Kiss- Keep It Simple Superstar

We have all heard the term KISS or keep it simple stupid. Let’s make it a little less negative and say superstar instead of stupid. I’m really on a push lately to never bring anyone down, it does nothing to benefit both parties. Anyways I believe finances should be kept simple. Money is hard when you have bills here and there. Did we pay this yet? When is this due? How am I going to pay for this?

Bills

I’m curious how many people keep their bills until they are actually due. I generally pay every bill right when I get them. It’s easy this way and also de-clutter’s my email or tabletop. I have had people remark, why pay them now? You got about 3 weeks to make the payment. While this is true I believe it’s just easier, my head has better things to think about. I love stuff I can set it and forget it. Like when I come home from work and throw something in the oven for x minutes while I take a shower. Most bills these days can be paid by automatic payments, why not take the time to set this up and not worry anymore.

Mortgage

If you have a mortgage balance currently, I think it is a great idea to make your payments on your pay dates. I get paid weekly but the wife gets paid bi-weekly. Having the mortgage and property taxes come out biweekly on the same pay dates keep things really simple. There is no longer the debate will we have enough for this mortgage payment? Its gone the same day, now you know how much “Play” money you have until your next mortgage payment.

There is the argument that weekly or biweekly payments is good/bad based on the extra payments you make over the course of a year. I think its a great thing no point living differently and spending more just because you have one extra pay period this month. Obviously you can with all the extra “play” money for the month!

Car Payments

Don’t. Seriously I thought of making this a one word paragraph. Unless you are already rich car payments in my opinion are dumb. I bought a 2005 ford escape for 8k cash maybe 6 years ago. Sure I have had some repairs, but come on….. Don’t try to convince me a new car is better because of the repair expenses. Lets just say I bought a new car 6 years ago and paid 300$ a month without factoring in increased insurance rates or interest rate it would of cost me $21,600. I have definitely not done $13,600 in repairs. Keep in mind a 300$ monthly payment is cheap. I have a buddy who bought a new truck and paid like 750$ a month. Do you see how many new trucks are on the road? My car is only at 230,000k, Its got lots of life in it.

My wife drives a 2006 honda civic, we bought that used as well. Its over 300,000 k and has had NO major repairs. To be honest I think the biggest repair she has done is refilling the Freon in her air conditioner! Honda’s are solid cars…..

Investing

Do you invest based on whats left at the end of the month? Have you got it on auto pilot? Some employers offer matches to investments. Neither of ours do. You can have your bank pull out x every week or 2 etc etc. What do we do? I don’t want to have the bank pull x out whenever I set it up. We want to dictate what we wanna do. We might not be able to do that if I know x is coming out whenever.

I just go into our account every Friday morning, the mortgage has been already deducted and all our bills are paid.(Remember I pay bills whenever I get them and pay off credit card balance whenever I see one)So I can see the balance in our account. Now its time to get rid of the money. Yes you read that right, I move All the money in our chequing account over $2000. I put it in emergency funds and various investments.

Spending

So almost every friday we have a balance of $2000. I think you spend less when you see a balance of $2000 vs $4600 etc etc. The wife and I are on the same page. *I think this is very important* We both realize the less we spend the more gets invested at the end of the 2 weeks. That being said I feel we do live life pretty good. Its spring/ summer now. There will be lots of camping and fishing trips.

We get a season pass to someplace every year. This year it will be Canada’s Wonderland, our son had a great time last year and my wife loves the funnel cakes. =) I do too! We definitely spend $ on experiences, as you might have noticed from previous posts. We don’t spend the balance in our account by any means but its nice to know its there if we want to do something nice.

Finale

Which brings me to the end. What do you do? Any tips you would like to share? I hope you gained a little something from the way we are doing things. I think the KISS analogy is a great way to do things. Cheers guys!

Rob

Hey I’m Rob, creator of Passive Canadian Income.

In 2011 me and my wife had almost $60,000 in debt and a negative $7,000 Net Worth. Through hard work and financial education we paid all that off. Now we are focusing on increasing our Passive Income Streams to make the money work for us. Feel Free to Follow along the Journey by clicking the Social Media links below or subscribing to get notified of new posts on the sidebar.