Mail when short timing

[Clarkie46]

I tried to search archives but found nothing, so forgive me if this is an old and well-worn topic. How do people handle mail when traveling for just a few months? We're mostly concerned about bills.

 

I'm assuming that a mail forwarding service wouldn't make sense for that brief period of time. And we're just not going to use on-line bill payment. Do you estimate and pay in advance? Or do you call customer service at the companies you'll need to be paying and use a credit card? Or...?

 

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

Clark

[LFDR3116]

I think most everyone either uses bill pay online, or sets up automatic payments to their credit card. You will also then need to see your credit card statement so you can pay them. Easiest way to to sign up for online statements and payments. As far as your mail, because you will be traveling and not in one spot, it would probably be easiest to have a friend or relative pick up your mail and then when you stop somewhere for a few days have them send it general delivery to the post office where you are at. You should go to the post office first to inquire if they will accept general delivery. Most will, but some have paperwork to fill out, some don't so best to see how that particular post office wants to handle it.

[trailertraveler]

You can view and even download your credit card and other statements like Verizon, Comcast, Kohls, Sears, etc. online. Instead of giving them your banking information, check to see if your bank or credit union will pay the bills electronically. I even pay my Part B Medicare premium this way rather than trust the government with my banking information. My credit union has this service and will pay the amount that I specify on the day I specify. I have been pay almost all our recurring bills this way for over ten years.

[skp51443]

I am not a fan of having every company I deal with having access to my banking account so I do not use their auto-pay from a bank account options.

 

Having the folks you deal with charge your credit card automatically is better but I prefer to use my bank's bill pay option so that nobody beut me and the bank have control of my account information and cash.

 

If you don't mind the effort you can rack up some points or cash rebates by going on-line and paying your bills via your credit card, gives you another few weeks to actually pay out the money too. I'm more than happy to see the Purchase Rebate line on my credit card statement with a nice big number.

 

Only drawback to on-line payments are security problems in connecting to the companies and your bank, that is discussed in a couple other topics around here that would be worth looking into. Basically keep your computer cootie free and stay away from iffy WiFi when making payments.

[SWharton]

We have everything automatically deducted or charged if at all possible. Started this 25 years ago and have never had a problem. My biggest frustration is the medical profession. For whatever reason they insist upon sending paper bills and then I need to logon to pay them(if available). I have asked at doctors offices as to why and no one seems to know an answer. Probable some ancient practice.

[dzwiss]

When we were long timing, before we sold our house, we used Escapees mail service. While we were away from home we had our mail forwarded to our Escapees address then reforwarded (if that is a word) to the current location.

[SWharton]

X2. The mail service makes the mail situation so much easier.

[coachmac9]

I'm not sure there is another option for "short timing" ...we pay most of our bills on-line and have our mail sent to our daughter's address...we have started a fun thing with our grandson (8 years old). We have "hired" him to ride down to the mail box on his bike, get the mail and sort it into two stacks. One box for Nana and Pops mail and the other box for their mail and we pay him a small allowance to do it. He was excited to have a "job" and get paid "real money" and we get our mail sorted!!

[skp51443]

Medical billing falls under a bunch of federal rules that make doing a lot of stuff on-line difficult.

[Wheeldog]

We snow bird in AZ during the winter (around 5 months). Our friend forwards our mail. My wife makes up envelopes with prepaid postage and it gets mailed out every week. We prepay our utilities before we leave, so no bills there. Other payments like pickup are on automatic withdraw from our bank account. We set up the automatic payments so we have control of them through our bank. Not going to give any company access to any of our bank accounts to withdraw $$$.

 

Most companies, credit card etc will dual bill......as in notify you by email when a bill is due and send a paper bill. If you don't want to pay on line you can mail a check when you get a notice in your email.

 

 

[SWharton]

Stan,

 

I can make appts on line, looks a lab results on line, converse with my doctor via email, pay my medical bills on line, order rx renewals on line but I can't receive a bill online..........................

[Clay L]

We used the USPS mail forwarding service to a commercial mail forwarding service. The post office will forward mail for 6 months with an option (can be done on-line) to continue for another 6 months. We told the mail service where and when to send our mail. Usually had it sent every two weeks.

[Clarkie46]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions!

I think we'll end up doing a combination of things: pre-paying some bills, and with others calling the company each month to get the bill amount and authorizing a debit payment.

[SWharton]

Be prepared for not having cellphone service............

[LindaH]

This is what *we* do.

 

We have an Escapees mail forwarding address and when we get ready to head south in the fall, I put in a temporary change-of-address with the USPS. All of our mail is forwarded to the Escapees address and I send an email with instructions when we want to receive it.

 

I have all of our accounts set up with paperless billing...I receive an email when the billing statement is ready, I go to the site and download the statement to my computer. All of our bills are either set up to charge to one of our credit cards, our checking account, or I go online and pay the bill at the company's website.