10/12/2010

Ugh...Due Dates!

So when Jordan and I first got our joint credit card, we set up all of our budgets based on  monthly spending patterns, because a credit card bill is due once a month.  That make sense, right?  Right.  Not Right.  We soon realized that our credit card bill came on the fifth of the month - that caused trouble because my budget spreadsheets were based on exact months...the 1st to the end of the month so we had to adjust everything.

The way my spreadsheet is currently set up, when the monthly bill comes in we plan to pay it off by the end of the month - not necessarily right away.  Well, that doesn't work if the last pay day of the month comes after when the due date for the bill is.

crap... I feel kind of foolish for not thinking of this...though, I'm glad I caught it before we got caught in an interest trap.

Last week I told you why the balance was as high as it was....so this week i'll give you the plan to pay it off:

the highlighted green items have already happened


I'm sure.you can see that I've transfered a large some of money from the house fund to pay off the card before the due date.  We'll get paid two days after the due date, and at that time, we'll transfer the money back to the house fund.  It's going to be quite a bit of fiddling around - but the lesson is learnt!

Be aware of your billing cycles, budgeting cycles, and due dates!

Related Posts:

  • October Budget As we're just a couple of days away, I thought I would put up our budget for October. This month has five pay days, which is why the income section is higher than normal. The cell phone bills and enmax are guesses based o… Read More
  • We've Hit Our LimitIt's only the 27th of the month, and our budget is meant to last us until the 5th of the following month - and we've already hit our allotted spending cap - plus some Christmas Shopping!  We have 8 days to go, and I'm no… Read More
  • Ugh...Due Dates!So when Jordan and I first got our joint credit card, we set up all of our budgets based on  monthly spending patterns, because a credit card bill is due once a month.  That make sense, right?  Right.  Not… Read More
  • November Monthly Budget You'll notice that there are a couple of fields that are empty already (roommates rent and Jordan's credit card) - that's because those transactions have already happened.  My budgets tend to be very active, always upd… Read More
  • Potential 2011 BudgetBased on the goals I described in the last post, here our potential 2011 budget.   While we budget on a monthly basis for the big picture, the variable expenses get broken down into weekly transfers to align with our p… Read More

2 comments:

  1. It's a good thing that you have the money to pay it off and you discovered it before you got yourself into a jam. My credit card due dates never line up with my pay days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Next up, the Christmas shopping challenge! There always seems to be something!

    ReplyDelete

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