Put some money aside each pay day to cover your upcoming bills and try to put more in than you think you will need. If you plan carefully, you will have some left over from each bill at the end of the year to spend on a holiday.

Speak with the biller about a payment plan

Make a plan ahead.

I pay rates quarterly and have done the same with my rego. I have written on a yearly calendar so I can see when wr get pay and when things come out. Side wells we have more to pay then others so the weeks we have extra money we may pay a bill in advanced

I have 3 ways of coping with the big bills that never seem to stop

1. I have a suncorp savings account that has many sub accounts so each fortnight I put an instalment into each account for bills like car rego

2. I use as many loyalty programs as possible and cash the points in for grocery gift cards as soon as each one reaches $50. The cards last more than 3 years and when big bills come in I use the gif cards to pay for groceries and use my grocery budget towards bills

3. I look for any possible grants or subsidies eg. In qld if you are struggling to pay your power bills every 2 years you can apply for a grant that pays $700 to your power company for you.

put money away each week

I was struggling with the Rates and Water rates when they came in at the same time. I contacted my local Council worked out a payment plan and now make fortnightly payments on both so I’m actually a little in credit when the bills come in now. It’s only a small amount (I think $15 for Rates & $30 for Water) and so much easier to manage

Hi writer,

I hear you gurrl!
Guess the great thing to know, is that you are not alone.

How have I managed to get onto of those recurring bills that seemed to kick me every time I was down?

1. Well, I sat down one night and started budgeting (blurk I know, sounds boring)
I grabbed all the bills I could think of over the course of of one year and I broke them down into what would be weekly payments.

2. Wrote down what my partner and I earn per week and calculated what all those payments would be per week making sure I wasn’t spending over what we earned

3. Then looked if I could afford to add a little extra on to any of these payments (you’ll need to do this for a while to get you caught up)

4. Wrote down all the payments I’d need to make on a weekly basis.
I didn’t set up direct debits because sometimes things happen and I wanted the freedom to reshuffle bills if necessary.

5. Additional moneys – while it’s great to have the the recurring bills in order, it’s also really important to have something extra;
Savings – a little kitty to get you something you really want, something that’s worth the hard slog of savings, like a damn holiday!!!

Have an additional account you can move money across too, I have mine with a different bank, so I can’t regularly see it or dip into it.

At the end of each night I go in and transfer to the nearest dollar over to that account
So if my account i say $123.45, 0.45c is going in my savings (and anything extra I can afford)

I also spent a lot of time finding better deals and learning how to cut down my every days costs (less lights on, more clothes = less heater, bought a second clothes rack instead of using the dryer, cheaper household goods)
You’ll be surprised what you can save, shopping around.

Now look, it did take a while to get us in a good rhytm, but it really is worth it.

Goodluck Mumma, you got this!

Try and pay quarterly if you can.

I save during the year

Automatic debit weekly to keep on top of the account or contact your provider about payment plans.

The only way I can manage my bills is finally sitting down and doing a budget. I broke down each bill – gas, electricity, water, insurance – into how much it costs me per week. Then I opened up a free online account for each, named it “Gas”, “Car”, “Phone” etc, and then every payday I don’t spend a cent until I’ve gone and transferred every weekly amount into its bill account. I also have a “Bill overflow” account I put $10 into each pay, to cover an unexpected bill that’s a bit bigger than usual. But by separating my money each week, I have very, very rarely been caught short. I just pay bills on my credit card (to get rewards points) and then transfer the bill money onto my credit card the same day.

I find putting a small amount on each bill wkly saves big time when the bills come

putting away a bit each week, or even paying some quarterly if possible rather than yearly so that it isn’t such a huge amount in one go.

Also; use free planners, it helps to see all expenditure written down or on a spreadsheet and to be able to track it.

Every week you need to take so much from your wage and put it either in a plastic money bag or envelope and write what each one is for. Now I am on a pension I get them to take so much out and send it to say Electric company water phone and you get so used of it that you don’t miss the money, also I pay my house and contents monthly if you can my insurance company does not charge me extra to do it and that helps. So sit down work out what all your bills are also don’t go shopping often try and go fortnightly or monthly, I’ve started shopping online and either get them to deliver or do pick up so you save as your not tempted to buy extras so you will save.

Yes, I’ve been in your position a few times over the years. It’s important to stay focussed and not get over whelmed. Once you start thinking this is hopeless, that’s when you’re losing

Planning and setting a financial budget for running a household is essential for us. Using direct debit for key services is an absolute for our budget. Direct debits come out every fortnight, it is calculated over a year. We plan and budget for registration and other big items. We pay for the year for big items to get the discount. Different ‘buckets’ for money is also essential; savings, spendings, etc. There are always free online resources that can help with setting budgets and financial matters. Just make sure you use reputable ones like moneysmart.gov.au. Good luck!

Budget; record all forms of income, record all the big bills that come in over the year and when, record monthly & weekly expenses. Balance it and see how much you actually can spend each week and stick to your plan.

For me; the only way to ‘plan’ is to set up regular payments to providers, that way you can control what goes out when and it’s less of a ‘hit’. I have a few side gigs like survey sites (myopinions.com & purprofile) that I regularly cash in vouchers which helps with the monthly grocery bill. I generally can get at least $40 a week if I spend some time on each. It all adds up.