Ralph: Do unpaid bills bills, pile up on your kitchen table?
Do you dread opening envelopes marked past due?
My friend, you're not alone.
This particular topic has often caused stress in my marriage.
And later in the show, I'll tell you about how I was finally able to not only solve my bill paying procrastination, but also build trust wife my wife and we all need to do that.
Procrastination sinks, many good intentions when it comes to our finances.
Today, we'll explore practical ways to stop procrastinating.
And start managing bills effectively.
Intro: Welcome to the Ask Ralph Podcast, where listening to an experienced financial professional with over 30 years of experience can help you make sense of confusing questions, current headlines, and industry trends about taxes, small business, financial decision making, investment strategies, and even the art of proper budgeting.
Ask Ralph makes the complex simple by sharing his real world knowledge from a Christian perspective with all things financial.
Now here's your host, Ralph Estep Jr.
Ralph: Welcome to our wacky Wednesday show.
I'm so glad you chose to join us.
I just want to thank you for listening and supporting the program.
I'm coming to you from the Estep Farm at the Saggio Accounting studio . Let me put on my podcaster hat and put down those overalls and push that adding machine to the side and let's get into some practical wisdom from a Christian perspective.
Don't forget to subscribe to the show and join our email list.
You do that at askralphpodcast.com . So you don't miss tomorrow.
Show our tax talk.
Thursday show is going to cover the basics of Roth IRAs and the benefit of those retirement plans.
If you didn't know this, William Roth was a Senator from Delaware and he's the one who actually invented these.
So you don't want to miss tomorrow show.
Let's start with today's Bible verse.
The Bible reminds us in Proverbs chapter 27, verse 23, to be sure you knew the condition of your flocks.
Give careful attention to your herds.
Listen folks.
I know a few things about herds.
Here on the farm.
I oversee a herd of black Angus cows.
So I talk about taking off those overalls, actually have a working black Angus farm.
They're having a great time right now being unleashed on those lush green pastures a few days ago.
While this verse refers to shepherding literal livestock.
The principle applies to stewarding all the Lord blesses us with including our finances.
We have to be diligent.
And work after the stewardship.
Today's topic is near and dear to my heart, a procrastinator's guide to bill paying.
I know that sounds kind of funny, but I'm going to give you concrete steps.
You can take to finally manage this in your life.
I spent years putting off tasks and falling behind with obligations, stress piled.
While my credit score plummeted.
But with God's help.
I now stay on top of commitments and I enjoy peace of mind.
I am thrilled to pass on lessons learned to help anyone stuck in chronic lateness.
So without further ado, let's get started.
First and foremost, you got to face the music folks make a list of all of your outstanding bills.
Every single one that needs to be every single credit card, every single medical payment, every single utility, every single subscription service and every single loan you can't hide anything.
You're not fooling anybody, but yourself.
This clear picture is vital for the next steps.
The next thing you want to do is prioritize your debts and start attacking the highest interest rates.
First, through what many people call debt, snowball, or debt avalanche method.
I personally eliminated $15,000 in just 11 months this way, while I was building momentum.
Now not everybody will be able to see those immediate results, but all of us can make a huge impact.
Even when we start small, the key is to put this into action and.
Get started.
Get organized, designate one place to store bills and scheduled time every week to sort your mail.
I devote Sunday afternoons here in my practice to administration.
So I start each week proactively.
I know what's ahead.
I know what my schedule looks like as far as bill payments for the week ahead.
Another thing you must do.
Leverage technology by setting up automatic payments or email reminders through vendor sites.
Listen, folks, these vendors want to get paid.
They have developed technology to remind you, for example, my mortgage company texts me seven days before their debit.
Now I have it set up for automatic payment.
You got to customize dates to align with your pay schedule.
This is crucial.
You have to create a roadmap.
So you know where you're going.
You're never going to reach your intended destination Without a clear plan to get there.
Folks, that's just the truth.
Here's something a lot of people overlook.
You've got to review your bank and credit card statements thoroughly each month.
Don't just scan them for the total.
Read them line by line for unfamiliar charges or fees you can dispute.
I remember I once found it.
Gym membership.
I canceled six months prior, that was still being charged.
You will be shocked at how many of my clients and friends don't even look at their statements.
I actually advise using some sort of online tracking accounting system to handle that task.
I did a show a few weeks back on that very top of remember.
I always say this, what gets measured gets done.
And we'll talk about that in a few minutes.
And here's the thing set up a payment calendar.
That alerts you on your phone or whatever else you use to pay your bills on specific dates, to that attach notes, tallying average cost for budgeting purposes.
The key, as I've said is having a budget.
It's your roadmap.
And then putting together a schedule to help you get to where you need to go with that roadmap.
If you simply hate logging into so many websites, try a personal financial app like mint.
Or every dollar that aggregates everything in one dashboard.
Now, listen, folks, just be sure to double check it for accuracy.
Not only do these apps help you stay organized, they'll also allow you to quickly spot trends, which is very important and allow you to make necessary adjustments along the way.
A , budget is not in concrete.
You're going to need to adjust this because things happen.
Pay down balances as often as possible.
So interest doesn't compound, I personally send extra mortgage principal payments on paydays before that money burns a hole in my pocket.
I did a podcast about a month ago on this very topic, ways to pay down your mortgage.
And you're going to want to check that out.
Here's another thing you must do.
You've got to build an emergency fund with at least three months of living expenses.
So unexpected crisises don't derail your bill paying rhythms.
It's a rhythm folks.
The peace of mind is invaluable.
It will also prevent you from having to add debt to your budget.
And undo what you've worked so hard to accomplish.
Another thing you could consider are reward credit cards that offer cash back or points on household utilities and services.
Now here's the key to this.
You just got to make sure you pay that statement balance in full, for example, I put my cell phone gas and groceries on a 2% back return card.
You just have to absolutely make sure you maintain the discipline to pay off that balance each and every month, or you end up losing money instead of gaining it.
Unfortunately, I've seen that happen many times.
Here's another thing you can do.
Call providers to negotiate better rates if facing financial hardship.
Be honest with them about your struggles and ask them politely for discount programs or deferred payment plans until you get back on your feet.
The truth is most want to retain customers.
And from my personal experience, cause have actually done this most are generally eager to help you as they want to retain a loyal customer.
A lot of them have departments just for that sole purpose, customer loyalty and customer retention, but you have to be willing to ask.
So let's do a bit of a recap friends with some effort on organization and awareness.
Bill paying doesn't have to be a source of stress.
Tackle those paper piles and log in to auto-pay.
Seek tools to consolidate information in one place and set alerts to stay on track as always lean on the Lord for help.
He promises to guide those who acknowledge him.
He will help you.
So at the beginning, I promised to address my struggles earlier in the show.
The truth is I dreaded paying bills and spending my hard earned money.
I would offer incur interest and late fees, and it caused a ton of stress, not only with me, but also with my wife.
She would see those collection and billing notices and asked Ralph why in the world did you not pay this?
You have the money in the account.
Unfortunately folks, she was right.
As she usually is.
And when I finally was able to acknowledge this, I was finally able to overcome.
And the apprehension and I slew the dragon of those bills and guess what?
My marriage grew in trust because my wife knew she could count on me to be the financial leader of the house And she could rest assured knowing that her and my boys were financially secure.
Oh, what a feeling that was you too can have this assurance by implementing the tasks we discussed today.
Visit askralphpodcast.com for more financial tips, plus subscribe to our email list.
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Share this episode.
If you found it useful, Let's walk in freedom together by overcoming procrastination.
It steals our peace and our prosperity.
And as I always say, stay financially savvy, and God bless you.
Abundantly.
Outro: Thank you for joining us on the AskRalph podcast.
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And remember, financial issues don't have to be complicated.
Just AskRalph.
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Saggio Accounting Plus and AskRalph Media Inc.
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