Household bills are something that stresses most people out. Often, it’s hard to keep track of all the money that’s going out every month and you don’t always know your budget.
Fortunately, this post can help. We look at some of the tactics you can use to prevent necessary expenditures from harming your well-being and causing you pain.
So, what should you do to stop household bills from causing stress? Here are some of your options.
Change Your Mindset
The first step is to change your mindset of the way you think about household bills. Instead of seeing them as something that is dragging down your wealth, start viewing them as a kind of investment in your home and life. Think of them as a baseline: the money you have to spend to live comfortably.
Of course, there are things you can do to tinker around the edges and reduce your bills. But changing how you think about them can have a profound effect on the stress levels that you feel.
Pay In Installments
Another tactic is to pay big bills in instalments. Most companies will let you do this if you provide them with a warning in advance.
You can also adopt this approach if you currently pay your bills in large quarterly instalments. You may be able to switch to monthly payments or move over to pay-as-you-go, which is a good option for anyone trying to keep their bills to a minimum by cutting consumption.
Some instalments require you to sign up for a credit agreement. Here, you can add the premium of an outsized bill to subsequent bills, increasing the monthly cost, but smoothing it over at the same time.
Another option is to prepay ahead of time. This lets you take a chunk out of big bills when you get paid to avoid higher levels of pain later on. It is often easier to find the money for essential expenses at the start of the month than it is at the end.
Negotiate And Shop Around
You can also try negotiating with your energy provider. Calling them up and asking for better rates or an improved service is something you can do at any time.
Most energy providers are willing to offer better rates for essential bills like electricity, internet, gas and electricity. A lot of companies change their plans during the interim between the start and the end of your contract.
You can also see if they are willing to reduce the cost through multi-buy deals. For example, car insurers will sometimes give you discounts of up to 50% on second and third vehicles, if you insure your first one with them. Internet providers will also sometimes reduce the cost of cell phone or TV subscription contracts if you buy everything in a bundle.
Smart homeowners use energy price comparison sites, like GridHacker, to cut the cost of their biggest bills. These compare prices from across the market and help you find the lowest-cost options.
Ultimately, these options take effort on your behalf, but exploring them is often worth it. Energy providers and other carriers will often reduce prices if you negotiate with them or look for better deals elsewhere.
Simplify Your Payment Schedule
You can also reduce stress by simplifying how you manage your payments throughout the month. Instead of paying for lots of individual subscriptions, you could consolidate them into a single service and pay one bill directly from your paycheck.
Most states have services that let you do this. Bundling everything up like this can save a significant sum of money every year. Providers like it when you sign up for their services and stay with them long-term because it makes them more confident that they will keep your business.
Also, ensure your bills come out on the same day that your paycheck goes into your account (or the day after if you want to be on the safe side). This way, you always know how much free cash you have to spend every month, letting you budget better.
Reduce Your Mortgage
Your mortgage is usually the biggest monthly expenditure you face and can be a significant chunk of your household income. The higher interest rates go, the more you need to spend.
Therefore, if stress is a real issue in your life, you might want to consider downsizing your home. Releasing equity in your existing property and taking out a smaller mortgage on another house can cut your monthly mortgage payments substantially, giving you more money in your account to play with.
Reducing mortgage expenses can also release a cash lump sum if you remortgage for a second property. Lenders take the appreciation of your existing property into account when deciding to lend to you.
Don’t choose equity release unless you are much older. These schemes will eat into your wealth, even if they provide cash upfront, leaving you with next to nothing by the end of the process.
Automate Your Payment Schedule
You can also reduce stress by automating your payment schedule. While companies will still collect money from your bank account, you can set it up so that they do it automatically (instead of requiring you to fill out a check).
Automatic payments are common in places like Europe and the UK. Here, banks have been debiting accounts automatically for years, preventing homeowners from having to go through the administrative hassle of paying bills.
In the US, the uptake has been a little slower, but it is happening. More people than ever before are using direct debit schemes to make payments more bearable.
Direct debits give you more options and flexibility over how and when you pay. Being able to choose the date lets you fit payments around your lifestyle, which is often considerably more manageable than trying to do it yourself by hand.
Many internet banking services will also provide you with reminders for when your payments are due on apps or by email. These are helpful when planning your expenses for the month and trying to work out how much you have to spend.
Gain Control
Finally, you can beat the stress by trying to gain control over your expenses. Instead of leaving them a mystery, you should look at where everything is going and write it down to calculate the monthly drain on your finances.
Gaining control over your finances is more straightforward than you might think. It involves writing down your bills in a list and then totalling them at the end. Then, you can see areas where you can cut back.
Just making one or two changes helps you feel more in control. It doesn’t seem arbitrary anymore once you understand who is taking payments and where they are going. It also feels better knowing you can do something about your financial situation.
Conclusion
Stopping household bills from stressing you out requires taking a multi-pronged approach. Attacking them on several fronts helps you get a better handle on them and prevents them from causing as much stress.
The best approaches are those that involve taking the most action. For example, increasing your income or downsizing to a more affordable place temporarily can crush financial stress and leave you feeling much better off.
However, some people find that simply changing how they approach bills psychologically can make a difference. Accepting these outlays can be an excellent way to stop feeling stressed, helping you focus more on the activities that will improve your financial situation and leave you better off in the long term.