Late Fees and Finance Charges

One thing I noticed when going over my bills lately is I have been wasting money on late fees and finance charges. This is a basic thing that many resources tell us to watch out for. Well, as money savvy as I'd like to think I am, I've still fallen victim to this.

Generally I pay things on time, but sometimes I slip. As a result I have been sending money out into the ether. *GIVING* money to the mortgage company, credit card company, utilities, etc. I'm not getting anything out of this money. It's just a charge I am paying for not being more on top of my finances and paying them on time.

What I did to remedy this is to write down all my regular bills for each month along with the due dates and amount due. I then went onto my online bank account and set up automatic payments for those amounts. For things that vary each month, I set up auto-payments through those payees.

For example, my credit card balance varies. So I set up an auto deduct payment plan with my credit card for the minimum amount due each month. I fully plan on paying more than the minimum each month, but I want to have control each month of how much I pay and will send the overpayment amount in separately. Setting up auto-pay for the minimum amount will ensure that even if I forget a payment, I won't get charged a late fee.