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When I first set up a household, one of the things I struggled with was when to pay bills. They never seemed to come at a convenient time. (Meaning when I had money.)

I just couldn’t get things to sync up.

Of course, a big part of the problem was that I had no wiggle room in the budget. (I believe there was an extra $1 or so per week.) Later, I had difficulty because I had irregular income. I was never quite sure when (or if!) I would have money coming in. But I eventually got it figured out.

It dawned on me that I needed to look at things more holistically. Yes, I had a variety of bills due at different points during the month, but that wasn’t really relevant so long as I paid them all before they were due.

So I started organizing.

What bills were due when? And when would I be paid?

Once I received money, I started paying as many of the bills as possible — first in order of when they were due, and then (if I still had money left) in order of least to most expensive. This way I got as many paid as soon as possible with the first money I earned in the month. Then I paid the rest with the remaining checks in the month.

Now one flaw with that system is that I could have ended up paying all of my little bills and then running out of money before I got to important bills (such as rent). It’s important to be certain that you do have enough income to cover them all if you use that method.

If you don’t think you will have enough money, you’ll want to pay the most important bills first instead, then as many of the small bills as possible.

If you have an irregular income, the most helpful thing you can do in addition to prioritizing your bills is to make building a cushion a priority. Building a cushion is important for everyone, but it’s urgent for those with an irregular income.

Do you have a bill paying method that you like to use? I don’t actually use this one any longer, since my required bills have dropped to a very low level, leaving room for savings, but I did find it helpful in the past. Now I basically just pay bills as soon as I get them, or have them automatically withdrawn from my account on a set date.

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