How to get caught up on my bills
How I did it: Things got so bad I was 3 months behind on my rent and none of the bills were current. I took out a loan against my 401k. Luckily I asked for the max loan just as the market took a nose dive. I do not recommend this for everyone. I luckily have about 20 years before retirement so it's not complete suicide.
I got almost everything caught up. I try like the dickens now to look at the bank balance each day. I have a spreadsheet that I update each day with the current bank balance and all outstanding items. Then I play cash flow scenerio. I try to pay everything on time. If I can't I prioritize by which bills will charge a late fee and which bills will hit my credit score. I am paying off the highest interest credit cards first. Paying those off is my next hurdle.
Lessons & tips: Make a spreadsheet of your bills. First you make a list of your bills and sort it by date.
Mine looks kinda like this:
Day Bill Amount
4th Water $62 (estimated typical amounts
6th Cable $50 until you get the actual bill)
7th Phone $50
Then you make a check register type of spreadsheet with the balance on top. (In my case, my husband and I have separate checking accounts.)
Kind of like this:
$100 $60 <-- calculations
December 8th Regions Wachovia
Current Balance $150 $120 <--balance inquiry
(list uncleared items first)
ck#100 -$30
ck#101 -$20
(then list bills to be paid)
Water -$60
