Creating a Payment Calendar

Back when I started to tame the feral beast that was my personal finances, I was overwhelmed. I had certain things set up on automatic payments, other things I just had to remember, and (worst of all) some that I wasn’t even accounting for! Bottom line, my personal finances were a complete mess mainly because I had not come up with a system that worked for me.

One of the many things that has helped me along the way is setting up a “payment calendar” so that I know exactly what bills are going to be paid on which date. It started off very sporadic, since I had due dates all over the map. In some ways, it might still look that way. I’ll walk you through how I tackled this task, and how it helps me on a monthly basis.

The first thing I did was make sure all my bills (except my credit cards) were set up for automatic payment. If there was no fee for paying with a credit card, I set up payment through the credit card to take advantage of points. If not, like student loans, it’s set up to pay directly from my checking account. The very next thing I did was set up this bad boy:

I decided to use the google calendar from my email, since I wasn’t using it for anything else anyway. For me personally, I wanted to keep it separate from any other calendar because I knew this wasn’t one that I would need to look at every day. It might be helpful for some to put all payment dates on their everyday calendar, this way you are reminded of upcoming payments regularly. For me, seeing that my gym membership dues will hit today will just distract me from the real to-do items (work or otherwise) that I planned on accomplishing that day.

Each recurring monthly bill that I have went on this calendar. As you can see, things like groceries and amazon purchases are not up there. These might happen monthly, which puts them in the fixed costs category of any standard budget, but the point of this calendar is to pinpoint the date that bills are due. Think of it as a tool to assist your monthly budget. I simply put the name and dollar amount of each recurring bill coming my way on the corresponding date each of them is due. I set them up as recurring “tasks” on the calendar; this way they will show up on the specified date for each month till I change it. Very excited for the day to delete the student loans off this calendar entirely 😁.

Now, I know I get paid on the 15th and last day of the month every month. I don’t need a reminder in this calendar to remind me of this. Also, since I don’t have automatic payments set up for my credit cards, I have notifications set up on my cell phone to alert me the day before they are due. This way I won’t accidentally forget to pay anything on time, while still keeping tabs on my spending.

I only check this calendar two or three times per month; usually on the 1st and 15th. All I do is check to see which items are “pending” and double check that they came out of the appropriate account. For example, my internet bill:

It’s already set up for automatic payments, I just check the app on my phone really quick and see that my credit card was charged for it. Once confirmed, I click on the “task” and hit completed, and it gets crossed off.

Not going to lie, there is a really odd sense of accomplishment I get when these tasks get crossed off 😂. Now of course, the bulk of payments comes at the last and first day of the month, which sometimes takes around 10 minutes to check everything.

If you pay your car insurance (for example) annually, it would be a great idea to put in a task annually a few weeks before it’s due so you have time to shop around if needed. This bi-monthly practice, as dull as it seems, really helps and motivates me with my finances in a few ways.

No Missed Payments

Making sure to check this calendar 2-3 times per month ensures that I won’t have any missed or late payments on anything. Don’t forget, payment history is the biggest factor when calculating your credit score. Even if you have automatic payments set up, it’s a good idea to make sure those transactions went through.

Keeping Things Organized

Sometimes, like most of us, I get pretty scatterbrained. Especially when going down the rabbit hole of all things involved with my personal finances. First, I’m checking this, then checking that, then jumping over here… It’s possible I have ADD 😂. Setting up this calendar gives me an automatic check list of what bills have already been accounted for, and which ones are coming up.

Planning

Those who know me personally know that I am on a war path to get out of all debt (minus my mortgage). On my mid-month check-up of this calendar (usually the 15th), I’ll look at how much I currently have in my checking and do some quick math on what bills are coming up, factor in a few variables, and come up with a rough estimate on what freedom $ I’ll have on the 1st.

Those who know me personally also know that I’m weird 🤪. Checking this calendar as often as I do helps keep me motivated to spend less, this way I have more $ to throw at debt each and every month. Having “student loans” stare at me each month keeps that fire burning to get rid of debt that isn’t serving me as soon as possible.

I’m not a fan of the 0-dollar budget personally, and don’t really expect most people to account for every single cent they have coming in and going out. That said, this process inspires me to take actions that better align with my financial goals.

Ensuring Correct Amount Is Billed

A few months into this process I had noticed that my car insurance had billed me $50 more than I had down on this calendar. I immediately called them and found out that they had raised my rates due to no fault of my own, and didn’t even contact me! This immediately set me on a path to shop around for car insurance, and I got a better rate elsewhere for the same coverage. Had this calendar not been in place, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it (at least not right away).

Why do I not have car insurance in my calendar today? That’s a story for another day!

😉

Some people create complicated financial calendars that includes every little financial detail of their month. It will involve some big spreadsheet that includes everything from payday coming in next week, down to the coffee the purchased this morning. All color coded to track spending of course.

My approach to personal finance has always been to keep it simple. When processes get too complicated or cumbersome (like remembering to add random purchases at the end of each day) it becomes too easy to give up on the plan altogether. If tracking spending in that way is what helps you the most, go for it! Better yet, there are plenty of apps out there to assist you with that process to make it seemless!

I originally created this calendar as a way to keep organized and keep motivated to pay down debt. I planned on deleting this thing as soon as I paid off all my debt (except my mortgage). Now that I’m right on the cusp of attaining the big goal 🤞, I believe I’ll keep it going. It takes me 5-10 minutes twice a month and will continue to help me stay focused on my financial goals no matter what they may be in the future!

This payment calendar strat may not be best for you, but it’s helped me tremendously. Make variations of it, or go in a completely different direction, whatever motivates you to save more and spend less on things that aren’t bringing more value to your life.

Stay classy Solos! ✌️