A friend was so excited to tell me today that they received their real estate property tax bill and it was $100 less than they had saved up for it! There was not one hint of sadness that the bill was large (it is a fact of life). There was just jubilation that they had $100 extra beyond what was needed to cover the bill.
That is a true sign that your financial plan is working!!! I remember the times when the non-monthly bills would roll around. Bills like my auto insurance which I paid quarterly. It was a punishing time to come up with the funds to pay that bill. I remember it well. I do not like the feelings I have when I remember those times. It was not fun. It was certainly not a time for jubilation.
If you are able to have the entire amount of each non-monthly bill saved up by the time the bill actually comes due … yeah … I would say that means you have a financial plan that is working big time! Congratulations!
For those of you who have the less ideal feelings when thinking about those non-monthly big financial setbacks, I challenge you to do this. In your monthly budget (you do have a monthly budget, right?), take the bill amount and divide it by the number of months you have remaining before the bill comes due.
For example, if you have a $400 insurance bill coming due in 5 months, you would divide $400 by 5. This means that you need to save $80 this month and for the next 4 additional months to have the $400 in 5 months. This will really help relieve your financial plan from the “big” hits as it will level out your expenses over each month.
