When it comes to paying bills online, you basically have three choices:

1) You can make many payments directly through a biller's Web site by entering a credit card number or authorizing a withdrawal from your checking account.

2) You can sign up for a bank's online bill-pay service.

3) Or you can use a third-party service, many of which collect bills for you and send e-mail alerts when payments are due.

I still like to be in control of my money, so I go with using my bank's online pay service. The utilities and mortgage are on automatic withdrawal and the others I pay online through my bank. I save $2-3 in stamps right there a month and plus my bank has prepaid deposit envelopes which I can mail in deposits when I want. Just recently my bank announced it was accepting scanned checks, which makes things even faster.

So when you start paying online, all you have to do is punch in how much was paid into your budget spreadsheet and work with what is left.

Labels: Budget, Financial How-To, online payments