New

Join the Discussion

Get Involved

Join the conversation on LV Discussions. Log in or sign up to get access to the following features:

  • Ask questions and create new discussions
  • Search for topics that have members talking
  • Bookmark topics that interest you

Categories

Under: Budgeting & Saving
Bill Tracking
  • Mrs S
    What's an easy and quick method for tracking and paying bills? I'm tired of not seeing our balances going down because we can't afford to pay more than the minimum. We stopped using all of our cards months ago and cut out all nonessential spending to stretch our dollars. I feel as though I'm missing something. Any ideas?

    Thanks,
    Mrs. S


  • jdmrosa
    It sounds like your problem is more about figuring out how to funnel more money into the bills to pay them down and not really tracking them (which would sound to me like paying late, but I don't think that's your concern).

    Do you have a budget? In that budget, do you have money allocated to pay off your cards? If not, make sure you have that money set aside. Then, if your problem is that you keep spending that money before the bills are due, then I would make a payment to your cards at the beginning of the month before you even get a chance to spend it, even before your payment is technically due. An alternative would be to transfer that allocated money to a savings account, and then you use that to make payments when you receive the bills.
  • Mrs S
    I think you're right; late payments are not my main concern since everything does get paid each month. I know what gets paid out of my check and his checks based on the due dates. The amounts due vary so much from month to month though that I have a hard time creating and sticking to a budget. My budget experience is sitting down paying the bills when either my husband or I get paid and then allocate whatever is left, which is really difficult with a family of 4.

    I really like the idea of transferring the money to an account right away, so I don't spend it on anything BUT the intended bills. Thanks for the tips and for making me really look at our situation.
  • jdmrosa
    Another thought - for utility bills, many companies offer some type of payment plan where they'll average out your amounts for the year so that you pay the same amount each month, and then you might have a small catch-up at the end of the year if you vary from that. That might help smooth out some of the month-to-month fluctuations and make your budget a little easier.
  • Emme
    One tip that is commonly used among couples is to determine what percentage of your combined incomes go toward the necessary expenses--mortage, car payments, savings, groceries, etc. Each of you directly deposit that % of your checks into the "House Account" and all of the bills are paid from there on time! Some even have the bills come out automatically, because you know the money is there because it is beign directly deposited into the specified account.

    Example: Husband makes $7000/month; Wife makes $3000= Total of $10,000
    Total Bills Are Around= $8,000/month
    Percentage of Combined Income= 80%
    Amount from Husbands Check into House Account= $5,600
    Amount from Wife's Check into House Account= $2,400

    The husband will have more "spending" money than the wife, but hey! he should compensated for making more!

    I'm not married, but if I get married, this is the method that I plan to use.
  • Crashincon
    Emme, that is what I am currently doing with my boyfriend. We have a joint account that we each deposit a certain set amount every week. It is enough to cover all our household bills, cell phone plane, car insurance, groceries, and we usually have a little bit left over to go into savings. My issue is that since it is linked to my personal checking and savings accounts, all the transactions that go through our joint account show up on my Learnvest inbox, so I'm having a hard time sorting through everything. Does anyone know how to hide that account on Learnest, while keeping it where it is on my actual online banking through my bank? Any tips would help! Thanks!
    -Connie
  • AldenWicker
    Hi Connie,

    This is Social Media Coordinator Alden. We actually have a hide account feature in the Account Center. To hide an account, simply find the joint checking account listed on the left, and click on the grey pencil icon. You'll see an option to "Exclude Account," which will hide your joint account from your net worth and keep those shared transactions out of your Financial Inbox!

    If you'd like for your portion of these expenses to appear, you can also split those shared transactions and then "hide" your boyfriend's half - though this is a bit more complicated.

    If you have any questions, feel free to email feedback@learnvest.com.

Join the Discussion

Please log in or become a member (it's free!) to reply to a discussion.

UH OH! YOUR BROWSER IS NOT FULLY SUPPORTED BY LEARNVEST..

We currently support Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer 8+.   Click Here To Upgrade