Learning how to manage monthly bills is essential for everyone. There are clear benefits to learning how to manage monthly bills which will ensure that you have money for the things you need, for emergencies, and to build a savings account. There are some simple steps to learning how to manage monthly bills that can help anyone to take care of their finances. Here are eight steps you can take to manage your monthly bills.
1. Start with a Budget
It is essential that you know exactly what money you have coming in every month and what you have going out every month. Your first step in setting up a budget is tracking your expenses and income. Write down every dollar that comes into your household and every dollar that goes out. Many people find that the big expenses like rent or mortgage, utility bills, and food costs are not what is eating up their budget.
It can be very revealing to start tracking your spending. You may find that your daily coffee shop stop is really keeping you from getting the garage door opener repair you need. With a few adjustments to how you spend your money, you may learn that how to manage monthly bills is easier than you think.
Be sure to record all your spending, no matter how small or large, to get a feel for where the money is going. With the proper tracking, you can find ways to cut back on your spending and find the money you need for the cosmetic dentist while keeping up with your bills. Once you have all your income and expenses recorded for a month, you can work on setting up a budget that covers your monthly bills and makes room for other spending.
2. Consider Increasing Your Income
If after reviewing your income and expenses, you find that you are a little short on the income side, you should act. Increasing your income may require that you work a second part-time job at least temporarily, until you get your monthly bills under control. A second part-time job can help you to manage your monthly bills better and provide you with extra income to cover the extras like adding a custom cabinet configuration to your kitchen.
The goal of learning how to manage monthly bills is to learn how to manage them without feeling the pinch of a tight budget. Generating more income can help ease the stress of learning to manage monthly bills on a tight income. Working a second job can generate enough income to pay down debt quicker and even be able to start a savings account as an added cushion.
There are plenty of part-time opportunities that will work with any schedule. For example, working as a delivery driver is something you can do a few times a week in the evenings. Every bit of additional income can help with how to manage monthly bills. Ultimately, a short-term, part-time job will not solve all your money problems, but it can help you to get your head above water financially. If you are shelling out more than you have coming in, the best way to even the books is to figure out how to increase your income.
3. Get Monthly Bills Under Control
If you are looking for ways to learn how to manage monthly bills and have an exotic car sitting in the garage, you may want to investigate how to sell an exotic car. When your monthly bills are exceptionally high because of past purchasing decisions, the best way to get things under control is to sell the things that are tipping the scales of your budget.
It can be hard to part with the things you love, like an exotic car, but sometimes it is necessary to make hard decisions to learn how to manage monthly bills. Selling your exotic car can raise immediate cash and significantly lower your monthly bills. Remember, it is not just the car you are paying for; you likely have a high insurance premium to contend with monthly as well. Additionally, maintenance and other expenses are associated with owning certain “toys”.
If you are struggling to pay monthly bills, get rid of the “extras” in life. Reduce your streaming subscriptions, sell the boat, sell the ATV, whatever it is that is tipping the scales on your budget and what you must pay out each month, sell. Selling off the things that are costing you that you don’t need but want can be tough, but it will get your bills to a point where they are affordable. You can always repurchase the items after you have a stronger financial footing and are not struggling to manage your monthly bills.
4. Pay Your Bills On Time
Paying your bills on time every month is a simple step that is often overlooked in managing monthly bills. It is not enough to pay your bills every month; you must pay your bills on time every month. You are often charged a late fee when you are late for your bills. Late fees can add up over time.
To save money on your monthly bills, ensure you are paying them on time. If you are behind right now, you may have to sacrifice a month of spending on fun things and pay ahead on your bills to get caught up. Paying your monthly credit card bills on time is especially important. The later you are with the payment the higher the interest is.
While there may be times you have to be late for a monthly payment, it is essential that you do your best to pay your bills on time. Think of it this way. If you have a physical therapist appointment, you must pay your co-pay at the time of service. Look at your monthly bills with the same lens. Pay for the bills at the time of service, not a week or two late. Paying your monthly bills on time will save money; every little bit counts.
5. Plan For the Worst and Hope for the Best
Life happens, which can get in the way of paying your monthly bills. However, if you plan for emergencies and are prepared to pay DUI lawyers or deal with other unexpected expenses, it will be easier to manage your monthly bills. Up until now, we have talked about how you can save, cut expenses, and budget, but there is another thing you need to learn about as part of how to manage your monthly bills; savings.
Planning for emergencies may sound like a negative connotation, but the fact is, emergencies happen all the time. An emergency financial situation can be as simple as getting a flat tire and having to pay for unexpected repairs or as complex as falling in and having to come with cash to pay for a legionella test. In every financial emergency, the only thing that will fix the problem is having cash on hand.
You may be thinking I am learning how to manage monthly bills because I struggle to pay my monthly bills. How can I possibly save money for emergencies? The fact is you can save money. You may not be able to save a lot of money at first, but if you pay yourself first before you spend any other money, you will be surprised at how quickly the money will stack up. Plan on saving 5% of your income initially and then pay yourself 10% of your income over time. It works, try it.
6. Automate Everything
An easy way to manage your monthly bills is to automate payments. You can set up automatic bill pay with your bank and with the billing company. It is a simple process that simplifies monthly payments. The real beauty of automating payments is that you no longer have to worry about incurring late fees. The payment will come right out of your account on your due date.
How often have you forgotten to pay monthly for your IV therapy or credit card bill? It is common to forget to make a payment until the phone calls start from the company reminding you, but by that time, you may have already incurred additional late fees. When you automate your payments, you never have to worry about missing the payment due date again.
Automating your monthly payments can be an easy way to reduce stress and worry. The money comes directly from your account, and you don’t have to do anything. Automate your monthly payments and take the worry out of making payments. It is a simple step to take to make sure your monthly bills are paid on time.
7. Prioritize Your Bills
Monthly bills should be prioritized according to the importance of the bill. For example, your mortgage or your rent has to take priority above all else. You need a place to live. Next are your basic utilities, like electricity and water. After that is food, car payment, and insurance. It is important that all your monthly bills are paid on time, but you must be sure to address the bills that will affect your basic lifestyle.
If you have to decide which monthly bills you can pay, choose the bills that affect your shelter and your ability to get to work, like your car payments. Unfortunately, when times are hard, you may have to make some tough choices, but you should never choose to pay a credit card bill over your rent or house payment. Figure out which bills affect covering your basic needs, and always make sure those bills are paid first.
You can live without cable, but you can’t live without a roof over your head. Prioritize your monthly bills and make sure you can always cover the basics. Once your basic bills are paid, you can move on to the bills for other things like that new piping system you had installed.
8. Review Your Bills Regularly
Don’t mindlessly pay your bills every month. You would be surprised to learn how many times a billing company makes an error. It is important to review your bills and look for discrepancies. If you find discrepancies it is important that you contact the billing company to bring it to their attention. Small errors in calculations can result in large expenses over time.
As part of learning how to manage monthly bills, evaluate what you are paying. A big problem that many people come up against with their monthly bills is subscription services. Many people are “double dipping” when it comes to subscription services, specifically streaming services. They will have several streaming services that they are paying for each month that overlap services.
It is important that you evaluate your bills each month to ensure that you are paying what you owe and no more. You must evaluate “automatic payments” for services like television streaming services, internet services, auto insurance, and more. Staying on top of your monthly payments and evaluating what you are paying for can help to save money.
Final Advice
You have taken the first step to get your finances in order by learning how to manage monthly bills. During your journey to control your finances, be sure to compare your options regularly for things like streaming, auto insurance, and other services. If you need water pumps replaced, you will shop around to find the best value and treat every service you use the same. Shop around and compare to find savings and lower your monthly bills. Don’t let loyalty to a company get in the way of finding the best value.
Getting your monthly bills under control and being able to pay them on time will change your life. Keep moving forward and learn more tips and tricks for how to manage monthly bills.
