Pay bills with your child sitting right next to you
I pay most of my bills online. It’s easier, and saves paper waste. However, if you pay bills online it’s easy to accidentally hit a button that you don’t mean to, or forget to log the bill in your checkbook. Especially if your seven year old comes over every three seconds saying, “Hey mama, hey, did you hear about the one where… hey um, mama… LOOK AT ME.”
Sometimes I pay bills at 3am to avoid this. Other times, I know I won’t be up at 3am, and the bills still need paying. What I do is…
One, I pay all my bills all at once and balance my checkbook then as well. At most I’ll pay bills twice a month, but I never pay them as they’re emailed. I usually pay most of them at the start of the month, and a few at the end.
Secondly, I taught my son to fill out checks. Not real checks, but I had these left-over checks from two moves ago, so I figured why not teach him to fill them out, give him a list, and let him ‘pay bills’. Cedar’s bill paying station consists of a pen, old checkbook, and a calculator. I write him a list (easy list) that says things like:
- Rent: $800
- Gas: $20
- Water: $20
And so on. He doesn’t always fill the checks in, or even fill them in correctly, but it keeps him busy. Sometimes he’ll just play with the calculator the whole time. At the very least, it stops him from draining my concentration and I don’t have to worry about making checkbook mistakes, or hitting that button that says, “Pay all insurance for the year today.”
What do you do to keep your kids busy when paying bills?
Tags: balance checkbook, bill paying, kid attention, kids and bills, pay billsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Budget
1 opinion for Pay bills with your child sitting right next to you
Thrifty Karen
Jul 21, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I usually do it while they’re in bed, which puts me staying up late. I just shredded a bunch of old checks, but your idea is a good use for them.
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