Monday, June 01, 1998

Buy a Roll of Stamps
by Ted Verrill ([email protected])

Early on I developed a very bad habit for paying bills. Actually I think I may have inherited it from my father, but nonetheless I quickly realized I wasn't the only one so afflicted. You see, when I got bills I would open the envelopes and stare at the bill for a while, amazed that I could have charged that much, used that much electricity, or made that many long distance phone calls. Then, as I neatly piled them on top of the radiator by the front door I would make a promise to myself to sit down the coming weekend and pay them.

Of course, as the weekend approached I would be thinking about hiking, golf or motorcycle trips and the bill pile would get a little bigger each day. Finally, I would get an overdue notice, a cut-off notice, or hit a credit limit and in a fit of energy would sit down with checkbook in hand and pay all of the bills in the pile. I would then put them in a nice pile, all ready to mail out, and there they would sit for a while until I once again was overcome with a bill-paying vigor and would take them all to the post office and mail them.

This system actually worked for a good five years before the phone company finally demanded a healthy deposit before they would turn the phone back on. Later that day, as I was ranting and raving about the injustice of it all, the very patient man on the other side of the bulletproof glass simply said, "why don't you just buy a roll of stamps and pay your bills as they come in. That way you'll never have to come down here again."

On the way home I stopped at the grocery store and noticed they sold stamps. I bought a roll and when I got home I put it and a pen in the spot usually occupied by the bill pile. As I got home each night I got in the habit of paying each bill, stamping the envelope and dropping it in the mailbox.

Since that day I've paid a few late here and there, but have thankfully never had to make the "last day before cut-off" trip again. Want more tips on how to keep the bills from piling up? See the Fool's Debt & Credit area

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