Paying Your Bills on Time — Every Time!

Step One: What’s the Damage?

This is a lot easier with a budget (and if you don’t have one, why not make one now?), but go ahead and compile all of your bills as they come in. You can just stash each bill statement in a folder or in an area on a desk, or written out on a piece of paper, or on your computer. If you have a good idea of what the bill will be each month, you don’t even have to wait until you get your statements to do this step. If you’re splitting with roommates or a significant other, go ahead and write down the calculations for each person (Divide the total amount due by the number of people that are paying the bill equally, eg: 1000/4.)

Step Two: What’s Left?
Now that we know how much you owe each month, divide that by 4 to get how much your bills will cost each week.That’s how much you’ll put away each week to pay your bills. Discouraged? Depending on how much money you make each week, that’s how much you’ll have left over to pay for other variables (such as the debt repayments, excess groceries, gifts, hair cuts, etc.) plus savings. So if you make 200 per week, you’ll only have 40 left over for that. 300, you’ll have 140 left over.

Step Three: It’s Pay (everyone else) day!

Now every payday, immediately take your check or cash (after depositing) and use that money to pay your bills or put aside immediately in preparation to pay your bills. Prewrite your checks or schedule online payments so you don’t forget to pay them – and remember, don’t touch that money! One technique I use is the following:

• Money set aside for bill payments go in checking account, which is used to pay bills online immediately on payday.
• Money left over for other uses is kept in cash. Gas and grocery money can also go in an envelope so you know how much money to spend on gas or groceries for the week.
• Any extra money goes over to my savings account. Try to save at minimum 10% of what you earn for emergencies.

Another Technique

Another method to paying your bills is to go on a purely weekly basis instead.

• Every payday, check out what bills you have to pay for the week ahead. Let’s imagine you got paid $300 and your electric bill is coming up on Wednesday.
• Immediately write a check or schedule the payment online to pay that bill.
• Immediately minus that amount from your checkbook or other method of keeping track of how much money you have in your account, or keep the rest as cash.
• Next payday, see what bill is coming up and repeat the process.
• For large payments, such as mortgage or rent bills, you should use the weekly method by dividing the payment by 4 and keeping that amount saved where you won’t be tempted to spend it until the payment is due.

Learn to Type Faster and Stand Out to Employers

One of the best ways to appear useful to employers is to increase your typing skills, so here are some fun resources online to learn touch typing (typing without looking at the keyboard to find the keys) and to increase your speed.

Go to this site (sense-lang.org) and take their typing test. This is your starting point. Write down your words per minute (wpm) and note your percentage of accuracy. I have a fairly quick typing speed (around 70-80%) and a nearly perfect accuracy (95-100%). this means I type fast and with little mistakes, making my typing very efficient for writing and desk jobs. If you want to get to my level, then you have to first find out what your starting point is – so take that test. Also, you’ll want to define what your goals are — do you want to be extremely fast? Do you want always 100% accuracy? Or a good mix of both? I don’t mind having lower accuracy for the speed because I back up my mistakes as fast as I can type them – so it doesn’t really slow me down.

Next, begin practicing as much as you can. Try doing it everyday for 10-30 minutes. It is better to do it everyday for 10 minute than once a week for an hour, because it is daily habits that work best for increasing a certain skill. Try these websites for fun games and lessons:

• http://games.sense-lang.org/EN.php
• http://www.freetypinggame.net/
• http://www.microtype.com/resources/articles/jig-Games.html
• http://www.addictinggames.com/life-style-games/touchtyping.jsp
• http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/want-to-type-faster-no-touch-typing-courses/

Do this for at least a month, then retake the test. See how much you improved!

How to Really Get Things Done

Your to-do list is a mile long, yet you’re just lazily surfing Facebook and thinking about how you spent too much money last night at the bar. Bill stubs and half-read books litter the desk, and you just ordered out Domino’s — Again. You’re trying to figure out what it is that you needed to do right now, but you misplaced the napkin you wrote it on. Something needs to change here, and you know it. You need to start really getting things done.

It just so happens there is a great organizational method called “Get Things Done,” or GTD for short. GTD is a simplified system for people who hate organizational systems and complex, color coded planners, and there are many levels so you can be only as organized as you want to be. Inspired hugely by Study Hacks, here is the down ‘n’ dirty version of how to git ‘er done.

Materials needed:

• small pocket or purse sized notebook with pen handy
• a pocket planner or monthly calendar
• a large calendar to hang in your room or dorm
• optional: weekly and/or daily calendar (depending on how specific you want to get)

1. Collect – every time you get a new appointment, assignment, task, or goal, write it down somewhere as soon as you get the notice or idea. It is handy to keep a small notebook in your pocket or purse. Anything that is time sensitive, write it down on a calendar or planner (or both, if you have both). In your planner, write assignments down on both the dates they are due and the date you hear of it, so you know how long you have. On your calendar, write down only the due dates and appointments.
2. Plan– Plan out tasks, assignments, papers, and personal goals in your notebook. If something will take longer than a few days, then mark reminders in your planner or calendar. If you like to make daily plans, outline blocks of time to work on your tasks each day – make sure you leave plenty of room and time for breaks and time with friends or outside. Choose ONE time per day to check email and make your plans. Morning or the night before is best, so you can either relax or wake up and mentally get ready for the day.
3. Act – When it is time to do a certain task, cut off all other distractions and work through until it is done. Get all materials needed, as well as a to-do list already mapped out. Keep water and snacks nearby so you won’t have to get up or go to the store. And when you check regular mail and email, make sure every piece of mail has a place – garbage, save, reply, or act. Your inbox should be zero by the time you’re finished, then you won’t have to worry about it later. If a piece of mail has a time-sensitive piece of information on it, then make sure it’s in your calendar or on your to-do list. Try to do the worst thing first, so you can just get it out of the way. You can also take a look at your calendar and see what needs to be done first, like a paper due tomorrow.

Have you heard of GTD or tried it? How has it worked for you?