DISQUS

OhCaptain · 11 months ago

Wow. You still use checks. That one hit me hard. I stopped using checks years ago. I write 4 checks a month...daycare. That's it. Although I don't use the bill pay at our bank. It's slow and they charge a fee. Most bills I pay either do automatic debits or have their own bill paying process, like credit cards, and their's is free. I run as many bills I can through the debit card that accumulates points. I figure you might as well get free stuff for paying your bills.

Just remember, the more automated you get with your bill paying the more detailed your bookkeeping should be. You need to be diligent. I balance our checkbook weekly.

<abbr>OhCaptains last blog post..Sleeping is for the weak and the childless</abbr>

Vincent @ The Dad Jam · 11 months ago

Way to go with the online bill payment. For me, that is the only way, I can't be bothered with cheques, envelopes and stamps, and all that paper waste is bad for the environment too. Which is why I also don't receive paper bills when possible... I have my bills e-posted to me. Don't know if that exists in the States, but I have a great functionality where my bills are e-posted right to my online banking. So I log into my online banking, view bills, and check a box beside the bill to pay it. This way I know exactly which bills I paid and which ones are coming due. If I had a bunch of paper bills lying around, it would take a lot more time and organization to make sure I paid them all on time. Cheers.

<abbr>Vincent @ The Dad Jams last blog post..Money: How to Reduce the Cost of Kids: Part 2</abbr>

Tyler · 11 months ago

@OhCaptain: Yea...I know. When my wife and I got together she was the one making more money than me for quite some time. She was always in control of the finances and since she made more money than me, I just went with the way she wanted to handle paying the bills.

From there the rut developed...our processes worked well enough...at least that's what we thought. Trust me...I'm still kicking myself for not making the switch sooner but hindsight is always 20/20 and at least we're on a better path now.

Thanks for the tip about the bookkeeping...I'll definitely keep that in mind!

@Vincent: I'll have to see if my bank and/or payees have some sort of e-posting feature. That sounds like a great idea and would help keep track of paying bills.

We realized that trying to keep up with all the bills and other mail and crap we get from daycare was really putting a burden on paying the bills. Hopefully we're on the right track now!

Jared · 11 months ago

Hi Tyler! Glad I could help! :D

I pay all of our bills online, with the exception of 2 that do not offer online bill pay.
I also have forbidden the hand written checkbook register at our house. I download our statment once a week and import it into Microsoft Money and keep track of everything that way. I find it so much faster...and easier for a geek like me, :D

Thanks for the link too! :D

<abbr>Jareds last blog post..Battery Overload</abbr>

New-Dad-Blog · 11 months ago

My wife and I pay every bill online. I think the last time I wrote a check was for an office fundraiser. . . I had to stare at it extra close to make sure I did it right.

I does make for less stress and less work on our parts, so I guess I have always taken for granted the lack of strain on our relationship.

<abbr>New-Dad-Blogs last blog post..Raising Daughters @ Discovering Dad</abbr>

Tyler · 11 months ago

@Jared: We used to download everything but for some reason we got out of habit of doing that. Since we put most of our bills online I'm sure we'll have to switch the way we balance our account. Thanks for the kick in the butt!

@New-dad-blog: Yea, i think that's why I'm kicking myself so much. Paying the bills was always such a pain and it always seemed to cause some tension in the house. Who's going to pay this time? Why was this bill late? etc...

Jon @ DadTrek · 11 months ago

Last week I had to write a check in order to register my daughter for preschool. I had to ask my wife to give me a check, as I honestly didn't know where to find any. Besides last week, I honestly can't remember the last time I used a check. It's all about online bill pay from my bank's web site, and debit cards.

Welcome to the 21st century! :D

<abbr>Jon @ DadTreks last blog post..Daddy! I Went Poopy and Potty!</abbr>

John · 11 months ago

I just discovered your blog today on a link from real men drive minivans. Great site! I love this post about the ruts and online bill paying. I have been using bill pay through my bank for several years now and it has saved my butt! I work freelance in the film business and travel a lot so I had years of missed payments and late fees before I made the switch. Now everything is on auto-pay and I rarely think about it. I am looking forward to following your blog and I am going to add you to my blog roll.

<abbr>Johns last blog post..Finance and Romance</abbr>

Gregg · 11 months ago

Hey, I remember this conversation! I think I might have even responded.

Now that you have gotten on the electronic band-wagon for paying bills, I have the next step for you:

Have them AUTOMATICALLY paid! Most utilities and other regular monthly billers (I coined a term!) have this option. I moved to doing this after I realized it had been YEARS since I had seen a mistake in one of my bills. Not worth the time everymonth. You can still review the bills online, too. Now I don't get all that mail, and don't have to worry about when I'm out of town.

<abbr>Greggs last blog post..Wordless Wednesday - Winter</abbr>

Tyler · 11 months ago

@Jon: Thank you - it feels nice to join the club. I'm sure we'll lose track of checks pretty soon...this online bill pay thing is way easy!
@John: Great to hear from you and great to have you on board! I can see where auto bill pay can be a real life saver if you're constantly traveling.
@Gregg: Small steps man...small steps. :-) I looked last night and it's very easy through the bank website to set up recurring payments. We'll have to ease our way into that one...don't want to get all technological too fast

Corey · 11 months ago

From the title I was thinking more along the lines of tweating "my wife rocks..." She would appreciated the public declaration as well as the fact I was thinking about her at arbitrary times. Online bill pay is the only way to go. I wish more of them had the ability to accept a transfer rather than the bank issuing a check and sending it through snail mail. It would help with traceability and on time payments.

<abbr>Coreys last blog post..Barack’s Play Change on Race</abbr>

Daddy Forever · 10 months ago

One of these days, I'm going to get a Twitter account.

I joined online bill paying early on. It was free at our credit union. Back then, other banks charged extra for that, which was a bad idea because after I had all my accounts setup with my credit union, I wasn't going to do it all over again at another bank.

<abbr>Daddy Forevers last blog post..Valentines Flowers Giveaway</abbr>

Tyler · 10 months ago

@Corey: Agreed - We've only been using it for a couple of weeks now and I'm sure there will be some things that could be improved. The bank says that they're always trying to get more companies set up with online bill pay so I hope it gets easier and easier.

@Daddy Forever: Twitter is great - you'll love it...as long as you don't mind becoming addicted to it!

I'm glad that it's free for us too...Even if they charged a small fee it would be worth it because it means I don't have to deal with the post office nearly as much.