At Girlboss, we're big believers in working smarter with your money, not harder. And one of the easiest wins? Getting your bills on autopay. Sure, you know your bills can be automated. But maybe you're not sure if they should be. Or you have some on autopay and others on vibes: a few through your debit card, some on a credit card, one mysteriously still getting mailed. There's no real system holding it together.
Whatever your automation level right now, you know one thing: it's time to tackle this once and for all.
"The good thing is you know you're going to pay your bills on time," says Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together. "But if you are living paycheck to paycheck, automating your bills could cause you to overdraw your account and, depending on your bank, force you into an overdraft fee."
That's the last thing you want. But autopay can also let you go on autopilot, which is both the point and the risk. Besides potential overdrafts, you could miss incorrect charges without realizing it until the money is already gone.
"I was charged $1,300 for my electric bill — something that's typically between $50 and $110. If that bill had automatically come out of my checking account, that would have caused problems for me." — Erin Lowry
That said, those situations are rare and very avoidable with a quick monthly glance. And the upside? Automating can actually save you money. Some companies, especially student loan lenders and phone carriers, offer a small discount when you enroll in autopay. Others do the same when you opt into paperless billing, which pairs naturally with automation and keeps alerts in your inbox so you can catch anything off before it becomes a problem.
Ultimately, bill autopay is the first step toward automating your entire financial life. It sets the groundwork for automating your savings, which is genuinely a game-changer. "Most people think of saving as an abstract, like 'OK, whatever's left over at the end of the month, I'll save,'" says Priya Malani of Stash Wealth. "But if you haven't automated it, guess what? There's going to be nothing left over to save at the end of the month."
If you haven't mastered bill automation yet, you can dip your toe into savings automation with Oportun (formerly the app Digit). It analyzes your cash flow and automatically moves small, safe amounts from your checking into savings without you lifting a finger.
"It's actually one of our favorite tools for people who are like, 'Hell no, there is no money for me to save,'" says Malani. "But then a couple months go by, and they're like, 'Holy shit! I have $500 in my savings.'" Worth noting: Oportun now charges $5/month, so factor that in. But for anyone who finds saving feels impossible, many find it worth every cent.
First things first, though: get your bills automated. With some careful planning and a few smart moves, you can avoid the downsides and reap all the rewards. Here's everything you need to consider.
Determine if You Can Afford to Automate
"Before you automate your financial life, you need to know exactly what all of your bills are from month to month and if you can afford to automate them," says Lowry. Add up every monthly bill, average out the ones that vary, and pay close attention to any that fluctuate more than a few dollars. Then get a clear picture of your total monthly number.
Build in at least a $100 cushion on top of that, more if your bills swing significantly. A cushion doesn't mean you can go full autopilot. Stay hands-on, especially at first, and check your balance regularly. Think of it as supervised automation until you've got the rhythm down.
Put as Many Bills as You Can on One Credit Card
If you're confident you can charge bills to a credit card and pay it off in full every month, do it. It dramatically cuts down on the number of due dates you're juggling, and it's an easy way to rack up reward points or cash back on money you were spending anyway.
Not every bill can go on a card (rent and utilities are often the exceptions), but plenty can: streaming subscriptions, gym memberships, your phone bill, cloud storage, and any other recurring charges that hit monthly.
Consider a Checking Account Just for Bills
A separate bill-pay checking account isn't essential, but it can be incredibly helpful. It draws a clean line between spending money and bill money, which matters a lot if you've ever accidentally spent money earmarked for rent. No judgment, it happens.
Ellie Thompson, CEO of Money Therapy, says many banks now offer accounts designed exactly for this. "There are hassle-free accounts that allow you to empty it out every month and start over again the next month. This allows you to plan for your bills instead of receiving an alert that you may not have enough money to pay them off."
Freelancer or variable income? This step is especially important if your paycheck isn't the same every month. Keeping bill money in a dedicated account means a slow month doesn't spiral into missed payments. Try calculating your average monthly bills and keeping that amount as a standing floor in the account.
Optimize Due Dates for All Your Bills
Once you've sorted your accounts, list out all your due dates and check whether they actually work with your cash flow. If you're paid biweekly and rent is due on the first, it might make more sense to cluster the bulk of your bills just after your mid-month paycheck.
Yes, you'll probably need to log into each company separately to request a date change. Not the most thrilling afternoon, but most will accommodate the request, and you only have to do it once.
Once you do, Lowry recommends scheduling payments a couple of business days after your pay date. "That way you can be sure everything actually cleared in your account, because you don't want money that hasn't been deposited yet being pulled out."
Link Accounts and Schedule Payments
This is the step that makes it all real. There are two main ways to do it: set up recurring payments directly on each company's website or through your bank's bill pay portal. The second option takes a little more setup but shows everything in one place, a bird's-eye view of every bill and when it's scheduled to leave your account.
Make sure everything is set as a recurring payment, not a one-time payment, and double-check every due date before you consider it done. Once everything is confirmed and scheduled, your bills are automated. Yay!
Now sit back and watch, or better yet, not watch, your bills get handled.
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