6 Skills To Pay The Bills- How To Pay Effectively?

skills to pay the bills

The Office of Disability Employment Policy in the U.S. has created a curriculum called “Soft Skills to Pay the Bills.” Department of Labor to assist in educating young people about these crucial soft skills or workforce readiness skills. It is designed for youth development professionals as an introduction to workplace interpersonal and professional skills, with a focus on youth ages 14 to 21 in both in-school and out-of-school settings. It can be used independently or as a supplement to other soft skills exercises.

Skills to Pay the Bills

There are six skills to pay the bills as follows.

Communication

Participants will learn how to practice and recognize how they impart information to others through the activities in this section. They will also be encouraged to think about how others might prefer to receive information. Participants should be reminded that communication skills require both giving and receiving information and that they can be developed over time. So it is a skill to pay the bills.

Enthusiasm And Attitude

Participants will learn about the value of enthusiasm and a positive attitude in the workplace through the activities in this section. Participants will learn methods for reframing negative thoughts into positive ones and for demonstrating and fostering enthusiasm both in interviews and at work to pay the bills.

Teamwork

Participants will learn about the value of teamwork to workplace success in this section’s activities, as well as the specific roles that each member of a team may play. Participants will gain knowledge of effective teamwork techniques and understand how their own actions affect others on a team.

Networking

The exercises in this section are centered on networking and how crucial and relevant it is for career advancement. Participants will gain knowledge about taking initiative and overcoming fear, informational interviewing, as well as possible rules to take into account when using social media, texting, and email for networking to pay the bills.

Problem Solving & Critical Thinking

This section’s exercises are geared toward teaching participants different approaches to problem-solving in the workplace. Participants will learn the correct way to differentiate between criticism, praise, and feedback and how to react accordingly. The section will also go over methods for deciding ethically, working as a team to solve issues, and understanding how to consider others’ perceptions when evaluating actions or statements in the workplace to pay the bills.

Professionalism

Each of the five individual soft skills discussed in this publication—communication, zeal/attitude, teamwork, networking, and problem-solving/critical thinking—is the focus of activity in this section, but within a larger context. This is due to the fact that professionalism requires the blending and integration of many different skills, rather than just one.

Other Opportunities for Youth to Learn Soft Skills

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) and other planning tools used by a young person’s school, such as the Individualized Learning Plan (ILP), may be useful resources for goal-setting during the high school transition planning process to pay the bills. Soft skill development can be incorporated as one of the objectives in a student’s planning and transition tools by parents and other responsible adults in the child’s life.

Making sure that children access, understand, and participate in their career interest assessments as well as career exploration and practical work experiences during their high school years are other ways that parents can assist their children in developing fundamental employment skills, including soft skills. Work or volunteer experience are other ways to conduct this research. According to research, even for special populations, having work experience while in high school—whether it be paid or unpaid—helps young people land jobs with higher pay after they graduate.

Classroom instruction and professional experience are two frequently used strategies for fostering opportunities for soft-skill to pay the bill for experiential learning. This approach modifies certain aspects of the classroom environment where general education or hard skills are being taught to workforce entry-level students in order to simulate the workplace. This method gives the teacher control over the teaching agenda, provides an authentic context for teaching and practicing soft skills, and creates a classroom environment that benefits from the students’ improved soft skills. In most of the United States, job-related skills are taught in classroom settings. Employment and training programs run by the Department of Labor. Additionally, it serves as the venue for teaching high school students across the educational systems of the country.

Federal Programs and Toolkits Aimed at Teaching Soft Skills to pay the bills:
U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration

  • Federal grants to states for public employment service programs, unemployment insurance benefits, and programs for job training and worker relocation are all administered by this department of labor agency. State and local workforce development systems predominately offer these services.
  • This toolkit includes a number of worksheets to help young people figure out how to address their career goals and develop soft skills.
  • These resource centers, which are supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, work to improve the capacity of people with developmental disabilities to exercise greater choice and self-determination and participate in leadership activities in their communities.

How Can You Pay Your Bills Effectively?

You can stop paying the bills late by following the advice on our list. Let’s take a look.

Sign Up for Auto Pay

skills to pay the bills

Most of your recurring monthly expenses, including your utilities, mortgage, auto loan, etc.—provide you with the option of having the amount you owe automatically deducted from a designated bank account. Automate it to simplify the process to pay the bills.

Schedule Bill-Paying Time

As you would with appointments for the gym or work meetings, block off time on your calendar each month to dedicate to paying bills. You can greatly reduce your likelihood of forgetting a due date by scheduling a regular time to pay the bills.

Create a Bill-Paying Location

When you get home from work, it’s easy to forget and miss the payment due date by throwing a bill on the kitchen counter or stuffing it into your purse or briefcase. A convenient location to store and pay your bills should be found.

Include everything you’ll need for the procedure in it, such as a computer and internet access (if you use financial software or pay bills online), a checkbook, stamps, pens, envelopes, and a filing system to keep track of your paid statements. You’ll have a cozy, practical place to pay your bills when the time comes to pay the bills.

Use Financial Software With Automatic Bill-Paying Reminders

Both Microsoft Money and Quicken have tools that can remind you of upcoming bill due dates days or even weeks in advance.

Consolidate Bills

Imagine you have cable TV, phone, and internet access from the same company. Why not try billing consolidation to pay for all of the services you receive in one monthly statement rather than three separate monthly bills? By doing that, you’ll be less likely to forget a deadline to pay the bills.

Organize Paper Bills

Your bills should be organized by the due date. Make it a habit to mark the due date on a bill as soon as you open it by circling or underlining it, then writing the date on your calendar. You might want a desk filing system where you can arrange bills according to due dates so you have a quick visual reminder of which bills need to be paid next.

Sign Up to Receive Bills Or Bill Reminders Via Email

Take advantage of email. Check to see if your creditors offer online bill payment reminder services, or go paperless and have your bills sent to you electronically via email. Use the bill or reminder as a prompt to log into your bank account and pay the bill as soon as you receive it. This will help you to avoid missing the due date to pay the bills.

Use Your Phone to Pay

It is frequently free or only slightly expensive for account holders to pay their bills by phone. Consider paying your bills over the phone if you frequently pay them late. The fee for the phone payment service will probably be less than the late fee.

Give Your Payment Time to Arrive

To learn how many days in advance they suggest sending payment, check your statement or get in touch with your creditors. Knowing how long it will take for your creditor to receive and process the payment is crucial, particularly if you are sending it in close to a holiday or weekend. Instead of mailing the check a day or two late, you want to meet or beat the deadline to pay the bills.

Learn Your Billing Cycle

Review several months’ worth of paid bill statements, then make a list of the bills in the usual due order. You’ll probably notice that your due dates fall into one of two categories: those that are due earlier in the month (for example., the 5th) and those due later in the month (e.g., the 20th).

Pay the bills that must be paid by the time of your next paycheck as soon as you receive your paycheck. You should speak with your creditors to reschedule a few of your payments if you don’t have enough money in your account to pay all of the bills that are normally due before your next paycheck.

Pay Your Bills in Advance

Do you have the ability to pay your bills in advance? Yes, prepaying your bills could help you avoid the costly late fees if you struggle to make your payments on time. You can build credit by paying the bills in full in advance with many creditors.

Consider prepaying one or more of your recurring bills if your income is inconsistent or if you find that you have some extra money. Then, for a few months, you won’t need to be concerned about payment deadlines. Simply keep an eye on your monthly statements to determine when you should start making payments once more.

Better Interest Rates

In addition to improving your credit score, paying your bills on time will also result in financial savings. You will not be assessed a late fee or penalty, which can be as high as $35, when you pay the bills on time, in addition to receiving lower interest rates on your credit accounts.

You won’t need to be concerned about causing an increase in interest rates. You should read the fine print, especially on your credit card agreements, as the business may reserve the right to significantly increase your interest rate (for instance, from 2.9% to more than 20%) for making even one late payment. Additionally, since interest is calculated daily on your account, the sooner you make your payment, the less interest you’ll have to pay.

Raise Your Credit Score

Paying your bills on time is important for a number of reasons. To begin with, it can raise your credit score and help you build a solid credit history. The three major credit bureaus Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax receive information from your creditors when you pay your bills on time. Your credit score is more likely to increase the more frequently you pay the bills on time.

In order to decide whether to approve your application, how much credit to extend (such as for a mortgage loan or line of credit), and how much interest to charge, prospective creditors will look at your credit report and credit score. Your chances of receiving approval for future credit applications—and receiving them at a lower interest rate—increase with your credit history and score.

Conclusion

Here are six soft ways to pay the bills for you. Try implementing just one or two of the suggestions to get started, then add a few more as you develop a routine and prioritize paying the bills. You’ll have more faith in your capacity to control your finances and save money at the same time.