You probably heard your parents say at some point, "The bills going to be late." That's not a good sign.
STEP 1: MAKE A DATE
Look on the bills when they come in, you'll notice that they have two things. Amount Due and Past Due. The Past Due amount always a few dollars to sometimes $30.00 more than the Amount Due. When bills are Past Due or Late the companies tack on LATE FEE's. Late fee's equal more money being spent for either, electricy you didn't use, water you didn't run or gas you didn't spend. It's just used as a punishment for you not paying your bill on time between the allotted dates.
Do yourself a favor and SET A DATE each month to pay all the bills before their due date arrives. If you know approximately how much a bill will cost, such as cable or rent, mark that in advance so you know how much you're going to need.
STEP 2: BILLS LATE ON ARRIVAL
People seem to think that just because the mail arrives late means that they can pay the bill late as well and not be penalized for it. They call in and complain that it didn't arrive on time so they didn't know it needed to be paid. This is a misconception that needs to STOP. Just because a bill is late getting to your home doesn't mean you get extra days to pay it. If you know it's coming and it's not there when it should be make note of it and either pay before it gets there or put something towards it for when it shows up and pay the difference.
This doesn't "just apply" to bills. It's the same when you rent something, there's a due date or a time when you have to have it back to the store or you'll get a fee. Make note of it or have someone else get it there before the time so you don't have to pay extra!
This also applies for writing checks! Late fee's add up! If you're going to write a check make sure you have money in there before you write it to cover it! Why? Because you don't know when the checks going to arrive. Stores send in checks at different dates and times, there's not set schedule of when they will arrive at your bank and not having enough funds will cause you to recieve NSF fees. These fee's can range from $25.00 to $45.00 per check! Think about that! If you write 3 checks and you don't have enough in the bank to cover them and they all bounce and your bank charges $30.00 per uncleared check. That's $90.00 dollars EXTRA you have to pay ONTOP of your unpaid Checks because they didn't clear! Can you afford an extra $100.00 for being careless? No! Not if you want to be Rich!
STEP 3: HOW TO SET A DATE
Setting a Date to pay bills can be simple as an Excel doc., pocket calendar, personal reminder, wall calendar, task list, personal planner or instant reminders sent to your e-mail or cell phone! That's right you can get reminders sent to your e-mail of when a bill is due and it's free! Try Google Calendars for starters and not only can it remember bills but also party dates, school project due dates, work schedules and meetings. Check it out for yourself to start you on getting organized.
Organization, if started early and pracitced can make life so much easier. Whether your in High School or out of it, heading into college or already out in world organization can help elivate stress later on in life or fix it now. If you know what's coming and where you're going you can plan around it!
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