The first step in creating and planning a budget is to get intimate with your finances and start tracking your bills.
I hate fees. There, I said it.
EVERYONE pays bills each month and there is NO good reason you should be paying more for a service than what is originally owed.
But you do just that when you lose track of what’s been paid and what needs to be paid. How many times have you opened up your cell-phone bill only to discover it’s TWICE what you expected AND there’s a $35 late fee tacked on? Now not only are you now faced with calling the company to get the fee removed (pro-tip: always do this, it won’t always be successful, but it’s worth the phone call to ask) but now your monthly budget is all out of whack because you now need to pay twice as much for your phone bill.
It’s essential to track your bills each month. One way to ensure this happens is to automate your bill payments. However, I caution you against this. Automatic bill pay distances you from your money and the key to reaching your financial goals is becoming intimate with your money. Any bill that fluctuates (think utilities here) is one that you need to keep a close eye on. You need to know if your power bill is $30 more than last month or why the heck your cell phone bill is $15 more this month than it was last month.
I think you need to get intimate with your money. Oh la la! In order to do that without being consumed by your finances, you need to systemize your bill payments. You can do this by making a list of the bills you pay every month (and even ones that you pay quarterly or annually), next to the bill, put the due date, then put the amount due and finally leave a spot to check off once you’ve paid them.
However, I have taken the liberty of creating a template for you! If you want to skip the list making, you can download the spreadsheet below. It’s formatted to use as a digital spreadsheet, or it can be printed out to use with pen and paper, whatever works best for you!
So, no more late fees, K? Commit today to tracking your bills!