In the past year, I took over as official checkbook-balancing, bill-paying person in my household. I love my wife dearly, but she couldn’t keep a checkbook straight to save her life. It took SIX MONTHS to get the damned thing under control! So, when it comes time to pay bills, she would pay the exact amount of the bill. OK, nothing wrong there. I, however, like to round up to the next $5 increment on bills such as utilities (gas, electric, etc). I do this because it makes it easier to find any errors in math that might occur (NO, I’m not perfect, I screw up) and they’re going to get the money next month anyway. Last year, we refinanced our house and the payment was a fixed amount per month. I round it up to the next $100 increment and pay that every month (this will chop about 7 years of the end of my mortgage!). When I buy gas, I try to round it off the nearest dollar (I always use my check card). Some bills like property tax (which I have to take care of since the re-finance) must be paid exactly. In fact, the county once returned my check because I had rounded off by about 50 cents!
I get paid every Friday via auto deposit at work and my wife gets paid on the last Friday of the month. I try to pay the bills on the Friday before the bill is due.
So here’s the poll: Who handles the finances in your house and what’s your method?
I pay the bills.
Both our paychecks are direct deposited every other Friday.
I pay exact amounts except on credit cards where I try to put extra to pay them down faster.
Our car payments are directly transferred by the credit union.
Close enough is close enough. I used to search for every penny, but now if I’m within a couple of dollars, I’m happy.
For groceries and sundries, I use the check card, and sometimes I forget to make entries, so close enough is close enough.
We’re not bouncing checks, so it must be working… that and I can check the staus of my account on line whenever I need to - THAT is great…
I pay my bills and he pays his bills. Actually most of the bills are “his” bills. I write him a check at the begining of the month for my share of the house, electricity, water, telephone and so forth. That only leaves my car payment and insurance which I do round off.
I use my check card for almost everything else. And I don’t really balance my account. I just keep a running total in my head and check it every few days to make sure I am right.
I pay the bills using Quicken, so I don’t have to worry about the math. I balance once a week by going on-line and checking my bank statement. My student ID is also my ATM card, but it doesn’t work as a debit card, therefore I have to pay with everything by check. I prefer the checkbooks with carbon copies, so I don’t keep a register. So I pay the exact amount on everything, except credit cards and the student loan.
I found one really helpful way to sock away money. Everytime I get paid, whatever is left from my previous paycheck gets transferred into my savings account, which I never use, and rarely balance. Out of sight, out of mind.
Mrs Wolf works at a bank, and gets Quicken for free. She does all the bills. She could rob me blind and I’d never know it. Mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc, come out of my check. She covers the electric and cable bill (cable includes tv, phone, and internet).
If you make one extra mortgage payment a year, it will also cut your loan period way down. You can also pay a little extra each month towards principle, but I found the one payment a year helpful.
We also take full advantage of any store, like Best Buy, that offers that “1 year no financing” deal, or something like that. Figure how many months until it’s due, divide into the total, and just pay that amount every month.
The day my fiance proposed to me I took over his finances. I have worked too hard building a good credit history to marry into a crappy one. His method of paying bills is to wait until they threaten to turn it off, sue, etc. and then pay the entire balance off. I get paid on the first weekday of the month and I pay all of both of our bills with my paycheck (except his credit card). He gets paid on the 1st and 15th and we use his checks for groceries, his credit card, and spending money. (He gets a $60 allowance each time he gets paid.) I use checks with the carbon copies and write my checks for the exact amount. Once or twice a month, I call an automated line to balance my account because there are almost always service charges that I forget to write down (especially with ATM fees). I recently got a second job-- weddings are too expensive – I get paid weekly and those checks I hold on to until the credit card bill comes in. Hoping to have both our cards paid off before the wedding.
I live alone, so, of course, I do my own finances. I really don’t do anything. Almost half of my paycheck goes to Dean Witter for investments. I’m sure what’s being done with all that money, but I trust them. My car payment and utilities are done automatically each month. I don’t have any credit cards(don’t see the point). The only thing I have to remember is to pay my rent by the 3rd.
That’s it. I have no budget to speak of and don’t care enough to write anything down. If I have a question about something, I’ll check my online statements. If figure this will change if I start having to worry about other people. For now, though, I only have to take care of myself.
For the first fifteen years of our marriage, my husband paid the bills, I wasn’t allowed to open the mail, nor subtract anything in the checkbook itself. I had * NO IDEA * what we owed, nor to whom.
But, five years ago, when he decided he didn’t want to ‘be bothered with you or the kids’ anymore. I got the bills, yardwork, car repair, the whole shebang. At first, besides being horrified, and staying up nights, trying to figure it out, I finally worked out a system.
I have a blank calendar for each month, and I fill in the bill that is due on a particular day, when I pay it, I also put in the check number and when it was paid. So that if a problem arises, I can go back and have a double record to back up my own memory.
I’m terribly envious of all of you who don’t seem to need either a back up system [using the computer] or having the ability to trust yourself so much.
No need to apologize. It happens here all the time. I posted the link so you could check out the thread, as there was approximately 40 or so posts about the same subject.
I do all the bill payin’ online. Only occasionally to I have to write an old-fashioned check. Saves me about 2 hours a month.
And, of course, I reconcile my account every month.
My husband, incidentally, has a b.s. in finance and is a stock broker. He can show a 50% return on our investments, but we’d pay it all out in late fees and finance charges if it was up to him to pay the damn bills on time.
I’m a single mom so I pay the bills. I will not have a checking account. I am terrible at math and I know that I will get frustrated to tears trying to balance it. I hate the idea of having to deposit my money only take it out again and having to check to see if you have enough to cover the check.
I like having the money on my person. I pay my bills by money order. To me it’s worth paying the buck for each of them. People think I’m weird for not having a checking account. “I can’t live without my checking account!”. Those same people are always overdrawn. I don’t need the headache.