Beating Broke

4 Dangers of Using Automatic Bill Pay

September 16, 2019 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Many people love the convenience of having their bills paid automatically each month with no effort on their part. Like many, these people probably have about a million and one other things they’d rather be doing than taking time to pay their bills. However, there are 4 dangers of using automatic bill pay that people should consider carefully.

4 Dangers of Using Automatic Bill Pay

If you have already set up automatic bill pay or you’re considering doing so, first consider these potential pitfalls:

Vulnerable to Hackers

If you have your information stored in the company’s server, which you’ll have to do if you sign up for automatic pay, that information is vulnerable to hackers. The more places you have your information stored, the more vulnerable you are.

Vulnerable to Overcharges

Occasionally, the company that is collecting your money automatically will have a computer error and collect too much. Steve Hawkins shared with Kiplinger’s, “My sister’s auto-pay electric bill somehow got an extra zero added to it. It took her a week to get the money back in the account, and she still had to pay for the bounced checks out of her own pocket.”

Vulnerable to Overdrafts

If you live on a fairly tight budget, you may set yourself up for overdrafts if you use automatic bill pay. Variable bills such as electric, water, and gas may be more than you budgeted for.

For instance, our neighbor has all of her accounts on auto pay. One month, her water bill was $500 instead of the usual $80 per month. She had a water leak that she was not aware of, which was why her bill was so high. She did not have an extra $420 in her account to cover the difference, so she bounced payments to several other companies and had to pay overdraft fees.

Vulnerable to Continued Charges

Do you really want a company to have unlimited access to your checking account and routing numbers? They could pull money out of your account any time they want. (Of course, that is illegal, but that does not stop some companies.)

Dick Novack told Kiplinger’s, “My horror story is that a national company restarted debiting my account eight months after the contract was over. It took a change of my credit card number to get it to stop. Now I’m in court trying to get a year of debits back.”

Final Thoughts

True, electronic bill pay is convenient, which is why so many people use it. However, I never want to give a company unlimited access to my checking and routing number. Instead, I pay the bill online each month, initiating the payment myself so the company does not have unlimited access and my account information is not stored on their server.

While many people swear by automatic bill pay, avoiding it may be the smarter choice. There are just too many risks.

Do you use automatic bill pay? If so, have you had any trouble doing so? Do you monitor your account each month to make sure your being charged correctly? If you don’t use automatic bill pay, what are your main reasons for avoiding automatic bill pay?

8 Fun, Frugal Family Activities to Enjoy This Fall

August 28, 2019 By MelissaB 1 Comment

Ah, fall. The weather becomes more comfortable, the kids are back in school, and there are plenty of activities to enjoy before the cold weather blows in. Make the most of your family time with some of these fun, frugal family activities.

Pick a Pumpkin & Carve It

This seems so simple, but kids love picking their own pumpkin and carving it (with help if they’re young, of course). Sure, there are some pricey pumpkin patches out there that charge an exorbitant fee, but there are also mom and pop pumpkin patches that don’t charge as much. These are the ones you’ll want to choose.

For younger kids, stop by the store and pick up the safe carving knives and consider buying a stencil to make the design element easier. Don’t forget to wash off the seeds and roast them for a yummy treat!

Enjoy a Corn Maze

Let the kids try to find their way out. Depending on the complexity of the maze and your kids’ sense of direction, you may be wandering through for a while.

Pick Apples & Make an Apple Dessert

apple picking and pie making for frugal, fall fun

Nothing tastes better than fresh apples that you just picked in the morning. While picking apples from the orchard costs about as much as buying them at the grocery store, you’ll get the experience of picking them as well as a much better taste.

Take your apples home and make some yummy homemade apple pie or apple butter to enjoy later in the year.

Enjoy the Fall Foliage

Take a drive out to the country, preferably to a hilly or mountainous area, and just soak in Nature’s beauty. There is nothing that beats the beautiful reds, yellows, and golds of the leaves changing color.

Go on a Hike

Now that the fall temps are here, it’s a perfect time to take a hike with the family. This is a great way to get exercise and take in more of the beautiful fall leaves changing.

Go to a High School Homecoming Football Game

The local high school football game only costs a few bucks to attend, and you can cheer on the local high schoolers. Make this more fun for your kids by attending the homecoming football game. The homecoming court will be dressed in their fanciest dresses and suits, adding another element of fun to the night.

Decorate the House

Pull out your fall decorations and decorate the house. Or, stop by your local craft store and buy small gourds and other items to make your own wreath for the front door or table arrangement.

Attend a Fall Festival

Most towns host at least one festival in the fall, if not more, which can offer a fun, frugal way to entertain the family. Travel and Leisure has created a list of the best fall festival in each state. Is there one near you?

Fall is one of the best times of the year to get out and enjoy yourself without spending a lot of money. Enjoy one or more of these low-cost fall activities with your family.

What other frugal, fall activities would you add to this list?

5 Strategies to Make Food at Home If You Hate Cooking

August 23, 2019 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

For some, cooking is a joy and a way to relax after a long, hard day. For others, cooking is a daily task that must be done to save money and fuel their bodies. And then for others, cooking is one of the worst tasks they have to do and one they avoid as much as possible by eating out, picking up food, or getting an invite to someone else’s house who is doing the cooking.

If you’re in the latter group of people, you’re not alone. However, if you utilize these five strategies to make food at home when you hate cooking, you’ll find that you’ll save a considerable amount of money on your food budget, and you’ll likely be eating better.

Pick “Dump” Meals

Sure, the name is unappetizing, but “dump” refers to meals where you just put the food in the InstaPot or slow cooker and walk away. One example might be a few chicken breasts, black beans, corn, and salsa. Cook in the slow cooker for a few hours, shred the chicken, and serve over rice.

Pinterest and YouTube have plenty of dump meals; you could make several and put some in your freezer, making dinner prep even easier.

Use Premade Food

Most stores have some type of pre-made food you can use. Down the freezer aisle, you’ll find pre-made meals for a family that you just have to put in your slow cooker or cook on the stove; all of the ingredients that you need are in the bag.

Likewise, you can buy already chopped vegetables from the salad bar and rotisserie chicken that’s already been pulled from the bone to make meal time prep faster.

Premade salad bar ingredients for people who hate to cook.

Order a Meal Kit Delivery Service

There are many meal kit delivery services available such as Blue Apron, Green Chef, and HelloFresh, to name a few, each with their own specialty. In your kit, you’ll receive all of the ingredients you need for the meals as well as a card that tells you how to make the meal. With a meal kit delivery service, you avoid the headache of grocery shopping and get to try a new meal.

Make a Few Meals in Advance on Sunday

Another option for those who hate cooking is to make a few meals on Sunday. Then, when you come home on Monday, you don’t have to cook at all. Simply pull out the meal you already made and reheat it. While you do still have to cook with this option, you only have to cook one day, and then you get several days off when you eat the meals you cooked on Sunday.

Pick Easy Meals

No one says you have to have fancy dinners. Scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit can do just fine and require minimal cooking and clean up.

Easy meals for people who don't like to cook.

If you hate cooking, don’t feel the need to resort to eating out every night. Instead, try one of these five strategies to make food at home when you hate cooking.

If you hate cooking, what strategies do you use to still eat at home but limit the amount of time you have to cook?