Professor

For the next month's bills, I always pay everything the third week of the preceding month. For example I pay all of September 2011 bills on the third week of August 2011.

This includes gas, food, etc. as those go on the AMEX and gets paid during the third week.

A few bills, I'm actually about six months ahead, but with some if you "double pay" within a cycle, they will still send a bill for the next month (i.e., my mortgage).

The major glitch in the system is when you get paid in September and the wife thinks you have cash to blow since there are not any bills due.

te3point5

most of my bills I pay within 5 days of due date.

The only exception would be my car payment, which I pay as quickly and as often as I can.

combat mediC

iTrader: (1)

I set up all our stuff on auto-bill-pay w/ USAA.. works quite nicely

Ken1997TL

Everything is paid before it's due. The one debt I have is on my wagon, the 0.9% over 60 months was hard to beat.

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

I pay everything usually 2 weeks before... besides my car payment which I pay 3 days after the due date for right now, until after my wedding.

Car Insurance is due on the 18th I pay it on the 22nd the month b4
Cell phone is due the 22nd I pay it on the 22nd the month b4

Smud I pay on the due date because they are bastards and I hate them

Will Y.

I pay credit card bills 5-7 days before the due date if paying by mail.

With insurance premiums, utilities and bills that are paid electronically, I pay about 3 days before since there is no risk of a late charge.

nj2pa2nc

Most are automatically taken out of our checking account. The ones we do pay are paid at least 10 days before the due date. Recently checked my credit score: 851

dallison

I pay them online the day they come in the mail. The one exception is the mortgage. I pay that at the end of the month.

WillrunifChased

I pay almost all my bills automatically. The ones I cannot pay automatically I send the check the day after I get the bill. My mortgage gets taken out weekly four weeks makes one payment so that I make 13 payments in a year.

AZuser

I use to pay the bills the day I got them in the mail. Now, for some reason (lazy? too many other things going on?), I typically pay them the week they're due.

Trying to get back to paying them once I get them in the main. It worked out better that way... less likely to forget about a bill due.

Or maybe I just need to get more organized?

PrissyJayne

I try to pay everything as soon as the new bill drops. For example - my Student Loan payment is due on 28 Sept, but I will probably pay it this weekend. The only exceptions are my car payment (which is auto-deducted from savings bi-monthly) and Izaiah's daycare, which comes out every two weeks.

Mr. Maker

iTrader: (4)

Everything online.

6spdTLman

few days before the due date is usually when ill call and pay by phone ..

achenator

everything on auto pay except amex which I pay constantly. i get a draw check on the first that covers almost all of our living expenses and personal bills, mortgage, car note, car insurances, groceries etc. i get a second monthly profit distribution check (big boy check) on the 15th. goes in a seperate account. tax estimates, my business loan, 401k and health insurance deductions come out of this account. this is also where mosf of big ticket item purchases come from, car down payments, big vacations and of course savings toward other investments.

Moog-Type-S

This.

Without fail.

vanirl

0.9%?! Congrats!

All the bills are paid online, usually about a week before the due dates. Me and the wife simplified the process by arranging for all of our bills to be due essentially at the same time.

YeuEmMaiMai

i use bill pay and aut pay some on the 2nd and some on the 17th

Bearcat94

Bills get paid on their due date or the Friday before if the due date is on a week-end.

We use on-line bill pay with guaranteed delivery for the date we specify - if paid late, the bank picks up the fees; although that has never happened. The payments are set up several days, maybe as much as a month in advance, but not paid until due.

Misc "crap", like the annual "property tax" on autos, dog tag renewals etc get paid the day before fees or interest begin; things with "due upon receipt" (our lawn care service) get paid 30 days from the service date.

Why would you pay early? Do you get a cookie or something? - it's either on time or it's late there's no in between and no extra credit for being early. Businesses keep their cash in their own account as long as possible and you should too.

swoosh

iTrader: (5)

I maintain a spreadsheet with all my expenses (not how much is spend in a restaurant but how much is going to my credit card, savings, insurance, rent, etc etc....)....so i can track how much i get in and how much is going out....so i just pay whatever when i get paid and dont wait for due dates....and if I got some left overs it goes to savings or if i have some expense to that

I started doing this back in 2007 and the spreadsheet just kept growing....its all formulas so its not like am inputting shit load of data....

i also have mint dot com account which does a lot of calculations for me....i recommend....

Professor

Very, very true. They (the bill companies) are getting to use my money interest free. I got in this habit after being in the hospital nearly 3 weeks. With a month paid ahead, I'll be on time or dead.

I started to think about the bill pay via the bank. Wachovia had a decent system, but after Wells Fargo bought them, they take our the funds five days ahead before they pay them. Screw that.

doopstr

I pay my bills on the Saturday that I get paid. Usually first pay goes to credit cards. Second pay goes to utility bills. The mortgage is on auto suck once a month. Not missing having car payments.

thetaylor310

i pay everything online as soon as i get my paycheck. From the time i get my paycheck, i still have a good two-week cushion before my first bill (CC) is due, but i don't want to take a chance in getting late

i'm a relatively latecomer in the world of finance, so i'm starting from the bottom up