Do you find it hard to pay your bills and manage your checking account? Do you sometimes forget to make a payment or let your bank account get too low? Do you ever think about what bills you still have to pay for the month?
People have trouble answering all of these questions every month, and as a result, they pay a lot of money in late fees and fees for checks that bounce.
If you do your banking online, I'll show you how to make the whole process easier. Yes, you will still have to pay your bills and keep track of your checking account, but you will be able to see at a glance where you stand.
You'll be able to:
- What bills were paid this month?
- How much money you still owe for the month
- Write down if you pay by phone, by automatic withdrawal,
checks, online payments, etc.
- Set up your bills so that each one costs the same.
every pay day.
- Make sure your checking account is always in sync.
- How much money is in your bank account?
- Know at a glance which checks still need to be cashed and
which ones have been paid for?
It's so easy. How it works is as follows:
#1: Use the Budget Ledger form at the link below to set up the order in which you'll pay your bills. You should write down the bill's due date, how you usually pay it, how much you think it will cost, what paycheck you use to pay it, and how much you planned to pay.
http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ledger.html
#2: Use your Check Register the same way you do now to record what you do with your checking account.
#3: Use online banking to check your Check Register every day, every week, every month, or whenever you want. When a check shows up on your online bank statement, you just mark it in your register as paid. You always have a good balance.
Now, let's go over how to pay a bill with this method:
When you get the bill statement for each bill, put the amount under the month. The form is set up to handle bills for three months at once.
On the day you want to pay the bill, just enter the date (e.g. 5/4), and it will show that it's been paid.
On your check register, you also write down deposits, ATM transactions, interest, and fees.
Enter the information about the payment in the Check Register and take the amount out of your balance.
You are done! You don't have to wait for your paper bank statement to find out what has been paid, what is still due, and how much money is in your checking account.
If you pay your bills and write checks in this simple way, you could save hundreds of dollars every year.
