4 Tips to Help you pay Your Bills On Time

Bills are an unfortunate, yet inevitable, part of our lives. All too often it can feel as if the only people communicating with us are those that want some of our money. Managing to pay bills on time is an essential skill to learn. Even those of us who generally aren’t great at managing our money have to do whatever we can to ensure that we set aside enough to cover our bills.

Bills cause most of us some degree of stress and anxiety, but in reality, there is no reason for this. With some careful planning and good financial practices, it is possible to ensure that your bills are always paid on time. You will notice that if you manage to get into good habits, you will worry less about your bills and feel more relaxed generally.

The following tips are designed to help those who, until now, just haven’t been able to manage their money. You will also need some self-control and motivation, of course, but that’s something you have to be able to find for yourself!

Get Organised

This is the most important tip of them all, if you aren’t organised, then it is simply too easy for things to slip through the cracks. If you forget important dates, numbers, services you have registered for, other monthly expense you have, then you will find it all but impossible to plan your finances accurately. Invest in a folder so that you can keep any physical documents you have organised. If you still receive a printed bank statement each month, then it is worth finding somewhere to store them all.

Check Your Bills

Every month, you should receive a bill for any services that you receive. Sometimes, these bills are delivered by e-mail. There is probably no need to print out every such e-mail you receive (in fact, doing so would add the cost of ink and paper to receiving each one, which would be counterproductive), it is fine to keep your paper records together in one place and your e-mails digitally. You can create new folders with most e-mail clients, allowing you to organise them in the same way you would with physical copies.

Budget

With access to the right information, you can work out exactly how much money you have coming in and going out each month. From this, you can plan your spending easily. When budgeting for yourself, it is important that you are honest and realistic. It is no use setting yourself unattainable goals or unrealistic spending limits that you know you won’t be able to stick to. If you set yourself up for failure then it is all but inevitable; it will also lower your morale.

Choose the Right Payment Method For You

There are now more ways than ever when it comes to paying bills. The most popular, and usually most convenient, for paying bills is the direct debit method. A direct debit is an instruction that you give to your bank. You direct them to debit your account with the specified amount each month and to transfer the funds into a specified account, in this case, the account that you pay your bill to. There are also now a number of cloud-based Direct debit services that allow you to pay your bills regularly and on time. AccessPay direct debit services are one example that businesses use to automate their direct debit services.

Another popular option is to pay through your bank, but either over the phone or internet. Most banks offer online banking as standard, with even the most basic accounts. From your online banking dashboard, you should be able to manage your funds, transfer money between your own accounts, and transfer them to other accounts. Most banks will allow you to open a basic account from your online dashboard, by creating a new account exclusively for bills you can make it even easier to manage your money. If you transfer the money for bills and rent into this account when you can afford it, you will make sure that you only have money you can afford to spend in your main account.

Paying your bills on time doesn’t need to be a struggle, as long as you plan and pay attention to your budget, you will find it a breeze.

Collaborative Post