My wife is so in tune with our finances, she would recognize just by the bank balance whether any monthly payment wasn't made. She'd ask why we have an extra $100-200 in our fluff money for the month, and go figure out what didn't get paid.

Now, to be fair, she is a CPA and that stuff takes no effort on her part. For many of us it's much more difficult. I understand this, but I have learned from her that it really is important. I do the admin and finances for a small three employee company we have and let me tell you from personal experience it can be expensive to miss payments.

I took over our own bookkeeping from an accounting firm and didn't get all the information changed over for the credit card billing. I never saw a bill, the firm never called me to tell me they received it, and I went along for two months before I thought about it. I called up the CC company and found thousands of dollars in fees not to mention the actual bill. It was a hard lesson learned and I paid for a portion of it out of my own income since there was no one else to eat it.

I do all the invoicing as well, so can also tell you from the other side that it is frustrating to have to repeatedly badger clients about payment. I sent a damn invoice, and you received it. I should not have to send statements every month reminding you that you should have already paid me.

Sure most of us don't need to check our bank account and reconcile everyday like my wife. But at least once a month you should sit down with ALL of your finances and look at your recent income and expenses. Have a checklist or even an actual budget for your regular income and your regular expenses :twocents: