The Bills Most People Forget About

On Paper We Do Have Enough – Part 2

As I promised in my previous post, we’re going to begin with a real-life list of bills.

You don’t have to do these in any particular order just as long as you list every bill you have.  Before we get started, let’s define what I mean by a “bill”.  A “bill” for this exercise is a recurring expense, they come over and over and over again.  It’s a payment that you must make on a recurring basis, each month.

The Bills Everyone Lists
Let’s start our list.  It’s okay if you follow along and make yours as we list our example.

Rent/Mortgage    800.00
Car Payment        325.00
Mobile Phone      115.00
Auto Insurance    167.00
Electric Bill           300.00*
Gas Bill                  65.00*
Water Bill              25.00*
Childcare             500.00

TOTAL              2297.00

*This asterisk means that these are funny bills, they can and will fluctuate.  This could create a problem, but we’ll get to that later.

Here’s the interesting thing that happens when you finish making your list.  Add up the numbers and see how manageable this number can be based on what you (and spouse) bring in.  It appears that you have enough on paper.  You know why?  You’ve left something out!  We all lie to ourselves about what we spend.  We want to believe and want others to believe that we are good with our money.  The truth is, and we learn this the hard way, the majority are terrible with money.  Most of us, 51% or better, normal people, are terrible with handling money.  So don’t let this thinking stand in your way to bettering yourself.

The Missing Bills
So let’s fill in what’s missing:

Debts                                         300.00 
This represents the credit card payments, the money you owe someone else because you borrowed and any other debts you’re paying.
Movie/TV App Subscriptions        9.99 
You know this is like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc.
Music Subscriptions                    15.99
You forgot to account for Google Play, Pandora and Spotify.
Cloud Storage                               4.99
This is more space on that Apple iPhone or Dropbox.  I call this one that bill that’s out of sight and out of our mind for accounting for it.
Total for the missing bills:     330.97

The “I’m-Not-A-Bill” Bill
Just when you thought you accounted for everything, we’re not done yet.  You’ve left off even more recurring bills:

Fuel                  340.00
You fill up your car twice a week (30×2) and your spouse’s car once (25).
Food/Dining    520.00
You eat out, fast food, 6 times a week (15*6) and a restaurant once (40).
Charity             250.00
Don’t forget that small amount you give away to make yourself feel like you did something good. (I went to the left at little here.)
Groceries         400.00
Did you forget the numerous trips to Walmart, Target and Publix.  Of course you did, because these are the “I’m-not-a-bill” bills that we all have.  They cause us to have hardships month after month when not account for.  
Total for the “I’m-not-a-bill” bills:  1510.00

Don’t forget that these are monthly totals.  But do you see anything that’s surprising?  The items you don’t call bills exhaust as much of your resources than do the things you call a bill.
Now, what do you do with this information, you’ll have to check out my next post.

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Today is Friday!
If you’re not surprised by the “I’m-not-a-bill” bills, then either you’re doing something incredibly wrong or incredibly right.  Just so you know most do it incredibly wrong.  Where did all these bills come from and how do I manage them?  This and more in our next post at kerryaclark.com.

Question: What was surprising about your bills as we went through this exercise?  Leave a comment below.