Do you have debt payments that you have to make each month? If so, you are like millions of Americans out there who have bills to pay every single month. Some bills are important, and other bills might be worth not paying right off the bat. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay all your bills, just that some are more vital than others. How do you go about prioritizing your bills?
Think about what your life would be like without each service that you have to pay for. If the lights go out, do you have another way to see? If your electric goes out, how are you going to keep the house warm? How are you going to keep your food fresh in the fridge? What would happen if you didn’t pay the rent and got kicked out of your house? Whatever services are the most vital are the ones you should pay first.
This doesn’t mean you should blatantly skip out on your cell phone bill just because you have a landline phone. No, your credit will be dinged just the same, besides, you should always pay your bills, or not use the service. However, not having a cell phone isn’t of vital importance. You can use a regular phone, buy a prepaid cell, or you can simply use a pay phone if you need to make a call.
Is a car payment important? It really depends on what other modes of transportation you have. If you got your car repossessed, would you be able to get to work? Unless you could easily walk to work, or there are buses nearby, you should make sure that your car is paid each month. That also means you should keep up with the car insurance payment.
Student loans should be of utmost importance. You cannot default on your student loans, so make sure you are paying those loans off as best you can. Even if you go bankrupt, you cannot avoid paying off your student loans, so those should be a priority for you at all times.
Prioritizing your payments really depends on how vital each item is. You need a house, you need to keep the lights on and you need to have transportation. On the other hand, you don’t vitally need a cell phone and you don’t need to have an expensive cable package. Let that be your guide when trying to figure out which payments should be made right away, and which ones can slide a little.