I Love Paying Bills Because I Mastered the Process

I remember hating to pay my bills in my early 20s. I didn’t have a cell phone back then, but I had a car loan, insurance, and maintenance costs.

I hated paying bills because I didn’t comprehend the process; I wasn’t serious about keeping tabs on my expenses.

I got married in 2006, and my bills increased significantly. I was responsible for my wife and child, along with a house and mortgage.

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I started to write down my monthly expenses and created a checking account solely for the purpose of paying bills.

Mastering your bills. After 17 years of marriage, I have mastered paying our bills and love it. I love it because this attention to detail is how you become rich.

Mastering your bills is far more than creating a monthly budget. It’s about predicting future bills, generating cash flow, and keeping emergency funds on hand.

Once you get into your battle rhythm, you’ll begin to enjoy the process. It also helps when you have enough money to pay your bills comfortably. 

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Also, part of paying my bills is paying myself first. This overused but misunderstood statement means I make saving and investing part of my bill payment cycle. Let’s take a look at my monthly bill-paying habits.

Create separate accounts. The first step is to open multiple accounts to handle various bills and tasks. For example, I have an account (my Discover rewards debit card) for my daily spending, which includes food, gas, and miscellaneous. 

I have my main bills account with Wells Fargo and a couple of accounts for other pay payments like my car. 

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I use these accounts to keep myself organized. If I see the wrong amount of money in an account at the end of the month, I need to fix something—I relentlessly track the balances.

I adjust my bill spreadsheet to direct me to what accounts and websites I need to use. I also keep an estimated tally of my bills. If something is out of whack, I can look back to three years.

Paying yourself first. I also keep my investing and saving payments on my bill spreadsheet. I account for them as I would a monthly expense.

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The key to building wealth is becoming an automated investor, and you can create great habits just by paying yourself first.

Apps like STASH (affiliate) make it simple to take out money monthly or even weekly. I also use TreasuryDirect to automatically purchase Series “I” Bonds and 30-Year Bonds.

The key to mastering your bills. However, paying your money bills and saving for the future is child’s play. The tricky part of mastering your bills is tracking annual and random expenses.

You’ll have more unexpected expenses as you accumulate more family members and things. You’ll always fall behind if you don’t account for these things.

Over the years, I began to document what month these things began to occur, and I have finally started to master these annoying bills.

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Two months into 2023, I have already paid my homeowner’s association fees ($170), annual termite contract for one of my homes ($300), Microsoft Office 365 ($100), and registration on three cars ($180).

However, I prepared for these expenses; I had a “special “ budget for all these various annoyances. 

As you can see above, I created a unique section for these bills. They are difficult to document because they happen sporadically.

My system works because I can look ahead for the entire year and forecast my random expenses. This is why I feel accomplished with my bills—no more surprises.

No more surprises. The worst part of becoming a bill-paying adult is when expenses surprise you. Yes, we will always have emergencies with our cars, medical, and homes; that is just a part of life. That’s why we have emergency funds and home maintenance budgets.

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However, getting an email from Microsoft about Office 365 renewal for $100 takes the wind out of your sails. How about an Amazon Prime renewal for $140? That’s not fun, either.

With my system, I can see that my Amazon is due in November. More importantly, I have a “special budget” of $300/month set aside for these bills.

Document everything. If you want to become wealthy, you must document everything. What you measure, you manage.

Just because you write everything down doesn’t mean you have to become a penny-pinching cheapskate. You can still give to charity and help your family, just write it down.

You should know every penny that leaves your home and enters it. Document the interest from your bank account, dividends, and bond payments. 

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I spend roughly three hours a week reviewing my bills, documenting my spending with my $50/day budget, recording my net worth, and counting my dividends. 

I find great pleasure in staying on top of my finances, which has helped me grow my wealth quickly. You’ll be surprised how much money you save when you know you must document it later.

Do you hate math? People avoid writing down their expenses and spending because they hate math or the numbers are not in their favor (because of debt).

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I understand the feeling because when I finally tallied my debt number in 2019, it was $77,000. We thought it would take 3-4 years to pay off, but it only took two.

Once you write down your debt number, you’ll want it to go down. If it keeps rising, something is wrong with your spending program.

Either you are the problem, or you are overlooking something. So often, we have bills automatically coming out of our accounts for websites, magazines, and apps.

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It’s even worse if they are being withdrawn automatically from credit cards. It is tough to catch random spending on your credit cards—find and eliminate these charges immediately.

Conclusion. Take charge of your financial future; only you can do it. Nobody is coming to save you from YOUR debt.

Being in debt is one of the worst things you can do to your mental health. Stress causes anxiety, stress, and fear.

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We all go through a debt phase, but it should be just that—a phase. If you are constantly getting into debt, there is something you need to correct.

The first step is running all the numbers. How much do you make? How much do you spend? What are your actual living expenses, and what are just frivolous expenditures?

Paying your bills will become more enjoyable as you climb out of debt. You will feel like you conquered the world when you have leftover money in your account. 

I don’t wish debt on anyone—I’ve been there and done that. I hope everyone takes paying bills and paying yourself first seriously; it is the only way to become rich. Good Luck!

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