As I’ve gotten older and technological advances have been made, I have read a lot of personal finance articles, both on the Internet and through magazines and newspapers.

I use the MS Money software program to keep track of all of my finances, and I use my bank’s free e-bill paying service.  As soon as I have the chance to sort through the daily mail, I enter all of the bills (and incoming checks) into my MS Money program, and if there is a bill to be paid I use the Internet e-bill payment program to order the bill paid before the due date.  I enter the bill as paid in my MS Money program, and write it in my manual checkbook.

This is a great way to make sure that bills are paid on time.

When I was a teenager, I opened a checking account, and a savings account.  When I was buying my first car, I needed my parents to co-sign a loan for me.  Those were my first attempts at establishing a credit history for myself.  I always paid the car loan on time, and within a few months I applied for a credit card in my name.

I always made sure that I never charged more money on my credit card than what I was going to be able to pay off in full when the bill came.  As soon as the bill came, I paid it immediately, so as to make sure that I would not forget to pay it by the due date.  I balanced my checkbook faithfully as soon as the statement came in.