4 Ways to Implement Your Own Budget Billing Strategy

The Way Bills Were Meant to Be Paid – Part 5

Is having more control of my bills (when I pay, what I pay, how I pay) possible?

You may be asking yourself this question and have yet to find a solution that works for you and your family.  Don’t give up yet until you give our solution a try. We might not have all the answers, but we have an answer.  It’s a very different and unique one to say the least.

We’ve seen it before.
Taking control of your bills (how you pay, when you pay, and what you pay) can be within your control.  You’ve actually seen it in action before. The concept that I’m offering has been reserved to your electric company and gas company.  They call it “budget billing”. They take your charges over the past year and give you an average monthly payment. You then pay this amount.  The problem with their method is they’re still in control and with that comes the normal issues we find with not having it within our control.

Appy what businesses have.
At Kerry A. Clark & Co, when we identify a good process found in businesses we ask ourselves how can we use this in our own personal business, our lives.  We begin to think of ways to apply the principle to our life, our business. You know the businesses have already done all the homework and see the pitfalls and made adjustments.  If we follow these strategies, just as the businesses benefit, so can we.

Restate the problem.
The biggest problem with paying our bills when we desire, basically when we have the funds, is fluctuating charges.  We have no way of knowing what to pay until we receive the statement. Why don’t we change this? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to pay the same amount each month and when we want to pay ?  Talk about a game-changer. It’s possible.

How you can implement your own budget billing process?
Let’s say goodbye to fluctuating payments and due-dates that don’t align with our paydays.  Here are the four steps you can take today:

1. Gather your last 12 statements of charges.  For each bill or financial obligation you have, identify the last 12 charges.
2. Add them together and average them.  Add the 12 statements together, average the total.  So if your 12 months sum to $2400, divide that by 12, to give you $200 per month.  To get ahead use the Rent-to-Own process I discussed in a previous post.  You must do this to have complete control.
3. Pay attention to your statements.  This step is really a disclaimer. Make sure you pay attention to when you implement this process.   For example you don’t want to start when the electric bill is at its highest and exceeds your monthly payment.  You’ll need to adjust, but stick with it.
4. Set the amount and forget about it.  This is the beauty of budget-billing.  You get to set the amount and forget it.  You get to align your payday with bill-day.  With the budget billing strategy, you don’t have to wait to pay.  You simply pay each time you get paid, the same amount based on the average you computed.

I hope these four simple steps are enough to get you started.  Pamela and I use this model and it’s one of the best financial decisions we’ve ever made.

Today is Friday!
Today we discussed how to implement your own budget billing process.  Like us you may have tried every financial improvement process to date, but this one is totally different and worth trying if you haven’t already.  Let us hear any questions you’re having; leave a comment below.

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