this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
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What budgeting advice do you recommend? Money management method?

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[–] magnetosphere@kbin.social 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I avoid automatic payments like the plague. I never give insurance companies, utilities, credit companies, etc. permission to withdraw from my account. All it takes is one underpaid office drone to make a mistake, and you’re overcharged a thousand dollars. You can (probably) get the money back, but not without a time consuming hassle.

Ever notice that billing mistakes on paper bills are virtually never in your favor? In my experience, I’ve always been overcharged, and never undercharged. I don’t expect automatic payments to be any different.

I let them mail me paper bills, which I then pay through my bank’s website. When the payment is made, I write the confirmation number on the bill itself. Yes, it’s more cumbersome, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay. There’s a verifiable paper trail, and I’m completely in control. Since it’s my money, I deserve to be.

[–] TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

In my country you can set an upper limit to the automatic payments. (It's mandatory for the banks to implement.) So I just put in like plus 3-4 dollars as the max they can withdraw above my average bill and I'll just get a notification if they try to withdraw above that limit (and they would be refused to do so). Fortunately it never happened.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Where is that?
I only know that I can set a upper withdraw limit for sending money (say >300€).

[–] TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago
[–] magnetosphere@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

That would be a very reassuring feature to have! People like me might reconsider automatic payments if that was a law in the US.