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$160 a week

January 6th, 2008 at 03:48 pm

I kind of paniced when I opened up the mail to get my tag bill of $551 and my home insurance bill of $1108.
However, I realized that I do budget $160 a week for those things and I put it in my personal checkbook and leave it there during the year. It does not earn any interest, sadly, but it is always there to pay the house insurance, car insurance, property taxes and car tags.
Both bills are not due until the first part of February and I realized that I will have enough money in my check book to cover it.
I have been trying not to take any money out of savings, and now, I won't have too. That is a relief!!

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “$160 a week”

  1. M E Says:
    January 6th, 2008 at 04:49 pm 1199638158
    1199638158


    Color me a bit confused. If the bills come due once a year, why are you not socking away the $160 in an interest bearing savings vehicle? For someone who is so finacially savvy, that makes ZERO sense and in essence is costing you a good chunk of interest. And $160 x 52 weeks is WAAAY more than you need to cover the bills you mentioned. Even rounding them up to $1200 and $600 respectively, saving $160 a MONTH would more than cover it.

    Addendum : I noticed when re-reading your post that you also mentioned a couple of other bills that the designated money covers. But it still sounds like you are talking about yearly bills, so not putting the money in a savings account still makes no financial sense. Even if the bills are semi-annual, you should be letting the money work for you.

    JMO

  2. Amber Says:
    January 6th, 2008 at 05:45 pm 1199641511
    1199641511

    I think it is great you budget those expenses, I have actually started doing the same

  3. Aleta Says:
    January 6th, 2008 at 06:55 pm 1199645745
    1199645745

    I have irregular bills too that you mentioned, but I put the money in my brick and mortar bank account and into a money market account which I get a good rate. You are allowed to write 3 checks a month and transfer out 3 times. I deposit all of the money into the money market and transfer the amount at the end of the month that I will need for the following month into my checking account which has unlimited checking and is also an interest bearing account. At this point the online ING Orange account may be good for you as well.

  4. EnglishTeacher Says:
    January 6th, 2008 at 06:56 pm 1199645792
    1199645792

    Way to be prepared!

  5. Ima saver Says:
    January 6th, 2008 at 07:29 pm 1199647744
    1199647744

    You do make a good point about that money not earning any interest. I guess I do it because I have some kind of car insurance bill coming almost every month. (5 cars, 10 times a year the insurance comes due)
    However, i think I will take your advice and start putting the money into a money market account that pays interest. One other thing I never did, was have a "cushion" in my regular checking account, so this was sort of my cushion!

  6. Ima saver Says:
    January 6th, 2008 at 07:31 pm 1199647881
    1199647881

    My, this encludes all my car insurances (5 cars) and my property tax, a total of almost $8000 a year with my house insurance and car tags. but you are still right, I should be earning interest!

  7. luxliving Says:
    January 7th, 2008 at 01:20 am 1199668803
    1199668803

    Ima could you ask your insurance agent if you can get a discount if you pay it all at once or at least semi-annually? It's costing you a fortune in stamps if you're mailing all of those! :}

  8. Aleta Says:
    January 7th, 2008 at 07:15 pm 1199733352
    1199733352

    I'm also reading that if you take a safe driving course that it could lower your rates. You would have to call your insurance carrier and ask them if you could get a discount if you took this course. I agree with luxliving above that you should be able to pay your insurance every 6 months. You're right it is alot of checks to write and to have to remember them as well.

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