I realized something the other day: Once Tim goes back to work, he’ll get biweekly paychecks again. That’s going to be quite an adjustment!
The current system lets me shore up our accounts each week, which is especially helpful when I’ve once again underestimated how much money we’ll need. It also means I can plot things out week-by-week, so there are no large groups of payments due all at once.
But the best part of my current budget has to be the weekly credit card payments.
Each week, I get to make a dent in our accounts. I tot up what we brought in, what we need to keep out and throw the rest at the United card. That means that I make a difference in our debt every week. For a control freak like me, that’s heaven!
Of course, this system is also a good way to keep our spending in check. There are weeks where our payment barely makes a dent. Sometimes it’s because unexpected expenses had to go on the card. Other times, I went through a phase where I couldn’t cope with cooking, so our groceries and/or eating out bills were higher.
Whatever the reason, when I see that we have barely nudged our debt levels, it’s a wake-up call. I am more careful about unnecessary spending. I tend to jump back into cooking. In all, I just my commitment back. And, when all that effort pays off the next week, I get re-energized to keep fighting the good fight.
I’ve always found that paying several times a month is good for my morale. It keeps me from feeling like the debt is hanging over our heads. Instead, I tend to picture it more as a battlefield. And each week we get to redraw the lines as we beat the debt back. (Or, if there have been a few surges, we can at least regain our lost ground.)
The weekly system is so ingrained in me, I think that I will probably stagger my paychecks against Tim’s (so long as I have a paycheck, that is) so that we’re still getting one influx of revenue each week. After all, why change a good thing?
Do you pay down debt more than once a month? Does it help your commitment to being debt free?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I pay our bills twice a month…I find it encouraging to see balances go down, even if it is slower than I would like. I also put money into our emergency fund, murphy account or whatever you want to call it.
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Abigail Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
It's definitely rewarding to see the balance decrease. There's always the hope that balances will go down faster, but it's good to see any progress on a regular basis!
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Abigail Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
It's definitely rewarding to see the balance decrease. There's always the hope that balances will go down faster, but it's good to see any progress on a regular basis!
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It helps me get that "accomplishment" feeling to stagger the due dates on my debt. Actually this happened by accident, as my student loan is due on the 15th of the month, whereas pretty much everything else is due on/around the 1st. So I feel like it never goes too long where I don't feel like I'm lowering something!
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Abigail Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
That's a good alternative to the weekly/semi-monthly system. I think it's just important to see regular progress. Once a month just seems to rare for me.
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Abigail Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
That's a good alternative to the weekly/semi-monthly system. I think it's just important to see regular progress. Once a month just seems to rare for me.
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We have thought about putting money towards our mortgage more than just once a month, but we have yet to do it. I would love watching that number go down more often!
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Abigail Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
I imagine this would be especially exciting on a mortgage. That's a much more positive form of debt (I think anyway) so any extra progress is really just the cherry on top of the sundae!
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Abigail Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
I imagine this would be especially exciting on a mortgage. That's a much more positive form of debt (I think anyway) so any extra progress is really just the cherry on top of the sundae!
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I did that with my car loan, but haven't tried it since. Some of my loans still require you to mail them a payment – no online billpay!
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I pay twice a month…sometimes more if I sell something or get a rebate check.
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P.A.,
I know that some people still send multiple payments by mail. You simply need to have the account reference number. That said, I would imagine having to mail it in would make the entire process far more difficult and it cuts down on the immediate gratification of seeing your balance decrease.
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New reader/subscriber here. I don't pay debt more than once a month, but my husband gets paid weekly and I balance the checkbook and pay any bills that are due at least weekly if not more often. Like you, I would be lost if I had to switch to a bi-weekly or monthly budgeting system.
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