How far ahead are you on your bills?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Have been gettting way ahead on school loans during this no interest payment

We've been doing that too with our Federal loans well just making our normal monthly payments but it's for 2 reasons:

1) It's truly 0% interest being charged so 100% of the payment goes automatically to principal in this case only with exception to the first payment due back in April 2020 as that payment would have covered interest from a portion of March 2020
2) If we don't our loan term extends.

In this case it's not really being ahead so much as staying on track. That said because it's 0% interest we are paying it off faster than the term was when it went into Federal Forbearance. I wish I could know though if they'll be extending it or not and give me more notice than like 10 days like it was the last time (or was it even shorter? IDK I can't remember).

 

[nycdisneygal]

We've been doing that too with our Federal loans well just making our normal monthly payments but it's for 2 reasons:

1) It's truly 0% interest being charged so 100% of the payment goes automatically to principal in this case only with exception to the first payment due back in April 2020 as that payment would have covered interest from a portion of March 2020
2) If we don't our loan term extends.

In this case it's not really being ahead so much as staying on track. That said because it's 0% interest we are paying it off faster than the term was when it went into Federal Forbearance. I wish I could know though if they'll be extending it or not and give me more notice than like 10 days like it was the last time (or was it even shorter? IDK I can't remember).

Yeah we werent given much notice when it got extended and I was about to pay off the whole amount (decided I dont want to have to ever pay more interest on that loan - enough is enough!). Its been mentioned in the news recently so maybe it will be extended...

 

[azdisneylover]

When covid started effecting the USA last year and things shut down at work we went from working overtime to only getting about 32 hours a week. Lasted for about 6 weeks. Told myself when things get back to normal I’m going to get ahead on all of my bills. Right now I have a lot of my bills paid ahead. A lot from 6-12 months ahead. It’s so nice seeing your bill come in and seeing no payment due you have a credit of $$$ or even some $$$$. Should of done this years ago. It’s so very easy to get ahead. I did all of this in just over a years time. You never know when something is going to happen. I could go on disability which I might have to soon knee problem and not have to worry about paying any of my bills. Plus always save for retirement of course. I recommend a minimum of 15 percent. Some people will say your losing that little interest just put the extra in your bank and get the little interest. What do you like to do? I will like to get everything paid a year ahead of time than hold steady and keep it about a year. Do you get ahead on your bills?

We were before the lockdown. Now, I am trying to get us back to where we were prior lockdown. Hubby works construction, so it is always feast or famine type pay, so, we are stocked up on everything. Have been this way close to 40 years.

 

[holden]

We pay everything in full every month. We own our current home but are buying a more expensive one so we will have a mortgage again.

 

[tvguy]

We were before the lockdown. Now, I am trying to get us back to where we were prior lockdown. Hubby works construction, so it is always feast or famine type pay, so, we are stocked up on everything. Have been this way close to 40 years.

I'm assuming the pandemic has been a feast time for your husband. Fencing contractor is supposed to be out Monday..........waiting 6 months, that is how short of construction folks we are here. At least he returned our calls and put in a bid in a timely fashion.

 

[npatellye]

Fencing contractor is supposed to be out Monday..........waiting 6 months, that is how short of construction folks we are here. At least he returned our calls and put in a bid in a timely fashion.

Agreed. We signed a contract with a construction company in August 2020 for them to begin work in mid-January 2021. With delays on items, snow, etc. the job they expected to finish by the end of March took until the end of May.

 

[ObsessedwiththeMouse]

When covid started effecting the USA last year and things shut down at work we went from working overtime to only getting about 32 hours a week. Lasted for about 6 weeks. Told myself when things get back to normal I’m going to get ahead on all of my bills. Right now I have a lot of my bills paid ahead. A lot from 6-12 months ahead. It’s so nice seeing your bill come in and seeing no payment due you have a credit of $$$ or even some $$$$. Should of done this years ago. It’s so very easy to get ahead. I did all of this in just over a years time. You never know when something is going to happen. I could go on disability which I might have to soon knee problem and not have to worry about paying any of my bills. Plus always save for retirement of course. I recommend a minimum of 15 percent. Some people will say your losing that little interest just put the extra in your bank and get the little interest. What do you like to do? I will like to get everything paid a year ahead of time than hold steady and keep it about a year. Do you get ahead on your bills?

The only monthly bills we have are utilities and cell phone (no mortgage). We pay our insurance 6 months at a time. We just have our monthly bills set up on auto pay.

 

[AnnaS]

I pay our real estate taxes in one lump sum (once a year).

Car insurance - policy twice a year. Paid in full - no installment charges

Electric on a budget

When we had a mortgage, I did apply extra $$ each month to my principal (cut off a few years in the end)

When we bought/financed a car here and there - I would also sent in extra payments (cut off months/years in the end)

I have also in the past once or twice had credit for my DVC dues

If we were snow birds or going away for at least a month, I would definitely prepay a month's bill

If it works for you, keep doing it. The interest is practically nothing in the bank anyway.

 

[megveg]

Hellooo! Just wanted to check in

I paid my entire car insurance for the year once it renewed in July. Its less than $1000 so I had saved for it since last year and its nice to not have to worry about it. My next years insurance premium will be saved away in full by Dec

I have 3 months of expenses saved right now so all my bills are covered for the rest of 2021 (rent, electric, internet, cell phone, gas, food and health ins)

I just started a new job and starting with the first check, I'm about 60% funded for the first 3 months of 2022 with a new budget including increased rent and savings for a new-to-me-car which I plan on buying in 2-3 years

I have absolutely relied on the google spreadsheet i made to keep me on track. I bold budget items as they are funded and I love being able to bold whole categories

 

[barkley]

I paid my entire car insurance for the year once it renewed in July. Its less than $1000 so I had saved for it since last year and its nice to not have to worry about it. My next years insurance premium will be saved away in full by Dec

did they give you a nice discount for doing it? if not you might want to look at other carriers b/c i get significant pay in full discounts for my home, auto and umbrella policies.

 

[Masterbetatesta]

I don't think you should be "ahead" of your bills at all during this time. Your money is worth more now than it is in the future due to inflation. It's better to go into debt now with low interest rates than have liquid cash sitting in a savings account with a super low interest rate.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I think times have changed. When you had to mail in the next payment along with the next little page from your payment coupon book, the coupon identified which month the payment was for. Now a lot of us don't get those coupon books with our mortgages.

Coupon books?
I had my first mortgage in the mid 90s and the payment was always just withdrawn from my account. Never heard of sending cheques for a mortgage payment.

 

[Masterbetatesta]

Lol reminds me of my FIL. Takes him hours to do his bills. I have most things set up with auto pay. The only thing I audit are my credit card bills before I pay them in full each month.

 

[wishing4PA]

Coupon books?
I had my first mortgage in the mid 90s and the payment was always just withdrawn from my account. Never heard of sending cheques for a mortgage payment.

Mine was in the late 80s, so...
We could still send checks for ours, now, but I prefer to schedule payments online. Thankfully our mortgage terms allow for extra amounts to go to the principal, which is what we want. But the old method was nice, too, b/c in addition to identifying which payment I was making by which numbered coupon went with it, when I sent my payments I could specify how much of any extra I wanted to go to escrow or principal. It put a lot of control easily in the hands of the borrower.
The drawback was I had to write a check (the good old days lol) and then mail my payment or walk around the corner on my lunch break and hand it to the nice people behind the counter in the bank.

ETA: I realize I'm old though. My daughter laughs at me every time I say something like "automatic pilot" instead of "autopilot". There are a lot of abbreviations she doesn't think twice about where I go back to the old wording-- telephone vs. phone, television vs. TV, etc. So I don't set up autopay, I set up automatic payments, when I can't avoid them. That's what started me on this ETA.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Mine was in the late 80s, so...
We could still send checks for ours, now, but I prefer to schedule payments online. Thankfully our mortgage terms allow for extra amounts to go to the principal, which is what we want. But the old method was nice, too, b/c in addition to identifying which payment I was making by which numbered coupon went with it, when I sent my payments I could specify how much of any extra I wanted to go to escrow or principal. It put a lot of control easily in the hands of the borrower.
The drawback was I had to write a check (the good old days lol) and then mail my payment or walk around the corner on my lunch break and hand it to the nice people behind the counter in the bank.

ETA: I realize I'm old though. My daughter laughs at me every time I say something like "automatic pilot" instead of "autopilot". There are a lot of abbreviations she doesn't think twice about where I go back to the old wording-- telephone vs. phone, television vs. TV, etc. So I don't set up autopay, I set up automatic payments, when I can't avoid them. That's what started me on this ETA.

I don’t think even 30 years ago paying mortgage by cheque was an option here.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Coupon books?
I had my first mortgage in the mid 90s and the payment was always just withdrawn from my account. Never heard of sending cheques for a mortgage payment.

My endowment student loan I had had a book and that was in 2010. I just paid online (EFT wasn't an option) but online did have convenience fees and then a fee depending on if it was an e-check or CC/Debit card. Sending in a check would have just cost the stamp but you would have needed to send in that coupon that corresponded with your payment. I threw money at that loan (it only had a 2 yr repayment period anyways) so overall I didn't pay much fees.

 

[atxbound]

I like to have a couple hundred dollars credit on utility bills and a month or so on loans if I can. That way, if life gets crazy, I don't have to worry.
I generally charge everything to a credit card and have it set for automatic minimum payments. I look and pay the balance on the card 1or 2 times a month.

 

[barkley]

Mine was in the late 80s, so...
We could still send checks for ours, now, but I prefer to schedule payments online. Thankfully our mortgage terms allow for extra amounts to go to the principal, which is what we want. But the old method was nice, too, b/c in addition to identifying which payment I was making by which numbered coupon went with it, when I sent my payments I could specify how much of any extra I wanted to go to escrow or principal. It put a lot of control easily in the hands of the borrower.
The drawback was I had to write a check (the good old days lol) and then mail my payment or walk around the corner on my lunch break and hand it to the nice people behind the counter in the bank.

ETA: I realize I'm old though. My daughter laughs at me every time I say something like "automatic pilot" instead of "autopilot". There are a lot of abbreviations she doesn't think twice about where I go back to the old wording-- telephone vs. phone, television vs. TV, etc. So I don't set up autopay, I set up automatic payments, when I can't avoid them. That's what started me on this ETA.

i'm old too our first mortgage was in '91 and it was via the old coupon books. i still had car loans that used them into the early 2000's. i strongly suspect that the credit union we belong to now purposely created a promotion in the 2010's that provided a 1/2 % interest rate discount on car loans done via auto payment to encourage us 'old school' members to give it a try. i loved it when our last mortgage was set up from day 1 as auto pay with them because i could go online and throw money at the principal very easily (probably contributed to much fast payoff of it).

i only have a couple items on auto pay, the rest i go online an manually pay with a designated credit card i monitor regularly. i also still pay a few bills with checks-my sirius b/c i always threaten to cancel to lock in the lowest rate at renewal and i don't want them to have a means to interdependently pay themselves if i space on the renewal date. i also like to do any medical bills b/c it seems like the providers are perpetually behind on billing/posting insurance payments. since 3 of us have the same provider i use checks so i can note who it's for/what date of service in the memo section of the check/my memo area of the ledger (yup, i don't even have the kind of checkbook you carry in a purse, mine is old scrooge mcduck ledger style).


hey, it's progress. growing up i remember some of my mom's friends in as late as the 1980's still not trusting of checks so when their husbands got paid they went and cashed the entire check at the bank and went place to place to pay their bills.

 

[nycdisneygal]

We've been doing that too with our Federal loans well just making our normal monthly payments but it's for 2 reasons:

1) It's truly 0% interest being charged so 100% of the payment goes automatically to principal in this case only with exception to the first payment due back in April 2020 as that payment would have covered interest from a portion of March 2020
2) If we don't our loan term extends.

In this case it's not really being ahead so much as staying on track. That said because it's 0% interest we are paying it off faster than the term was when it went into Federal Forbearance. I wish I could know though if they'll be extending it or not and give me more notice than like 10 days like it was the last time (or was it even shorter? IDK I can't remember).

I heard extended to Jan 31 now....

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I heard extended to Jan 31 now....

We just saw that the other day, very happy to see that and that we had more notice than before It means the loans will be paid off before the extension date in January is up with no interest having to be paid