Do you worry about bills being late? Are you timing your bill payments with your paycheck dates each month? Figuring out how to get a month ahead on bills eliminates this stress.
Start with the foundation for a new money strategy by grabbing my free workbook in the form below. Then this post will take you through the strategies to get a month ahead of your bills, a key goal to transform your financial logistics.
What's In This Post
Why pay bills with last month’s income
If you are like most people, you are living paycheck to paycheck. You’re watching those billing due dates and your paycheck dates and trying to make ends meet. So how to get a month ahead on bills and stop the stress? Despite money being tight, it can be done! I will show you how here.
The first best step you can do towards solid money management is to pay bills with last month’s money. January’s income pays February bills, February income pays March bills, and so on. That is the key goal.
This one change in logistics reduces so much stress no matter your budgeting approach (if you have one) because you know how much money you have for the month before all those due dates starting flying by. There is then more time to make adjustments if you need to when things are tight. In doing so, you will eliminate late bill payments and any fees that go along with late payments, further reducing unnecessary costs and undue stress.
You will also improve your credit over time, reducing the interest rate hikes you may have experienced with credit card late payments. A lower interest rate on debt is just another way to save money, accelerating your progress! Once you implement a strategy for how to get a month ahead on bills, you will begin to be able to plan the future, instead of just surviving through the present.
And once you establish your strategy for how to get ahead on bills, you can lock into that position and be set for a one month ahead bill payment strategy for all the years to come!
But how do you get ahead when you’re just making ends meet? How do you come up with a whole month’s worth of income when you have no extra money?
You totally can. That is exactly what this post will show you.
Below are strategies that, when implemented all together, can get you there in just a few months.
As you read through, jot down the dollar amounts you believe may result for you from each strategy in a month. Be honest, but also push yourself a bit. By the end, I hope you’re pleasantly surprised at the total. Multiply that over two or three months and you will likely already have the amount you need to get one month ahead on bills. But even if it takes six months, that’s ok. It is worth the effort. And you only have to do this once.
How to implement Operation One Month Ahead
1. Believe you can
The most important step in tackling a big change in your financial life is, first, believing that you absolutely can do this. You can come up with 100 reasons that will get in the way, but I know you can do this.
It might be hard, you might have to make even more sacrifices for a short period, you will probably have set backs, but… it is possible. And when you’re fully committed, well just consider it done. Forget the past. Just know you can and will do this. That’s all you need to believe. One. Step. At. A. Time.
2. Choose the right time
Sometimes the best time is just right now. Sometimes gearing up and planning your blitz financial attack is best. You’ll need to think about your psychology a bit on this one. Are you an all-in-120% out of the gate person? Or are you a methodical, set up the steps, lay out the map, execute the plan after you’re prepared type person? Take advantage of and work with whatever type you are.
Also, especially if you’re the first type, take a look at your calendar and make sure you’re diving in at a time that won’t work against you. For example, choosing the quarter you bring home a newborn or Christmas shopping season to get started may not be best. As you read below, think about when is best for you to initiate Operation One Month Ahead in your life.
3. Implement money saving strategies
A no-brainer while you’re trying to get a month ahead of your bills, is to take a fresh look at your spending. Use key strategies that reduce spending in a variety of simple says, each discussed in separate articles on the blog.
First, if you implement my method of making ten $10 decisions each month, that diverts $100 per month to your goal.
Second, if you’re able to find $100 per month of automatic, unimportant “leaks” in your bank account there’s another chunk of money you can free up to get ahead of your bills. This is one of the easiest ways to save money, so is a great strategy to implement ASAP.
Third, after you evaluate your four categories of food spending and trim what’s least important, as well as switch your grocery store for 80% of your regular staple groceries, you’ll see at least $100-200 per month saved. Most families could see twice that savings.
Fourth, perhaps you can implement temporary “fasting” in certain areas that qualify as generally less important to you. Cutting out one spending category (e.g. fast food) will achieve another $100+ diverted from spending to Operation One Month Ahead. Whatever you can do to save money for a short period, will increase what you can repurpose to get one month ahead of your bills.
Fifth, taking the temporary financial fasting one step further, you could implement a no spend month (like I did in January). Instead of eliminating a certain category of spending or two, choose to spend zero on anything not absolutely essential. This is a fun ‘challenge’ to fast track yourself to getting ahead.
In sum, if you implement a combination of these strategies, you’ll bank at least $400 per month or more from these efforts. That’s equivalent to $800 in two month’s time and $1,200 towards your goal in three month’s time. Therefore, a strong effort on this front in a few months gets you a big step towards this key goal. And you can reach this state of financial stability without drastic cuts in every category of your spending.
4. Capitalize on ‘windfalls’
A strategy I reeeally like for accelerating money goals- because it’s effortless money- is capitalizing on little ‘windfalls.’ Too often, some ‘extra’ money comes along and we tend to want to blow it on all the things we haven’t been able to afford. And sometimes that’s the right move if that certain splurge purchase was your goal!
But thoughtfully implemented, these bouts of extra cash can be a huge propellant towards figuring out how to get a month ahead of your bills. That’s worth way more than one shopping spree if you’re at the stage of forming a foundation of financial stability. Quitting the paycheck-to-paycheck life if definitely part of that foundation. And you only have to do Operation One Month Ahead once!
Probably my favorite ‘windfall’ to deploy against any savings goals, including getting one month ahead of your bills, is the ‘extra’ paycheck. This happens for those of us paid weekly or biweekly. My bills management spreadsheet system is all based on monthly money management. So if you’re paid biweekly, twice a year you will receive three paychecks in a month instead of two, hence one ‘extra’ paycheck that month. And if you’re paid weekly, five instead of four paychecks in a month happens four times a year, once each quarter.
These ‘extra’ paychecks are equivalent to almost 8% of your annual take-home pay (2 checks out of 26 for biweekly payroll, or 4 checks out of 52 for weekly payroll). Since one month of bills is also about 8% of your annual pay/expenses (1 month / 12 months), these extra paychecks alone could very nearly get you where you need to be. But you’d have to wait a year to collect them all. We don’t want it to take a year to get one month ahead on your bill paying. So, using an ‘extra’ paycheck in combination with other strategies discussed here can get you there much quicker.
The likely biggest windfall most average Joe’s like us get is a tax refund, so this is really one to think strategically about each year. If you are reading this in the months coming up to tax time, taking advantage of your tax refund is a great leap towards breaking the paycheck to paycheck cycle. During COVID times, any stimulus money coming your way can be used as well.
Other ‘windfalls’ to consider while working yourself ahead are gift money (birthday, holidays, anniversaries…) if you’re lucky enough to have those certain check-writing family members in your life! Any other time you receive money not planned for, thinking strategically in your greater money scheme is a smart move if your money life is causing you stress and anxiety. Certainly, those gifts have a place in making purchases just for fun, but if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, a very worthy purpose for such money may be to get you away from that situation.
5. Sell or return items
If you’ve been meaning to eBay your aunt’s figurine collection or you have a closet full of stuff with tags still on, now is the time. Anything of reasonable usefulness to another household, you can offload on Facebook Marketplace or Craiglist. Porch pickup with electronic payment or just leaving cash under the doormat makes it pretty convenient as well.
Maybe you have some old collection from a relative in storage that you’re never going to display and “isn’t worth much anyway.” Well, it’s worth $0 in a box in your basement and is actually costing you real estate. Even if it’s something with sentimental value, choose to find an owner who will at least pay a few bucks and will get that item or collection out in the light of day to enjoy. Perhaps that’s a better purpose for those sentimental objects than sitting in a dark corner of your storage spot completely unappreciated?
Or perhaps you have a piece of old furniture you can refurb a bit and sell. Anyone can learn to fill and sand some scratches and repaint, or rub a coat of Restore a Finish over dull stained wood. Even if you’re just clearing out kitchen cupboard clutter, 20 items at $5 each is an easy $100 to add towards your goal. Every. Dollar. Counts.
6. Take on extra work at work
If you’re in a job where it is possible to get extra shifts or overtime, squeeze what you can out to help towards your goal. Typically, your usual paid work is your best paying gig, so getting more time out of that is a good first line effort towards increasing income, even if it’s just a temporary push for this one-time goal.
7. Hustle
Success doesn’t happen by accident. Sometimes (usually), you’ve got to hustle a bit. Depending on your situation, earning more money in your strategy for how to get ahead on bills may be more feasible that more cost cutting. There are so many options available these days for flexible side hustles.
Can you or your spouse drive Uber of Lyft some? I talked to a driver once who ended up quitting his day job he was making so much doing this sort of work. Can you be a Sudster and process some laundry over the weekends? Are you available during the daytime to walk dogs or pet sit for short bouts while pet parents are on vacation? Are there lawns to mow around your neighborhood? What about earning money with Instacart or other grocery shopping and delivery services? This might be a good time to try such a gig out, needing it temporarily for the goal of getting your finances ahead by a month. But, hey, if it works for you, now you’ve just established some side income you can keep going to really power up your new financial life longer term.
8. Protect that money like a mother bear
When things are tight, it’s so tempting to enjoy some breathing room when you have some ‘extra’ money. But in implementing all these strategies to get yourself one month ahead of your bills, remember, you have not created ‘extra’ money. You’ve established a foundation of more stable, low stress money management. You must protect that status like a mother bear!
You can think about adapting these strategies to increase your overall income and decrease expenses at other times for working towards other goals, even if the goal is to splurge on some purchase. BUT your money for next month’s bills is never ‘extra’ or available. Remember- $5,000 in checking (using the example we started off on) is the new $0. If you don’t adopt this mindset, you will end up right back where you started. But I know you’ve worked hard and won’t let that happen! You are now on the first step towards being a family money master.
How to make it stick long term- always stay ahead!
Once you set a plan to utilizing several of these strategies, and give it your all, most families can get to the goal of one full month’s income over two to three months time. And ultimately, all this effort towards shifting ahead by one month financially is something you should only have to do ONCE. So even if it’s tough, it’s temporary.
To ensure you only have to do this once, next implement a systematic way of scheduling all your bills, all at once, once a month. I can email you my spreadsheet template where you can use last month’s income to schedule all your bills for the month ahead, and easily forecast the upcoming months. Just enter your email below for your copy. This way, you sit down once a month and schedule everything- the rent or mortgage, your student loan payment, car insurance, you name it- all paid, on time, and without any timing with your paycheck dates!
When you stop living paycheck to paycheck and pay your bills with last month’s income, your total monthly expenses becomes your new ‘zero’ in your bank account.
For instance, if you receive in total $5,000 per month income to your checking account (I’ll talk about variable income another time… but even more important to be a month ahead in that situation), and your expenses are also $5,000 (assuming a break-even, just-making-ends-meet scenario here), you essentially have $0 when your online checking account balance reads $5,000… because that money is already obligated to next month’s bill payments. Make sense?
To make this more automatic, work on developing your monthly budget system. I highly recommend my burn rate budget method to easily keep your spending in line without any tedious categories (there are other resources linked in this post that will help you with your total monthly money picture). When you also have a properly managed savings account that includes an emergency fund, you are well on your way to long term success.
It may sound impossible at first, and there will be bumps along the way, but you can do it. The peace of mind of always living one month ahead of the bills can be life changing.
And all that hustling to get you ahead may prove to yourself that even bigger things are possible for your financial future. I already know they can be for you! Just gotta fearlessly take that first step.
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