5 Tips to Help You Pay Your Utilities on Time
One of your responsibilities as a homeowner is to make sure that your utilities are paid on time. Having access to clean water is a necessity, while electricity and technology subscriptions (e.g. internet, streaming services, and phone plans) improve your quality of life.
However, paying for your utilities on time can sometimes be stressful. When you’re always busy, you may end up going beyond due dates even if you’re given generous grace periods. This can lead to major inconveniences, such as your electricity and water supply getting disconnected. You also have to pay for late fees and reconnection fees if you want to get your utilities back. Plus, you have to cover the cost of every month you’ve missed, which can get expensive if you’ve missed several months.
Fortunately, you can avoid these problems if you make sure that you pay for your utilities on time. Taking out a cash loan online can help with this, especially if the budget is a little tight at the moment. These tips below can also help even the busiest people to manage their bills with more ease.
Organize Your Bills
Seeing your utility bills scattered on the table is an overwhelming sight, and getting through them one by one will surely stress you out. To help streamline your payment process, it’s good to keep your billing statements organized. When you arrange your bills according to their type, due date, or importance you’ll have an easier time staying on top of them. Plus, when your surroundings are neat, you can work on your bills with comfort.
When dealing with billing statements you receive in your mail, you can place them inside a labeled accordion folder for easy filing. For bills you receive in your email, on the other hand, you can highlight them as important/urgent or create folders and labels for them to keep your inbox from getting cluttered.
Set Reminders
Setting reminders is one of the simplest and most effective ways to help you remember to pay your bills. Not only will your reminders alert you that your due dates are coming up, but they’ll also improve your punctuality and time-management skills. The best thing about setting up reminders is that you have multiple ways to do them. You can set them up on your smartphone, write them on a calendar or sticky notes, and even jot them down in your planner weeks before their due dates.
Use Apps That Have Bills Payment Features
You might not be aware, but some of the apps on your smartphone can help you pay your utilities on time. Mobile wallets, shopping apps, and “super apps” have features that allow users to digitally transfer money to their utility accounts, making their users’ lives that much easier. Some apps even have auto-payment options, so you don’t have to worry about paying for your utilities late ever again.
However, you have to make sure that you have money in these apps for the transaction to be successful. You also need to check if these apps cater to your electricity, water, phone, internet, and subscription providers.
Pay Bills Automatically with Your Bank
If you don’t have any time to spare to pay your utilities, don’t worry. You can have your bank do it for you! Most banks offer an autopay service that allows you to enroll billers in your bank account, so they can be paid automatically on a specific date. This way, you’ll never miss a payment ever again and continue attending to your responsibilities with peace of mind.
Enrolling your utility and subscription accounts to your bank account is easy via your bank’s mobile app or website. Simply fill out the form, select or create a billing arrangement, and you’ll be good to go. Opting out from this service is also easy since all you have to do is remove your biller from the enrolled accounts page.
Pay in Advance
If you’re having trouble keeping track of your due dates, it might be better to pay all of your bills in advance. Pre-paying your bills a few days before isn’t only more convenient, but it also helps you avoid paying late fees and getting disconnected. What’s more, you can pay all of your bills on the same date, so you can ensure that you’ve paid for everything ahead of time.
Note that not all billers allow you to pre-pay or overpay your bills. Check with your provider first before you make any arrangements. That said, you can always pay your credit card and mobile phone bills in advance.
Remembering to pay for your utility and subscription bills can get stressful. With so many bills to keep track of, it’s easy to forget a couple of due dates. With the help of these tips, you can rest easy knowing that your bills will be paid on time even with your busy lifestyle.