I was reading Pat's blog yesterday(http://patverettosfrugalliving.blogspot.com/) when it dawned on me that before long, I will be paying almost $1 for every two pieces of mail that I put into the mailbox! I was stunned! Doesn't that seem like a lot of money to mail two bills? So, I'm doing something that I should have done a long time ago. I'm finally jumping on the "online bill pay" bandwagon. I'm sure that most of you are already on that wagon. I'm not the most computer savvy person around, so I've been dragging on feet on this money saving option. NO MORE! I set up my first online payment today and it was very painless
The cost of a first class stamp is going up to .42. I mail approx. 10 bills every month. That means I will be paying $50.40 every year to mail my bills! Not THIS tightwad...not anymore. I only have one bill that can not be paid online. So, now the US Postal Service will only get a measly $5.04 from me. Oh, I'm sure I'll have the occasional bill or whatever that I'll have to send through the mail, but not very often. I opted several years ago not to send out Christmas cards anymore. All of my family live close so I don't have to send birthday cards or packages to far off relatives.
My new mission: Avoid the post office at all "costs"....
BillPay, here I come!
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:10 pm
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:35 pm 1172270133
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:56 pm 1172271366
I've been budgeting 78 cents a month for my last two snailmail bills for awhile now! I love bill-pay and auto-deduct. YEAH!
Razzlefratzle, raising my costs by a nickle - it may seem like small change to other people, but drat it all, I do get SO tired of people increasing the prices on everything while wages stay stagnant here!!
February 24th, 2007 at 12:41 am 1172277692
February 24th, 2007 at 03:33 am 1172288006
I am writing on average 4-5 checks per month. Gardener, preschool, car payment (all hand delivered) and then mail/hand deliver a couple here and there. But everything else is bill pay or even better yet through credit card where I earn 1%+ back. Woohoo.
I agree - 3 cents ain't much, but come one, on a percentage basis US mail is getting expensive very fast. AND to boot the mail service has been declining if you ask me. Lately stuff keeps disappearing for weeks.
I am glad to pay most my bills electronically to avoid the hassles of late payments due to slow mail.
February 24th, 2007 at 11:57 am 1172318225
February 24th, 2007 at 02:54 pm 1172328890
February 24th, 2007 at 05:15 pm 1172337343
But I will point out one downside to bill pay that I have never seen discussed, and I think this is why the banks are promoting bill pay so heavily. The funds are debited from your account the very same day you instruct your bank to pay the bill. This means you lose at least a few days interest (because when you send a check by mail your account isn't debited until the check clears the bank). In one example, I sent a gift check via bill pay. The recipient did not deposit the check for a few months and I found out because the bank sent it back because it was past the allowed length of time to deposit the check. What I realized was that for several months the money had been out of my account (and not earning interest) but had not been in the gift recipients account, so obviously the bank came out WAAAAY ahead on that one.
February 24th, 2007 at 05:26 pm 1172337985
There is only one of my utilities that doesn't have it's own portal and I used to write out their check and hand deliver - it's rural water and it's about 1/2 mile over and on the way out of the neighborhood, but once our bank went to FREE bill pay over their former $5.95 a month gouging, then I started letting them physically mail out that bill.