do you have monthly direct debits or pay things quarterly?

[MrsLargeEmbodied]

even 6 monthly, annually?

i remember the bills being quarterly.
everything i pay is by monthly direct debit but i had a adult maths class teacher who pointed out it is better to have the money and pay quarterly rather than give it to the big companies,
works out cheaper i believe but you need to be able to afford it

Our electricity bill is quarterly, but I check the balance very frequently so I know what to expect. We’re electric only so no dual fuel discount and no DD discount, so it makes sense.

Monthly DD. Makes sense to me as can keep tracknl of money. Quarterly would throw me!

I think it harks back to pre DD. You wouldn't want to have to take a check in (there used to be gas shops!) Or post it every month!

I am very fortunate that I dont have rent or mortgage to pay the house is now paid for. My DH and each have bills that we pay for. I pay for the house insurance annually. My only other bills are electric, broadband and phone line and mobile. They are all in one combine bill.I may have a big bill one month to pay for the house insurance. But otherwise I have one DD every month that covers everything else.

Most bills are monthly but we pay car insurance annually in one go.

Most bills are monthly but a few things like car tax and insurance are 6 monthly or annually.

I find it easier to have everything the same each month on set days (start of the month after payday) so then I have my budget for the month.

We used to have quarterly energy bills and i found it harder to keep a strict budget

Whatever is cheapest. Some things monthly, but if there is a saving to be made by paying annually then we do that.

Our water bill is 6 monthly.
Our electricity & gas bill is monthly, pay on receipt of the bill.

Utility companies don't like it though.

The reason is because we can't afford sudden increases in direct debit payments as some utility companies have done recently.

I've made that mistake in the past where a company has completely irrationally increased my payments and were a pain to get lowered again.

Clearly the most expensive months are in winter (approx £150-170) so it's never a surprise and we budget as necessary and put money aside, but always nice when the summer bills come in (approx £50-£70).
And it feels better to know the money is 'resting' in my account and not Scottish Powers!

It also feels like we're more in control: tight month = use less gas.

But our choice to have more control means we can't get the cheapest tarrifs- they are only available to people who pay by DD.

*For now!

Mostly DD however I do pay home insurance and car insurance yearly. I even do my council tax over 12 months not 10 as that throws me off when I don’t see it come out of my account. X

I do yearly because it is cheaper.

I can't think of anything that's cheaper to pay quarterly.

You might gain a tiny amount of interest, but you'd lose the direct debit discount that a lot of companies give, or used to and you'd also miss out on the ability to pay the same amount every month and smooth higher winter bills over the whole year.

Plus if you're bad at budgeting, you're at risk of getting a high winter bill in February/March that you can't afford to pay.

By all means pay quarterly if it suits you, but I can't see the advantage to most people, who get paid monthly and then use part of their monthly salary to pay their bills for that month.

I pay annually for purchases, like home and motor insurance because I don't want to pay interest for those. Bills are all on monthly DD, which doesn't make any difference to the cost. I'm guessing the maths teacher was talking a long time ago, when you could actually earn interest on deposit accounts so it was with hanging on to your money for as long as you could.

Everything monthly, around the first day of the month. That way I know what I’ve got left.

Yes, car insurance is almost always cheaper to pay annually in one go, but not home insurance, which sometimes is and sometimes the same whether you pay by monthly direct debit.

I'll usually pay by monthly direct debit, unless there's a disadvantage, like car insurance.

We pay our council tax over 12 months on the last day of the month as it's my little act of rebellion to make the council wait as long as possible for their money - they offer this as a choice of payment method, so shouldn't offer it if they don't want people to take it up btw.

i think it is the principle of keeping the money for yourself rather than giving to the big companies.
it was 15 years ago - if that is what you mean by a long time?

Well 15 years ago was just before the 2007 crash when interest rates dropped from 5% or so to under 1% so you could get meaningful interest by leaving money in a savings account, so was worth doing at the time.

Not been the case for the last 10 year or so though.

Gas and electric are quarterly - I refuse to pay more than what I use. I have a smart meter and can check daily if I so wish what I’m using so no big shock. Council tax is 10 months. Insurance annual - cheaper. Rest is monthly on the first.

Car tax is annually but its only £30
Water, house insurance annual too

Everything else is monthly
Coal, gas, mobiles, BT, tv license, car insurance, save £X for tax return each month and Christmas.

Monthly. However, given my car insurance bill dropped by 50% when I changed insurer last year, I have a good chance of being able to save the "extra" this year and pay annually when it's due for renewal and thus save some money.

The only bill I pay quarterly is my professional body fee, and that is only because the option is quarterly by DD or annually when billed.
My billing date is 1st of January and I always worry about overlooking it.
Both DH and I get paid monthly so monthly bills make sense from a budgeting point of view.