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My wife and I are constantly asking eachother: "Did you pay this?", "When is that due?", "We paid this, right?". I'll be honest - we are fairly young (mid 20s) and it seems like every year we get a few new bills added to the monthly debt. After a little app spree, I totaled everything up today and realized we have 18 monthly bills! This includes all credit cards, car payments, rent, utilities, etc. So, when I saw the number 18, I thought to myself - there's no way I will remember to pay 18 different things on 18 different days so I decided to put them all into an Excel spreadsheet with what it is, the due date, and if its paid or not.
Now I know a lot of people don't use all their cards each month (we run atleast $20-$100 on each of our cards, about 10 total each month) but how do you keep track off all your due dates with credit, house, car, and utilities?
My wife and i use a google drive spreadsheet. You can share with multiple accounts so its perfect.
@londonhogfan wrote:My wife and i use a google drive spreadsheet. You can share with multiple accounts so its perfect.
Oh that sounds like a good idea, then I can access it from work if needed. I will have to check that out. Is that in Google Docs?
I was curious about this myself, I only have a few bills each month, and I have them all in my iPad calendar, but this certainly wouldn't do it if I had a dozen or so CC's. That's a lot to keep track of, reporting dates, due dates, utilization, etc. I was thinking of an excel sheet, but I'm afraid I wouldn't keep up with it, unless I can figure out how to edit it on my iPad. (My iPad is always with me, laptop not so much.)
Every couple does it differently, and the trick is to find what works for you!
In my house, I pay all of the bills. (don't misunderstand me, DW earns a good living and pays half of our household expenses, I just physically do the paperwork...)
I use an excel sheet to take care of our (way too many) cc payments/accounts, and use a traditional letter sized yellow pad for managing all of our "other" expenses.
I'm also in my mid 20s, and I've got a little more than 20 "bills" per month. It includes my credit cards, rent, car payment, and other items in my budget (e.g. savings per month for auto insurance so that it's not a huge shock paying the annual premium the next year, phone bills, etc.)
I use an Excel spreadsheet. I check and pay bills every other week (usually on the weekend), and the very first weekend of a new month, I'll pay the other "bills" in my budget...cell phone, housing, and transferring money from my checking account into designated savings accounts for auto insurance and other short and long term expenses).
@TravisD wrote:
@londonhogfan wrote:My wife and i use a google drive spreadsheet. You can share with multiple accounts so its perfect.
Oh that sounds like a good idea, then I can access it from work if needed. I will have to check that out. Is that in Google Docs?
Yea, same thing. They just renamed docs to drive.
You can do it. Actually you HAVE to do it. It's part of the game, but it's simple.
You did a spreadsheet and that's a great start. You need to add dates (even rough) for when statements close, when they post and when the payment is due. Pay early - always pay early. Don't wait until the day it's due. Add a cell for rewards if you have cards that earn rewards and track those. It's nice to see the points or miles add up each month.
Use reminders set on a shared calendar. Set dates repeating for when bills post and when they are due. Also pick a date to pay and add that. If you forget to pay at that reminder you have a backup.
I bet nearly every bill you have offers reminder emails. Use them in the beginning. You will not need them after a while but I still get reminders for business card bills that I set well over 10 years ago. Never missed a payment.
Don't forget about auto pay options. If you have a bit of cushion in your checking set everything you can to autopay and simply monitor it.
I found it easier for me to relinquish bill paying responsibilities to my wife when I was your age. We were both new but I was very busy working and traveling and she was a M-F 9-5 person and needed things to do. Fast forward 20+ years and it worked. We share the responsibilities but she developed into the bill minder for all home bills. I have plenty to manage with my business and feel free to do so knowing the home bills are being faithfully watched. Of course we have a solid trusting relationship. If not I could have been screwed over years ago. I figure after 25 years if she wanted to ruin things she might have found the time to do so. Now we are intertwined until the end of time (or at least until the last bill is due).
Thats a lot to remember. I just have reminders on my mac/iphone calendar. I dont have balances on all cards, and I have set up autopay to my amex for things I can. I cant autopay my utility bill or water bill. I basically use just one card and a non amex backup. My car payment comes out of my checking and I autopay my mortgage too. So the only things I really have to do are pay the two credit cards, the electricity and the water, and make sure I collect my tenants rent on time.
Mint is a good tool as well.