Today we'll chit chat about the first of your sets of bills. Utilities. You are also likely paying off loans, and if you drive or have your own health plan, insurance premiums.
You become responsible for utilities these when you move off campus or away from your parents. Your electric, gas, oil, internet is typically what renters are dealing with. You may be paying for trash removal in some cities. Water/Sewage are utilities too but your landlord most likely handles those. When you are apartment hunting, check what is included in the rent. When you move in, you call all your local utility companies and set things up with all your info, it takes about 15 minutes. Watch out when you sign up for cable/internet because the great price is usually only for a year, after that they will raise it right up. Then they will keep right on raising it. We paid $65 for internet when we moved here, and the same package is up to $89 now.
Each bill has to be in one person's name, and THIS MATTERS. It can impact your credit score and you're legally responsible for those charges. If your roommate forgets something and it's in your name, you're the one that's SOL so make sure you're dealing with everything under your name. You can divide up this responsibility by having one person in charge of each, and settle the accounts once a month. At my place, I receive all the utilities because I'm the one who isn't moving in and out of the apartment all the time. Each month I post the bills and the total that people owe me on a bulletin board and my roommates write me a check. This system only works if you trust your roommates to pay you back, and you have the cash upfront to pay as bills come in.
Your first step to dealing with bills is trying to minimize them. That means things like not getting HBO (or cable at all) keeping your place a little cooler in the winter and a little hotter in the summer, turning off the lights when you leave a room, all that stuff. Bonus, saving money on your utilities is all about efficiency, so it's green. Often, rates will rise as you use more. So, the first however much of gas will be at one rate, but once you move into another bracket, you're paying a higher rate per unit. So it pays off double to just wear a sweater. Or two. It's like 10 degrees in Boston right now, I'm wearing two. It's not a life of luxury, but remember that unless you're making the kind of money your parents make, you can't enjoy the same standard of living on your own as you did with them. Plus, my habitat was built in 1905 so "drafty" is a way of life.
Your next step is to pay them on time. Every month. Well before you get your power shut off you're going to rack up fees and maybe have your late payments reported to the folks who compile credit scores. The old school get a bill in the mail and send a check in the mail works for the organized. Checks and stamps are not expensive, but also not free. Online pay is great, I recommend using it. When you're setting it up, you can go thorough each companies website, and choose to pay month to month or set up autopay. I recommend setting up bill pay through your bank instead. That way everything is in one place, with only one password to remember. Autopay gives you less to think about, but if you need to time payments with paychecks (no shame in that, especially during heating season!) you can also get an email when a bill comes in, bop on over to your banks website, check your balance and click "pay." Some banks offer incentives for signing up for bill pay, like that Extra 20 Checking. For the record, I'm firmly on Team Credit Union.
If you have roommates you need to be serious about everyone paying their share, and paying it on time. You may be best friends, but when it comes to rent and bills, you've entered a financial arrangement together. If a roomie isn't pulling their weight don't let it slide even once, no matter how much you love each other. Beyonce doesn't let scrubs run up her bills, and neither should you.
