...before I get the statement! I actually download my purchases every morning. This way I can track my spending for the month and know if I need to cut back on shopping or if we have enough that we can go out for dinner, whatever. I can also spot fradulent charges right away.

 

[tammyandtommy]

Great info everyone, I will look into everyones ideas! I work nites and I need to go to bed, one more 12 hr shift then a day off! I WILL definately get back on here to get more help! Please keep the ideas coming! All help is greatly appreicated!

 

[lisaross]

My husband gets paid weekly, so i write on index cards what will get paid each week..

Example

week 1

Electric Bill -200.00
Cable - 200.00

week 2

Monthly Food shopping - $400.00
Cell Phones 100.00

etc. etc. - i pay most bills on-line - some u could set up for auto payments..

 

[midwestdee]

It is easy to go overboard on books, calendars, journals,etc.. when you are motivated to get a grip on spending. Many people do love Quicken mentioned by a previous poster. The first thing I would do is figure out where the money goes on a weekly/monthly basis. Get a few small pocket spirals (should be cheap with back to school sales. Tell your family they need to jot down what they spend - date it - and have a money spent bucket - where they can drop off their notes or receipts ( like fast food for lunch) - make sure they know that if they spend $1.50 on candy at a gas station you really just need to know that while you are tracking expenses. When you can start tracking where everyone is spending money - then you can start finding ways to reduce expenses. You may have to make some decisions between needs and wants. I'm naturally cheap - so it isn't a big deal for me - but if you or a family member is a compulsive shopper (and it doesn't have to be big shopping trips to add up) you may have a lot of work ahead of you. Good luck!

 

[TxRabbit]

We are almost completely paperless.

We get bills directly to our bank. I pay them through the bank. You can set up payment plans. You can direct the bills to be paid in a certain way automatically when the e-bill comes in. It's very convenient.

Please note...I worked out the cash flow issues before hand and now the system basically runs itself. This is very convenient when life gets hectic, we go on vacation, or like recently, we moved.

 

[Jill2150]

I vote to pay online also. You can set up automatic payments if they are the same amount every month. Takes the thinking out of things!
We use YNAB for budgeting and this has really helped organize things.

 

[VAN]

I do a couple of things.

One, I figured up all the "big bills" that only come due once or twice a year (property taxes, insurance, tuition, etc), added a little bit more and then divided the amount by number of paychecks. Then I had a direct deposit from each check for that amount into a special "big bill account". This helps so that when the "big bill" arrives, I already have money set aside and can pay the bill immediately.

When the monthly bills arrive, I note the amount and the due date on the end of the envelope and then at each paycheck pay the ones that are due before the next pay period.

It's pretty simple and has worked for us.