Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (Full Version)

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raspberry331 -> Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/3/2008 12:19:04 PM)

Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? I pay early.



LCannon -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/3/2008 12:37:44 PM)

I pay them early(the fifth)in the month for last month's billing and hold the 'new' ones for the 'next' billing cycle. I use credit within that month when possible, that way I can use somebody else's money for up to a month until the fifth of the next month.



WhiteRoseBlessings -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/3/2008 2:32:18 PM)

I pay my bills early; I have "bill-pay and paperwork" scheduled on my calendar as a automatic reoccurring weekly event.



3cappuccinosmom -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/3/2008 3:24:30 PM)

Mostly early, usually two weeks before due date. I file them according to date (first due on top of the pile) so I can see every time I open my budget folder where I am on the timeline.

For some reason, and I know this is totally irrational, I have this thing about leaving tax bills until the last moment. [:o] I missed our 2% discount on real estate taxes because of that. [:(] The evening it was due (in order to get the discount) I realized I hadn't written the check yet.



Miss Giggles -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/3/2008 3:27:01 PM)

I pay most of them a few days early.. a few I do the day of but only because I know they credit it as paid as soon as you pay it online.



buckifn -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/3/2008 6:52:23 PM)

I always pay mine the same day they come in the mail so I guess that makes it about 3 weeks early.

I once had a problem returning library books on time and having to pay those fees irritated me sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad.



Calea37 -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/3/2008 7:06:21 PM)

I write out the check, put them in the envelope and then put the date that I want to mail it (5 days before it is due) on the outside of the envelope. It works great unless I forget to mail it!



karlie -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/3/2008 9:51:15 PM)

We sit down and pay the bills twice a month after paydays. Some of the bills are 2-3 weeks early and some are not more than a few days early. Nothing is ever, ever late though. If something comes in the mail right after we've paid bills, I usually just pay it that same day or the next. After that, they go into the file and get paid the next payday.



crownlaurel -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/4/2008 12:26:41 AM)

When dh was paid every other week, I paid as much as I could the day the check was deposited. Most of the time that meant approximately half the month's bills with each check. It also meant that some things had to wait till after due dates (but still during grace periods) to be paid.

Now that he's paid weekly and is making a little more I am trying to stay at least a few weeks ahead.



Galilee -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/4/2008 8:10:06 AM)

It depends.

Credit card bills, and things that charge interest, I pay it as early as I can. You pay less interest that way.

But the water bill, heating bill, phone bill, etc? I have them set up to automatically come out on the due date. No incentive to pay those early.



TonyRush -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/4/2008 12:36:05 PM)

All my bills except one are set up on automatic billing and are scheduled to pay either ON the due date or immediately after. There's no financial incentive for me to pay my bills early or I would do it.

The only exception is our water bill which -- for some strange zoning reason -- actually comes from a small rural town about 3 miles away that I NEVER go to. They aren't set up for automatic billing and -- since it's a water bill -- the price is different every time. So, I generally just send them $250 a few times a year and keep a positive balance. When I get a water bill that shows I owe money, I send 'em another $250 or whatever.

I don't like doing it....but I also don't like writing checks every month and licking envelopes every month so I'd rather just do it this way.

Tony



reach -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/5/2008 11:17:19 AM)

I pay early and via internet for as many as I can pay online.



Row1 -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/5/2008 11:54:33 AM)

We do the method like Karlie said:
I get paid twice a month. So, I have bills sorted either into "first" or "sixteenth." I have these sorted so I am not too close to the due date.

I sit down and get them all done at the same time.

I have a list, a "word" document, with all bills listed. I have a way to "check" each as "done" as I get each, so if I get interrupted, I can go back and see where I left off.

So, I end up paying some very far in advance.

I used to open the bills as they arrived, and write due date on the outside, then put them in one folder in a file cabinet.

Then (here is where my plan gets really good) I would take a look in that file every now and then and figure out what I had to pay, and if I had the money at the time.

So, basically, in my mind, I was always wondering every day: "do I have a bill to pay soon?"

I also would miss some if it did not appear in the mail, or if my wife placed it somewhere and I did not see it appear.

When bills appear in the mail, I open them to make sure they are approx what I expect, then I tear them up and throw them away. My water bill is not online yet. I put the water bill envelope in a zip-pencil pouch where I keep my checkbook, and any occasional bills, such as car tag renewal. There are never more than 3 or 4, so this system is much better.

So, for the past year and a half, I have no bill envelopes hanging around anywhere, except water bill and those few occasional ones.

I may switch to the "send in $250" method to decrease the hassle of that water bill, also!



P31W -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/8/2008 8:17:37 AM)

I pay them the week they come in. We get discounts ranging anywhere from 1 to 3 percent for paying early. Besides that it helps us with our business to be considered one of the best paying customers. I have found that we are often given preferred status over our competors who pay either on the due date or late. We have also found that for us it's very easy to find new suppliers who are more than willing to take on the risk of our business over our competors who they may have to "wait" 30 days to see any money. In some cases the new supplier would dump their old customer when we came on board. For us it's just good business.



meg4 -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/8/2008 11:03:58 AM)

I don't have any bills where I have to pay interest and I don't get any credit for paying early, so I just set them up to pay online the day before they are due. If I have to mail a check, I send it with enough time to get there without being late. I don't pay really early because I earn interest on the money in my checking account, so the longer it is in there, the more interest I earn.



RichLP -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/8/2008 11:11:18 AM)

All on the due date. I make it a point to pay my credit card bills on the due date - I never accrue interest and other than each month's expenses I have NO credit card debt.

Cell phone, utilities, mortgage, car payment, insurance - all done online, on the due date; I have it down to a science. [:D]



christsstar -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/9/2008 3:23:05 PM)

I sit down on payday and open up my checking acct register (excel spreadsheet) and my bank's bill pay and pay all my bills. I have all my due dates in my MS calendar on my computer and make sure that I pay everything that is due. Very few things actually come in a paper bill to me, so I have to make sure I'm paying everything that pay period. Rent, cell phone, student loans, life insurance and cable come out of the first pay check. The second paycheck is car insurance, personal loan, electric bill, car loan. I pay my credit card every two weeks. I use it ONLY for groceries and gas and budget that ahead of time so that when payday comes I can just transfer the money over immediately and be set up for the next time. It's really confusing the credit card people I think, but it's racking up the rewards points for me!!!



notmycity -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/9/2008 6:36:43 PM)

Thanks be to God we have had the funds to pay all bills early, including rent.

We like to get it over with ASAP, and if we’re early it ensures we won’t be late. [;)]



redeemedsaint -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/10/2008 9:09:11 AM)

I pay mine when they come in the mail. That way, it is out of the way until the next time.



Consecrated2God -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/10/2008 9:25:13 AM)

We don't have very many bills anymore, but we do our budgeting weekly (since my husband gets paid weekly) and if we have a bill and we've budgeted the money for that bill out of that pay period or one of the previous ones, we pay it then.

We really don't have hardly any bills to pay now, though. Our denominational dues we pay on the first pay period of the month. Other than that, the only bill we pay with paper check is our health insurance. The church writes us out a check and then we pay the bill on that one.

Our cell phone, HSLDA membership, and life insurances are set up on automatic withdrawal. And that's all the bills we have.



Consecrated2God -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/10/2008 9:28:40 AM)

Oh, I guess there's auto insurance. We pay that one with paper check. I almost forgot about that one. [8D]



christsstar -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/10/2008 11:15:27 AM)

I'm so jealous Lisa.

I think I'm getting rid of my bills, and then I start to pay them and realize just how many I have. Only 2 are really debts too, the rest are utilities and insurances. sheesh.



Consecrated2God -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/10/2008 12:34:20 PM)

It's hard to get rid of all the bills. Since we live in a parsonage now, we don't have very many because the church pays our utilities. It's really nice. They only pay $20,000 a year, but since they pay our housing costs we can live comfortably on that.



christsstar -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/10/2008 1:27:00 PM)

If I had a place that was completely paid for, I could live off of $20,000 a year too. Easily. Rent is half my income right now. Blech!!!!



Harvie -> RE: Do you pay your bills early or wait until the due date? (5/12/2008 1:17:55 AM)

I usually pay early.



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