Definitely makes you think about things you don't normally worry about.

We only pay one bill with autopay, the internet, but that is the only way they accept payment. I much prefer the old fashion way of paying by mail.

I NEVER trust cell phone companies, utilities, loan companies enough to come near my bank account. Too many computer errors for my liking. I've had a cell phone carrier actually double-dip on a bill. When I complained, they told me that they'd just apply it to the next month and not to worry about it. I was livid! After speaking with a supervisor, they reversed it and I was able to eat that week.

I do have one bill automatically coming out, my car/renter's insurance. That's for the discount and I have had a great experience with them. I also don't use checks.

Although I do make some payments online I never autopay. I want to SEE my bills every month, to make sure they are precise.

An other problem with autopay is if you have an emergency and need to take money out of an account, and then forget you scheduled a payment. Then you have overcharges, and other bank issues. I have never bounced a check in my life, so I keep this up by viewing my bills before paying.

If we hadn't done this, we would have had no idea one of our kids was texting more than 100 times a day! This was before we had unlimited texting on our phones. Wow, was My Man angry. But, we never would have known if we had autopaid our cell phone bill.

As for what not to keep in your wallet, I agree with most of it. With the exception of gift cards. I'll lose them if I don't put them in my wallet. And with my health, I never know how long I'll be able to stay out when I DO get out, so if I get to a store which I have a gift card for, I'm glad its already in my wallet.

Good articles, though.

I avoid autopay like the plague. I've seen how many of these companies nickel and dime you to death and hope you just pay without going over the bill in detail.

I think my life insurance payment comes out of my checking account automatically, and the cell phone and storage go on the credit card automatically. I have them go on the card because that way if there is an error of some kind, I still have my money to use while it gets cleared up. That and when we set the payments up we were putting all of my money towards the credit card payments and figured that since it's getting paid that way, then whatever. Now I pay the card off every week or two, and still get the points from purchases lol.

I think the only one's that we have come out automatically are our auto loans, and that was so we could get a discount on the apr. We also trust the company fully, so no worries there. We did some other bills auto pay a while ago, but too often they were being payed the day of or even late, and we didn't like that.

I had to set my DirecTV payment to automatic payment so I would get the free HD service. They email me my statement every month about 3 weeks before my bill is due, though, so I am able to look over my bill before it charges to my bank account.

As for the other article, I don't keep a lot of that stuff in my purse or wallet. I never carry cash. My phone and any receipts I get go in my pants pockets. I do carry one gift card in my wallet at all times, though it is empty most of the time. I get a 10 cent discount per gallon of gas I buy with it, so I just refill it when I am getting gas.

Verizon. They added stuff to our bill without our permission...and never even bothered to notify us. We just happened to notice it while looking over the itemized statement one day.

I NEVER use auto-pay. I want to know what I'm paying for before I spend the money!

The only auto-pay I ever used was Verizon because they texted me when my bill was ready, and then text me a few days later when the payment was taken from my account. Sadly, I no longer qualify (their system won't accept my new debit card info, so it gets an error each month, which they read as my bank declining - very frustrating!).

I'm trying to be good and pay bills as soon as they come in the mail, but I'm a forgetful person. I'd like to not have to rely on auto-pay in the future.

I have never used auto pay. I like to see what is coming in and going out of my account.

Utilities, cell phone, and credit card, just so you can double check that there aren't any changes or surprise charges you should be aware of.