There were Two Lines at the Supermarket
By hereandthere
@hereandthere (45628)
Philippines
January 2, 2017 5:15am CST
Happy New Year, Mylotters! 
I went to the big supermarket here this morning and there were long lines at the bills payment and money changing/money transfer counter.
Today, Jan. 2, was declared a non-working holiday, so I guess people are settling their utility bills and exchanging foreign currency or receiving money from loved ones as budget for the coming week when school and work resumes tomorrow.
Utility bills here used to mean just water, electricity and landline. Now, it seems to include post-paid mobile phone plans, cable and internet services.
Are you thinking about changing the way you pay your bills, loans, insurance, and other expenses this year?
What's your most efficient method?
(PS - I used Pixlr Express again to add borders and text to my personal picture.)
I went to the big supermarket here this morning and there were long lines at the bills payment and money changing/money transfer counter.
Today, Jan. 2, was declared a non-working holiday, so I guess people are settling their utility bills and exchanging foreign currency or receiving money from loved ones as budget for the coming week when school and work resumes tomorrow.
Utility bills here used to mean just water, electricity and landline. Now, it seems to include post-paid mobile phone plans, cable and internet services.
Are you thinking about changing the way you pay your bills, loans, insurance, and other expenses this year?
What's your most efficient method?
(PS - I used Pixlr Express again to add borders and text to my personal picture.)16 people like this
17 responses
@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
Some of my bills are auto-debited to my credit card and I pay my credit card online.
4 people like this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
and do you always pay it in full to avoid the interest and avail of the perks?
2 people like this
@sunrisefan (28524)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
@hereandthere Yes, I always pay in full :)
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
@sunrisefan one of the habits of financially-savvy people. 
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Jan 17
I have online bill pay services set up through my bank, so almost all my expenses are deducted automatically. And if I ever need to pay a bill that is net set up for auto bill pay, I simply use my bank's app on my smartphone to make the payment. Very simple and efficient.
3 people like this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
so you never lined up to pay cash, or wrote cheques before?
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
@moffittjc how do you make sure everything is secure online? like, what if you lost your phone?
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
2 Jan 17
@hereandthere Years ago I did, but it's been a really long time since I've had to do that.
2 people like this
@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
3 Jan 17
For those kinds of expenses, I guess it's one of three ways for us. Send by check. Pay online. Or the bank automatically deducts the amount from our account to be sent to whomever. What's my most efficient method? My husband takes care of all the bills 
.
.1 person likes this
@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
4 Jan 17
@hereandthere I guess for us it's just convenient and it got divided that way naturally. He takes care of all the financial stuff and I take of all the other family routine stuff (though of course we all take part in everything 
).
).1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
4 Jan 17
great setup! it's better to divide the tasks to what you're good at, what you like, or if it's part of your daily route.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
but did you pay in cash or cheques before?
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
@LadyDuck was it you who went to the bank all the time, even when you lived in other countries?
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502466)
• Italy
2 Jan 17
@hereandthere We never paid in cash or cheques, we paid through the bank, it was very simple, you gave the bills to your bank asking to pay debiting your account. Now I do the same using the computer.
1 person likes this
@AliCanary (4427)
•
2 Jan 17
Yes, there are a lot more utilities than there used to be. I have cable, internet, land line, cell phone, water, electricity, and gas.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
3 Jan 17
@AliCanary that's how it was with all the landlines we had when we were growing up. we can still use the phone to make calls. but now this new type of landline is also connected to the internet and cable.
1 person likes this
@AliCanary (4427)
•
2 Jan 17
@hereandthere - That is unusual--one of the things about landlines here is that they are almost never affected by power outages since they are on separate power lines. Makes it easy to report a power outage!
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
true. christmas and new year can be pretty expensive. hope yours wasn't.
1 person likes this
@allen0187 (59761)
• Philippines
3 Jan 17
Happy New Year @hereandthere ! Even though this is a belated greeting.
I'm thinking of making utility payments online but I have heard horror stories about payments not being posted properly which results in bigger problems so I'm sticking to just lining up and actually making payments over the counter. I just make sure that I schedule my payments during off-peak hours so there is hardly any line at all.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
4 Jan 17
better late than later! i don't do online payments or online shopping. i think it's helpful, though, if you travel a lot.
1 person likes this
@LovingMyBabies (85923)
• Valdosta, Georgia
2 Jan 17
Last year we used to always pay bills with cash or send a money order. This year I would like to open a checking account and have things taken out of my account directly so I won't have to worry if I forget or something.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
if groceries could be ordered online and delivered, would you avail of it?
@Jackalyn (7558)
• Oxford, England
3 Jan 17
@hereandthere No as I like to freeze cut price bargains and it is nice to get out and choose for myself.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
2 Jan 17
I want to pay OFF the credit card, hate the interest. Other than that, I just try to pay everything around the beginning of the month.
1 person likes this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
i had problems with credit cards before so i don't have them anymore. i hope you get to pay off yours soon.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
3 Jan 17
@hereandthere I dont mind having it, I just prefer to pay it off each month, but I have a ways to go sadly
1 person likes this
@CoolPeace (1563)
• Miami, Florida
2 Jan 17
Now many are using pay by phone or online to paid their bills because of these long lines.
1 person likes this
@toniganzon (77156)
• Philippines
2 Jan 17
I do my bills payment online. Most of them. It's easy to do that nowadays.
1 person likes this
@epiffanie (11327)
• Australia
8 Jan 17
Happy New Year! .. may your 2017 be safe and prosperous ..
We always pay online .. it's the best way to pay bills ..
We always pay online .. it's the best way to pay bills ..
