Wow, can you hear the snores over the internet-waves?!?!? I know. Bill-paying?
Well, in these parts, that is one of the things I find interesting. Not so much the actual
paying of the bill, rather the planning that goes into it.
As you may know, I'm starting a new chapter in my life. It's going to be my domestic, stay-at-home, commune-with-small-children-and-all-things-homey chapter. (It's a working title.). As you also know, I am a major planner. So my tip for
Thrifty Thursday is pretty simple: plan out your bills.
The way I like to do this is to print out blank calendars for the next several months. I plot out each payday and then plot out the due date for each bill. (Yes - I know you can do this electronically. And I'm going to be honest: I plot it out that way, too. One can never be too plotted!) Once I have all my items entered on the calendar, I go through and subtract the bills due following each paycheck from that paycheck. Whatever the balance left at the end of that pay period, I write down on the last day before the coming paycheck. And then, when the next payday rolls around? I start fresh with the amount of that paycheck (ignore any balance leftover).
This sounds sort of complicated when re-reading my explanation, but it's really very simple. It's a tricky way of taking the exact amount on known income you have and subtracting the exact amount of known debits you have within each paycheck. Whatever amount you have left over, you can then divide over the days between paychecks. And, voila, that's the amount of money you have to live on until your next paycheck!
Here's my fancy, oh-so-technologically-savvy example, for all you visual types:
Red = debits
Blue = pay checks (or credits)
Black = amount for incidental spending (like groceries, fun, babysitters, lattes, etc)
Questions? Comments? How do you plot it all out???
