How do you do bills....?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ™Blondiie..?
  • Start date Start date
™

™Blondiie..?

Guest
I am getting married in April, and I will be young (19) and he will be 20. Well, neither of us wanted to live together without being married, so as of right now i still live with my parents while I attend college. And he is in the army so he is overseas in Afghanistan. Anyways, with that being said, I have no idea how to do bills. I don't understand anything about filing taxes, and I don't know much about checkings/savings accounts. I have one with several thousand dollars in it, but I'm going to need a new one when I move and we get a shared one...My question is, where do you learn how to do all of that & how did you personally learn to do it for the first time? I'm sorry if this sounds like a ridiculous question, but I think it's important to know how I can learn to do finances.well i would absolutely love to just pass it on to him because he already has at least a base knowledge of it all, but he's going to deploy again at some point, so i'd like to know what i am doing, if that makes any sense.I haven't written a check since around 9th grade. I don't even remember how to do it anymore. In fact, i only recently put those thousands of dollars into my account because 3 months ago, it was all in cash and in a bunch of ziplock bags lol I just pay for everything in cash. Like all of my furniture and the TV and stuff I bought for our new house, I paid for it all in cash.And yes, I do work. However last semester i was taking 18 credit hours and i was working around 45 hours a week, so I am taking a break and just doing part time work this semester. But i earned all of that money. And my parents and I are kinda in a rough spot unfortunately right now, so I have been doing everything on my own and this is the last thing i think I need to learn soon.
 
I think you should finish your degree...ask your parents. It's not that hard really.
 
Ask your parents. It really isn't hard. It's writing a check basically. Nothing too difficult. Taxes are a little more confusing. We have several companies and my husbands job to deal with so I let him do the taxes and his mom helps (she works for the IRS).
 
Thats what parents do teach you how to take care of yourself. My son is 14 and has his own checking account. Your bills are not going to be the only thing you have to learn to do if you havent lived together. Good luck. My advise is to keep you money seperate and have one you both put into for house bills and food. That way you never fight about money that is the number one thing that casues arguments. I have done it both ways and that is by far the best.
 
You said you are in college. Haven't you been paying bills, writing checks or something along the line over the past few years? I started with a checking account when I was 16 and had babysitting money. Must be nice to be starting out with several thousand dollars in an account. Hold on to it for emergencies! You might want to keep that in your name only for a few years, just to make sure your marriage is going to work. I know we don't get guarantees in life, but a little backup never hurt anyone!Take some accounting/finance classes. Talk to your mom and dad about paying the bills or another couple you know. Last thing you need is financial advice from all of us! Call Suze Orman!
 
Good lord! And you are going to get married in so many months?Put the brakes on! What have your parents been teaching you! You need to move out on your own, with your parents blessings and learn how to live like an adult. Wait a minute, ok, you are in school. But still. Do you work part-time?Here's some starters:1. Go to a bank, sit down with a bank representative and ask them about opening a savings and checking account. Have your paycheck with you and some cash to deposit. Don't leave that bank until you understand how the process works. Get a card from the representative that helped you so you can call her if you have future questions.2. Now, go to the website for the Internal Revenue Service (a .gov site) and read the pages that spell out how taxes are filed, why they are filed and how to file. Everything you need should be there. If you have questions, you can call a representative and ask. When you get a W-2 from your employer (I assume-- I hope you are employed), take it a tax filing service and they will prepare your return for you and will be happy to answer any questions you have.Why haven't your parents taught you these basic life skills? Start asking, ask ask ask!Oh man, don't do what I did at your age and go head first into marriage without knowing anything, you will be headed for disaster!
 
I learned from my parents, and since you are still living with yours, thats where I would start. It is real important for you to keep up with what bills you owe, and always pay on time. The worse thing you can do is get behind on your bills, it is real hard to catch up once you get behind, and you can get bad credit. Bad credit will make it much harder to finance a car or house down the road. Good luck!
 
Unfortunately, this is something that isn't taught in schools. Might I suggest listening to Dave Ramsey. His information is free. http://www.daveramsey.com. You can listen to him on the radio, watch him on Fox Business, or download his podcasts. He also tours the country and has seminars and classes (this is where he makes his money). You can take the class at a very discounted rate through some churches as well. Good luck in you new life and I hope your husband (fiancée) stays safe.
 
Keep your same checking acct. & just have his name added to it. When the bills come in, look at the due date, and make sure it is paid before that date. Your husband's pay can be direct deposited like mine is, and just pay them on line, or transfer funds around. The bank will show you how. H & R Block will tell you how to do your taxes.
 
I'm in accounts payable at work, so I take a lot of how I do bills at home from how I do bills here. I'm fairly new to all this too, so here's some information you might find useful. The most important thing is to keep your bills organized. Get a manila folder and every time a bill comes in the mail, put it in that folder. Then either make a chart where you list the due dates, or simply place the bills inside the folder in the order that they are due (soonest to latest). That way you know which ones are coming up.Whatever you do, don't allow yourself to get behind on anything. When you know a certain bill is always due around the 5th of the month, then you can anticipate it coming and remember to send ti on time. You DON'T want to hurt your credit, especially when you're just starting out. With writing checks, you can either get the kind that has a sheet behind the check you write that records what you've written, like a copy, OR the ones that have the checks and a separate book for recording. That part is easy...you just write when the check was written, to who, and for how much.One or both of you should definitely look into get a secured credit card. Not a regular one- a SECURED one. This is like training for having a real credit card, yet you still build credit. Far too many people get caught up in credit card debt, and you don't want to be one of them. My card is from Bank of America. I gave the bank a certain amount of money, most people do a few hundred dollars, and that amount is the limit for your card. Use it monthly on small things, adding up to no more than $20-$50. Then when the bill comes, pay it off in full, meaning pay the full balance. That way you're building a credit history by making full payments and doing it on time, without getting caught up in the danger and allure of buying using credit.Hope these things help! message me if you have more questions :)
 
I don't think it is a ridiculous question. I was really lucky that my parents took the time to show me how to do these things and that it was addressed in a social skills class when I was in highschool.With checking and savings accounts, most of them don't have a high variation on the amount of interest you are paid on the money you have in them (interest=the percentage the bank pays you for the money in your bank account). Most banks have a minimum deposit on savings accounts of several hundred dollars. Most banks also have fee free checking accounts if you have your checks direct deposited into them.As far as bills go, make sure that both your and your future husband's names are on ALL accounts. That way, if he is overseas and you need to pay for something or deal with an issue, you will be able to. Ask him if there are bills that he does not receive a monthly statement on in the mail.If you and your husband are going to have a joint account, you will probably want to set it up right away so both of you are able to access your bank statement online. This will allow you both to see what the current balance of your bank account is. You can also set up automatic online payments for your bills that are due at the same time for the same amount monthly.Personally, I rarely use checks. I prefer to pay most of my bills onine and receive a lot of bills in my e-mail rather then my home mailbox. When you pay bills online or with your debit card, you do not have the delay that is caused by checks which may be a problem if your husband is spending money while he is deployed and you have written a large check.It is important to pay close attention to your balance. Bounced checks are really bad news, especially when you are in the military. Also, charges from overwithdrawing or overspending money on your debit card add up very quickly.Edit: You don't need to know much about taxes. It is cheaper if you can do them yourself, but it is easier if you contact a tax place, ask them what you need to bring, and then just take it to them. When you meet up with the tax people, ask them if there is anything you need to change.
 
Back
Top