When you receive your bills each month, ie, water, electric, satellite/cable or phone, do you put any extra money towards the bill each month in case something was to ever come up to stop you from being able to have enough for a payment? If so, what percentage of each bill do you put towards that bill? If you haven’t done this in the past, would you do so in the future if you had the money?
My wife and I have done so over the past fifteen years, and when she had her wreck in December of 2015 and was in the trauma unit at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN and the rehab hospital a few blocks over for nearly a month, it saved us a bunch of money. We didn’t have to touch our emergency fund except to pay for COBRA to keep insurance on both of us. It greatly helped, and we talked to and taught several nurses and even a doctor there how to do it.
Vivian and I always try to put a minimum ot 10% on the bills, and if there is overtime that week, we try and put up to 20% on it. At one point on our electric bill, we had enough in the account where we wouldn’t have had to pay anything for a year. On water, we had enough for eight months, and on the telephone and satellite, there was enough take care of between six to eight months of payments. My grandfather was the one who taught me to do this. It helped when my grandmother had to have emergency surgery, and then he had to have surgery a year later. He never went beyond third grade in school because both of his parents were ill and he had to work, allowing his brother to go through school instead. Smart man. He became a supervisor for RCA back in the 1950’s, paid cash for his next to the last car, a 1972 White Pontiac Bonneville, and then paid the final $1,100 on his house note in 1971. He retired six years early. He and my grandmother were of the belief that we should be able to live on only 40-50% of our income, saving or applying the rest.
Vivian and I always try to put a minimum ot 10% on the bills, and if there is overtime that week, we try and put up to 20% on it. At one point on our electric bill, we had enough in the account where we wouldn’t have had to pay anything for a year. On water, we had enough for eight months, and on the telephone and satellite, there was enough take care of between six to eight months of payments. My grandfather was the one who taught me to do this. It helped when my grandmother had to have emergency surgery, and then he had to have surgery a year later. He never went beyond third grade in school because both of his parents were ill and he had to work, allowing his brother to go through school instead. Smart man. He became a supervisor for RCA back in the 1950’s, paid cash for his next to the last car, a 1972 White Pontiac Bonneville, and then paid the final $1,100 on his house note in 1971. He retired six years early. He and my grandmother were of the belief that we should be able to live on only 40-50% of our income, saving or applying the rest.
Wow! I love this. Your grandfather sounded like a very intelligent man.
He definitely was. He was my best friend. I miss him greatly. I learned many of the things i know today because of him. He was more like my father than my grandfather. I will share all of that one day with the forum, because it directly affected the way I look at things today, and how I keep trying in spite of being disabled. Being disabled is just that…not crippled, just DISabled. There’s still an ability and will there to live, love, save and work towards something better. I hope you have a great evening, and I will be back on the community more often starting tomorrow. I’ve missed it. Blessings.
It really works. I wasn’t around the last four months to pay on the water bill. Was too busy going back and forth to GA because my sister was dying of breast cancer. I still have $15.00 credit, and I’ll have more after this next payment is applied. I haven’t paid a water bill since December, and they usually run $30-$45 per month. I kept paying on the electric, because I had 2 accounts, one for the electricity itself, and then one for the heating and air unit I got during a special through the TVA. I still have several months that I wouldn’t need to pay on. It’s been a blessing. I thank God for frugal adults in my life as a child.
