bills, bills, bills | pad patter 3.23.17

I do... and for the most part stay on budget. We have some bills to pay off, but otherwise, we are pretty low key spenders. We are currently searching for new couches.

 

I pay all the bills! I use Excel spreadsheets for the bills and another for my checkbook. I also use Quicken. I have a crazy system...but it keeps us out of trouble!

 

I pay all the bills and I suck at it LOL. I am forever forgetting to pay stuff and then we get that phone call. My hubs will answer the phone and roll his eyes and say yes.....I will get right on it. I don't mean to forget but I'll get a bill, put it aside to pay later today or tomorrow and then it just sits there. I am really trying to be more on the ball about payments. Ugh.

 

I am the sole income provider and I like to spend so I recently relinquished control of managing the finances to my husband. It took a lot for me to let that go but, it's better this way I also have a crazy Excel spreadsheet/system that I've used for the past 8+ years so I'm training him how to use it. While we're transitioning, we're doing things together which is good too because it promotes discussion about financial priorities/needs/wants.

 

I handle the day-to-day, short term bill paying and accounting in Quicken. My husband handles all the investments in our retirement accounts and the kid's college funds. We don't have a budget but we have a good idea of what we should spend. In general, both of us are pretty frugal, or at least one of us is at any given time. What is dangerous is when both of us are in a spending mood at the same time. Yeah, we own some things we probably shouldn't because of that.

We pay off our credit card each month, drafted automatically from checking. And we put everything we can, especially regular bills on the card. That way, I have less to remember to pay, but it does mean watching that bank account to make sure there is money in there for the auto drafts.

 

I do all the bill paying & budgeting in our household- I use a excel spreadsheet (for years!) and just before payday- I make sure we have it all nailed down where the extra will go- sometimes we're saving for a vacation or home improvements or whichever. My hubby works at our credit union so it's funny that he's so hands off about it- but he checks our accounts daily (I'm more of a weekly checker) and we definitely are on the same page when it comes to finances. We actually have 2 checking accounts (1 called Bills, 1 called Play = bills are always paid & when we're out of play $$, no more playing! ) & 5 savings accounts- (1 for each kid, 1 never touch savings, 1 vacation savings & 1 house savings.) Our system works awesome for us & while we don't always have 'extra' to go into all the savings, they at least are there & a reminder to be more frugal sometimes (except when project mouse is having a crazy sale!)

 

This is so awesome!!

I'm the bill payer in our family. My son has asked why Daddy never carries cash, but mommy does. Daddy replies: "Because I spend it if I have it!" And that's the truth of the matter. We are trying to work better at planning the budget together, but we aren't perfect. And, even with that, usually I know what's left in the budget category because I do the shopping. It costs me more when he comes! LOL.

 

We hardly have any bills to pay because almost everything (and certainly everything concerning regular bills like rent, electricity, phone etc) is paid by direct debit. The only bills we get that need paying are incidentals like additional dentist bills or the odd repair job.
I haven't had a checkbook for years and don't know anyone who uses checks. I think if I walked into a store and wanted to pay with a check they wouldn't know what to do with it

 

ALWAYS!!! Especially when he wants to go to Costco!

 

My hubby writes the check and balances the books. I can't do math. But I'm the one who pays all the figure skating bills, most of which comes out of the small salary I earn at the rink.

 

He pays all the bills, which are few because most of ours are direct debit. I was willing to give this responsibility up when we married because I had done it all in the 20 years of my first marriage and the 15 years single afterwards. However...I found that he is more of a spender than I am, mostly I think because his first wife was a shopaholic (still is). We were fortunate to 'win' an AmEx consultation when we first married and we had to bring all of our financial records (for each of us) and have them reviewed. I was sure we'd be destitute with his spending and he was sure I was a total tightwad. Of course it was more in the middle for both of us but we saw our own patterns and are ok with each other's spending/saving. I still save more than he does though...he jokes that I think I can take it with me but it's more that I don't really need much so...I save the money.

While we don't have a budget per se, we know how much is coming in because we are both retired and 'quote' living on a fixed income. Actually he still does some consulting work which is never the same each month so I don't make a point about what he buys cause that's money he works for and I choose not to work anymore. The bad part of that consulting work is that it requires quarterly taxes and is often a crapshoot in estimating. While this 'play' money is nice, it's a pain tax wise.

He is the one who deals more with our investments etc. I go to the financial advisor with him only about half the time. My investments are pretty stable, boring but safe. His are slightly more risky but he has his federal retirement as long as he lives. My current income is tied to the life of each of my husbands. I pray that they both have long life!

 

YES! We went for milk one day. And come home with the smoker he wanted. Sigh. It was okay really, because he worked a bunch of OT to pay for it, but it wasn't our plan that day! In fact, we had to load it in the car, let him go home, and come back to pick up me and the boychild.

 

I do all the bill paying and finances for us. I started doing it after my husband went active duty with the Army twelve years ago. With year long deployments for him, it's just best that I do it.

He jokes that he doesn't even know how much he makes...and he's so not a numbers person, so he really probably doesn't.

 

I do the bills here too...hubby openly admits he's not organized enough and would forget to pay things.

 

When we were first married I did it all....... and made math mistakes. LOL so he took over the figures and would then slide the checkbook over and I would write out all our bills and mail them.


My hubby retired 5 years ago, he was a full time firefighter. And now has a job with the state as an fire inspector. He took over all the bills at that time and we have been put on a tight budget. He has his spread sheets all filled out on what we are paying each month. His goal is to be completely debt free in 4 more years. This includes our home. He will fully retire at that time. So I'm fine with that. He pays the bills and lets me know what the grocery/spending $$ is for a 2 week period and I stay within that budget.

Of course life gets in the way. We and the timeline was extended as we had 2 children get married in the last 2 years.

 

I handle all the money. His paycheck is direct deposited weekly, mine is every two weeks. I just paid off the car (woot woot!) & have budgeted for my big 40th birthday trip to Universal Studios next month. I opt for a lot of tax to be taken out of my paycheck so I get the huge return in February. That's when I pay off the big stuff & make sure I have at least a month's rent in my savings account. I transfer money to his account once in awhile, but I also keep groceries fully stocked so he doesn't feel the need to eat out somewhere on his delivery route. He wastes money fast on that junk food. I've kept us clothed, fed, & with a roof over our heads through 3 layoffs & 3 disabilities. When I need to work 2 jobs, I do. Thank goodness I've only had to work one job since 08/2014. I just reduced my hours a bit so I can take care of my ADHD son one more afternoon per week. That's only until school's out. We'll see what happens next.