Budgeting

pollyanna24

I've worked so hard to get debts down and work out our budget, but just wondered (now that I've me nifty spreadsheet that works out monthly and non-monthly bills), is there any benefit to paying off some bills in full for the whole year (hence making them non-monthly bills)?

At the moment, we pay things like car tax and insurance on a non monthly basis (I split them as if they were monthly and put them in a internet savings account), but wondered if I should do the same with council tax (the biggest one besides the mortgage, so maybe not an option at the moment) or water or the TV licence for example.

Snaggles

Hello!

If they charge you more to pay monthly, it's worth doing (ie car insurers often charge high APRs for monthly payments). With things like council tax, the amount is the same, so you are better paying monthly, effectively keeping the money in your account (and therefore earning interest on it) for as long as possible, even if you can afford to pay it in full (Bung it in a savings account so you're not tempted to spend it in the meantime, or use it for debt repayment, and continue to budget for monthly payments as usual).

CLAPTON

assuming you can afford to pay unfront it seems to me that

some things are cheaper paid upfront...insurance often is, where i live there is a small discount if you pay council tax in one payment, car tax is cheaper yearly rather than half yearly...and i'm sure there are others.

but some things are cheaper paid by monthly DD..most gas and elect is cheaper that way

so i'ld say its horses for course and of course your own personal convenience

pollyanna24

Thanks for the replies. Maybe I should look into that. I never realised that before. Just know that the car insurance company made us pay in full. Never realised it would be cheaper. Hmm, maybe I'll stick with monthly for council tax then. Suppose it's better in my account than it is in the councils!