Do You Budget Your Utility Expenses Or Just Pay As You Go?

The interesting thing is that budgets can be sometimes deceptive when planning one's expenses. I have found that there is a psychological dynamic that comes into play when one budgets that makes a person feel constrained or imprisoned. This induces a tendency to overspend, to stretch the boundaries. For me, spending as I go always wins the day because it is easy to keep it at the bare minimum.

 

Pay as you go is really the way to go! Our water here doesn't cost the earth, so I'm ok with it billed on a monthly basis. I'm just grateful that the electricity is pay as you go. Most people here have go down this route, because it's easier to manage and not have to worry about the heart stopping monthly bill. Every 2-3 months I go out and get a huge amount of electricity and forget about it for those months. I do the same for the water, because it doesn't cost much. Sometimes when we a little extra, I'll even put extra for our cable TV and internet. It just makes things a little bit easier ))

 

Some utility companies offer a program similar to the one your friend uses. The utility company calculates the estimated yearly amount of energy used, then divides the amount into each monthly payment.

I am not enrolled in such a program, even though I know that my utility company offers it. I suppose I am not enrolled because I hope to reduce my energy usage as much as possible each month. I usually try to use less energy each month as I did the previous month (the amount used is on my energy bill each month).