Do you know how many steps does it take to pay your bill?
I’ll list down a list below and see how many can you identify with.
- wait for bill to come
- check for bill in the letter box
- open up the bill
- check when is the pay by date before any penalty is incurred
- check that the bank account has sufficient money to pay the bill
- write a cheque to pay the bill
- always try to remember to post the cheque before payment is due
- post the cheque
I don’t think I am exaggerating these steps.
In fact, steps 6 to 8 can be swapped out, depending on how you pay your bill, e.g. draw cash from the cash machine, go to the post office, pay bill… or go online, try to remember what is your username and password, sign in with your username and password, have your bank details ready, key in the correct bank details, double check that you have keyed in the correct bank details, click pay…
The more steps you have, the more stress you have. The more stress you have, the more impatient you get.
For me, unless I want to curb my spending, I automate the payment of the bills.
So my 8 step process becomes a 1 step process:
- Check for bill in the letter box
I don’t even have to wait for it anymore. It gets paid automatically through the air.
I made sure my income stream coming in is sufficient to cover my expenses, so I don’t even need to check that the bank account has enough money. Because I know it has.
How I got from 8 steps to 1 step is not easy. If your control of finances has not evolved to a position that you can automate your finances, you might want to consider unautomating them first.
For starters, you can always get rid of cable tv subscription.
