Day 13       Master List of Bills And Withdrawals      

    Make a master list of withdrawals and the dates the withdrawal comes out. Total all the automatic withdrawals.  If you are paying them on a credit card, write out a check for that amount to the credit card company.  If they are coming out of a checking or savings account, make sure you have enough money in the account to cover the withdrawals. 

    Now, if you are like I was, you may not want things coming out of your account automatically each month because you are never sure if there is going to be enough money in the account on a day to day basis.  Believe me, I understand.  Here is what I want you to do.  Open a free savings account or a free checking account.  I know.  With what money?  With the money that you use to pay your bills.  I don’t care if you open it with $50.  Roll up your loose change and save it up for a month if you have to.  Take a dollar a day and put it into an envelope and every week toss the money into that account.  I want you to start building up a reserve equal to your biggest monthly bill.  Once you have an extra $100 in that account, pick a bill that is always under $100 and have it automatically paid out of that account.  Every month (preferably before the withdrawal is made) transfer the money from your regular checking account into that account to cover the withdrawal.  As your reserve gets bigger start moving each bill over to your auto pay account.  Your goal is to eventually drop enough in every month, either at the beginning of the month or halfway through, that will cover all those auto pays. 

    I like having my auto pays come out of a separate account (or charging all my bills to one credit card) because I constantly use my debit card.  I shift money between three accounts (two business, one personal), travel, and sometimes I don’t check my accounts for a couple of weeks at a time.  If I have forgotten that an auto pay is coming out on the 21^st of the month (usually I am just not aware of what day it is – I know the payment comes out on the 21^st) and I am traveling, I could leave myself short of traveling money.  If everything comes out of a separate account and I have already transferred the money in to cover it on a regularly scheduled date, then it doesn’t matter if I am half-way around the world or at home.  It is handled automatically.