Have you ever realized you had a bill sitting around that was due today? Or worse, yesterday? If you are lucky you can pay the bill online but that’s not always an option (I’ve found that some companies have a cut-off time).
So how can we avoid this?
You can pay the bill immediately. But if you are like me you would rather keep the money in savings for as along as possible or you budget in such a way that certain bills get paid with different paychecks.
You can write the date you need to pay the bill on the envelope. I do this. Usually this works great. Problems occur when you don’t notice the date or forget to keep up with the bill. That happens to me too!
So what’s another fail safe you can use?
I’ve been experimenting with Google Calendar to set up reminders to pay my bills on time!
When I get a bill I open it up and check out the due date. I then determine when I have to actually pay the bill to make sure I meet the due date. For example: If I have to mail a bill I give myself about a week. For online bills I pad a few days before the due date. If I need to transfer money I give myself about a week too to make sure the money gets transferred over (I keep my savings in my ING Direct account).
Next I write that date on the bill. That’s one fail safe.
The real useful fail safe is Google Calendar. I take my bill and log onto my account, go to the day I need to pay the bill by, and write in a reminder that gets emailed to me when it comes up. Since my cell gets email it’s like an extra reminder since it’s on my phone and my computer!
Let me show you how I set it up:
Log onto your Google Calendar and open up the month for your bill due date:
Click on the day you need to pay your bill on, enter the bill name, and hit “edit event details”:
Enter the details (date; what the bill is; whatever you need):
Click on Options:
Here’s an important part – Click Add a Reminder. Set the reminder to Email (this will send you an email reminder):
Viola! You’ve now setup a reminder in Google Calendar to remind you when to pay your bill!
Update: You can also set up Google Calendar to send you a text message as well.
So far this has worked really great for me. The key to this is to make sure your enter you bill in GCal when you get the bill.
How do you keep track of your bill’s due dates?
This idea came to me in part from a post beingfrugal.net wrote a while back about using Google Calendar to remember when coupons expire.
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I’ve used Google Calendar for a number of things, but not this! What a great idea! I’ll have to set it up. I’m starting to think, though, that Google is taking over my life…
Miranda’s last blog post..Terrry Pratchett and the Art of Making Money
@ Miranda – It’s been working great for me so far! (I can’t help think of the Hulu commercial with Alec Baldwin when you talk of Google taking over…haha!).
Good idea and good use for google calendar! will have to think about implementing this.
Bible Money Matters’s last blog post..5 Keys To Overcoming The Urge To Splurge
@ BMM – Give it a shot! I think you’ll find it real helpful.
I personally love yodlee.com. Or mint.com. Yodlee, particularly, is has a great financial calendar that reminds you, via e-mail, when your bills are due.
Steve’s last blog post..Do You Make These Same Mistakes Getting Organized?
@ Steve – I’ll have to take a look at Yodlee. Thanks!
Mint.com will send you reminders when bills are due a set amount of days later (you specify the amount of days) and they can be sent to your email and phone. All accounts are linked to Mint.com so the due dates are pulled directly from the your bills and everything is up to date.
The Google way seems pretty simple too but you will have to individually set up reminders for each bill which is a bit of a pain. Mint sets them up automatically.
Jesse @ pfFirewall.com’s last blog post..The Correlation Between Aggressive Driving and Aggressive Spending
@ Jesse – I’ll really have to take a look at Mint. I hear so much about it!
@ Bill – I think part of the reason I haven’t looked at Mint is because I’m a bit paranoid. I already have bank info all over the place. It bugs me a little to enter all my stuff in one place. Who knows? I was concerned about online banking at one time too and now I swear by my ING account. But for now Google will be my reminder.
I didn’t get a good vibe from using ANY of the online PF sites like mint.com. Not that I’m paranoid, but they just don’t work as well as Quicken or Money (and I don’t really like those either!!! Hard to please, I guess)
But THIS is a fantastic idea! We’re all so “connected” nowadays that it just makes good sense to do things this way.
Bill @ Money Hacks’s last blog post..Tough Times, Even Microsoft is Contemplating Significant Layoffs
I’m just like you and like to keep my money in savings as long as possible, and I use Google Calendar to remind me to pay my bills, too.
I have it set up to recur every month and have it for all my obligations – credit card, internet, cell phone, etc. And it’s a good thing, too, because I often don’t remember till I get the reminder.
I tried using Sunbird (open source calendar program) to remind me of things – including submitting to blog carnivals – but that didn’t work because I don’t like to have a bunch of programs open on the computer, but I do keep my email open all day.
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@ Penelope – I have to start using GCal for more things! I’m just at the tip of the iceberg. I like that you are using the recurring option. I might have to try that.
@JeffrO – Sharing rights! Of course! Forgot about that. This way you can make sure the spouse is on the same page as you (and can back you up in case you still forget).
Great post!…I’ve been using Google Calendar and the same methodology for awhile and it works great. Access from any computer, and being able to grant share-rights to others (i.e., spouse) makes it work like a charm.
Great tip. You can also set up reminders on your cell phone.
Jennifer Roland’s last blog post..Writing Roundup
@ Jennifer – I have to get better acquainted with the cell app for GCal. Looking forward to it.
This is a great write up on using google calendar, but wouldn’t it be easier to use an auto payment that paid the bills on the days you select. That way you don’t need to worry about missing them at all.
@ JW – Auto-payment is fine for some but I prefer to pay each bill manually. Maybe it’s a trust issue? But I want to see each bill I pay. Especially with credit cards, I want to make sure every charge is legitimate. I’ve found instances where I’ve had extra charges I had to dispute on bills. I think when you auto-pay there’s a tendency to not look at the bill as carefully. Something like a car payment may not be so bad as you know every month what it is going to be.
Have started using Google Apps recently, including Calendar.
I like the idea behind this ‘Cloud Computing’
Someday, I might actually be able to stop using Outlook.
TStrump’s last blog post..Jargon and Platitudes
What a good idea. I use Outlook for tracking my blog advertising but I have not tried google calendar and I think scheduling bills is a great idea.
CindyS’s last blog post..ReBuilding the Emergency Fund
@ Cindy – I’ve been using Google Calendar to track my ads as well!