Having a household budget is important, but making sure you are paying your bills on time is equally as important. Use money-spending and bill-paying tips to pay off your debt, and save money for future expenses.
Get the Family Involved
If the only personcommitted to the household budget is the person trying to balance the checkbook, the budget is in trouble. Get the whole family involved in understanding how the budget works, and what needs to be done to keep the bills paid on time. It may be that certain weeks of the month require more money to pay bills than others. Get the household to understand that and know that on those weeks there will not be as much spent on entertainment as there will be on the other weeks.
It is important that each person affected by the budget understand that the income coming in to the household must always be more than the bills going out. If you have budgeted a certain amount each month for groceries and entertainment, then that money is already spoken for. Do not allow new bills to come into your household budget unless there is more income to account for them. Do not tighten your budget with extra payments you do not need.
Tips to Save Money
Paying the bills is always easier when there is extra money available. There are some techniques you can use to make saving money easier. Limit yourself to one or two ATM withdrawals a week, and only withdraw money from checking. If you have a pre-determined entertainment budget then transfer that from savings to checking and only use that money. When you get direct deposit for your paychecks have the money go into your savings account. That way, when it is time to pay the bills you only transfer what you need from savings to checking. If you made plans to go out but then decided against it, take the money you were going to spend and put it into your savings account. Have a change jar somewhere in the house that is accessible to everyone. Make a habit of throwing loose change in the jar, and when it is full deposit the money into your savings account. Do not fall prey to impulse purchases.
If you see something you want but do not need, wait a day or so and then if you still want it go back and buy it. The waiting period may cool your desire for the product and save you the expense of purchasing it.
Paying Your Bills
Always pay your utility, mortgage, car payment and insurance bills first and on time. Losing your car is much more traumatic than losing the ability to lose a credit card. Try to pay your credit account bills on time as often as possible. If you consistently pay your credit accounts late then you are paying extra late charges that you should avoid. Pay the minimums on each of your credit accounts and add an extra $10 or more if you can. This will pay your credit cards off a little quicker, and it is not a lot of money unless you have a lot of credit card bills.
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