If you find yourself struggling to pay your bills when they come in (and who hasn’t at one time or another!), then you might find this approach useful:
Total up all your bills for an entire year
Divide the total amount by the number of pay periods per year minus 1 or 2 (11 if you get paid monthly, 24 if you get paid every 2 weeks or 50 if you get paid weekly)
Open a high-interest fee-free savings account (like an online account) and put this amount of money into the account each time you’re paid
Now, don’t touch this account for anything other than paying bills
If possible, setup automatic payments for your bills from this account (TIP - Only pay the bill 3 days before it’s due - this way you earn the maximum interest on your account, yet still allow processing time)
After only 2 or 3 pay packets you’ll find there’ll be enough in there to cover bills as they come in, and you’ll start to feel like your in control of your money again.*The reason for dividing by a lesser number than you actually get paid is to help allow for unexpected bills that tend to arise from time to time.
August 1st, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Nice tips! If your bank doesn’t offer a decent interest account remember some online banks like ING offer a great rate. HSBC offers an online account as well.