I try to pay all of the bills as early in the month as possible. I only have my Social Security to live on, and so it only comes once a month. After everything is paid, then I know it is safe to buy other things that I need. A person never knows what unexpected expenses might come along during the month, like issues with the vehicle and such things as that. If I know that all of the necessary bills are paid, then what ever is left is what I can use for other things, hopefully saving a little to have in case of emergencies.
Oh yes, you have to be careful to pay your bills on time. I recently just got a bit of good news when it relates to this, though, and that is that my security deposit was given back due to my timely paying habits. So, it really does make it worth it to have my bills paid on time, plus the general ease of mind that comes with it. I have a negative balance as of now, which means free utilities for about three months.
I have my utilities and any other possible bill that can be done this way, set up on auto-draft. I really like it because I almost don't even have to sit down and pay bills at all. Just check my bank and see what's left. There are a couple I have to send out manually, but not many.
If my grandma had the money then she would definitely pay the bills on time because late fees really suck, but right now we're in a bad financial situation and she always has to negotiate with the people from the utilities and also for internet as well. She tries her hardest to get money but she never has enough to pay the full thing, so it's always a loop of paying it late and then the fees accumulating. It really is kind of sad if you think about it .
Not just utilities bills alone when it comes to paying for services I have been rendered I always love to pay on time to avoid paying late charges. I am a lot more at rest if I pay on time, I hate to be embarrassed for paying late for services I have enjoyed.
The bills in my country or should I say the supplier of the resources have deals where if you pay before the due date then a fraction of the bill that you'd pay is removed. It keeps stacking each month you are early until it totally resets. That has been a good incentive for everyone to pay their bills on time.
I can honestly say I have never missed a payment on anything like this. I have come close, but I am always so manic about these sorts of things that I have them written down all over the place and reminders on the phone and everything. So far so hood, which I can hopefully keep up.
In the olden days, we have suffered being cut off from the electric grid due to late payments of the bill. That was a neat lesson so we tried our best to change our lifestyle when it comes to bills.And now that there is online payment which is very convenient, we always pay on time and never had the chance to be delayed again. And when we have no cash, we use our credit card. Being cut off with the electric distributor requires an re-installation fee which is costly so it should be avoided at all times.
Where I live or at least in my area, we get a 10% discount if we pay on time. If we pass the date, they just add it onto next month's bill. The electric and water company don't turn the service off during the month of not paying for it. They usually give you three months and you can pay 1 month so that you only owe 2 months. Basically, you can have their services for as long as you want as long as you don't owe more than 2 months.
I always see to it that I pay in time and avoid penalties. In case I have to go out for longer duration I pay in advance so that I do not have to face disconnection for certain items like water, electric and house related taxes and bills.
I know it's important to pay bills on time, especially if you want to avoid late fees. However, there are instances that we may be late in paying our bills that's why what I do is that I automatically cut a certain percentage on every income that we received so there's always cash saved for utility bills that we will never get behind. But there are still cases that we forget to pay our monthly bills and if that happens, we see to it that we pay the entire bill the following month to avoid disconnection.
I would always get disappointed with my self whenever I miss the due date for my water bill because a penalty of 10% is always added to the entire bill and that really counts against my budget. Thankfully, it's the only utility provider that penalizes late payment. For instance, our electricity provider doesn't charge penalties and I take advantage of that by paying two weeks after the due date. When it comes to my internet/telephone bill, they don't charge late fees but they do cut off the service one or two days after the due date so I make sure I pay it on time to avoid service interruptions.
There are very strict rules in our area with certain departments which impose up to 20% penalty if the bills are not paid within stipulated time or they allow certain discounts if paid within that time. So to avoid penalty or take the advantage of discount most people pay within time. I think that is one way of motivating people to pay their dues in time which helps authorities plan their budget allocation.
Fortunatrely we are aloud to skip 2 months of utility payments before the electricity or water gets cut off or else there will be major costs. Even though we are given two extra months we had to pay the extra late cost in two occasions since money was very low.
I usually OVERpay, even a little bit, each month.. that way if there is ever a month where things are a bit tighter (example, the holidays) my bills are lower because I've got a credit on file.
Since I am very forgetful, I an usually way late for paying the bills. Although the system at my end either just disconnects the supply of their services and resumes on payment without any extra reconnection cost. I find it quite disturbing to say, suddenly go off electricity while I have my rice cooker on. To avoid such disasters, I note down on my calender every transactions and clear them off as soon as the new months starts! Thank God I have no penalties othetwise I would be paying penalties for practically every utility.
I pay my utility bills bit by bit every time I get some cash. By doing this I rarely pay my bills late. I sometimes even find myself completing all my utility bills before the month ends. However, we have prepaid systems for our utility bills, you only use what you've paid for. I use this system for electricity and it's pretty nice.
I think I like dandeliion's idea. Getting them to include it in your billings so that it could be automatically deducted from your financial account periodically may solve the problem. This will reduce, the consequences of forgetfulness and failure to pay our bills on time.
I keep all my bills on my reminder or auto-payment. I am very particular about my utility bills and do not want to pay a single penny extra on that account. In most cases I deposit the bills either before they are due for payment or pay them on line manually or through auto-payment. Now we have lots of apps which take care of our necessary due bills. By the way some departments provide us discount if we pay them within a fixed time frame and charge penalty if one pays them after due date.
I just went and topped up my prepaid card to cover my electricity needs. I think its not only maturity, but security. Am actually trying to prevent regrets later on, in the near future. Just do it and wash your hands off it before you start regretting soon.
