Send automatic reminders to housemates to pay their bills
May 27, 2018 10:18 PM Subscribe
Is there an easy way I can schedule some sort of reminder to send to my forgetful housemates for bills.
I'm the main tenant of a four person sharehouse, and I collect the bills money and then pay the bills. Or that's how it's meant to be. Mostly I get some of the bills money and then have to bug one or two of them to pay me. They generally do immediately, and I'm set up to cover the difference, but I'm getting sick of constantly having to follow up. Other than rent, we have one monthly bill and three quarterly bills, and the dates for the quarterly bills change slightly each billing period.
Is there an easy way I can schedule an automatic email or text (or facebook message even) to three people to remind them a couple of days beforehand that a bill is due? I obviously give them as much notice as I can, but I'm hoping a follow up closer to the date may reduce the late payments (and reduce my grumpyness level). A recurring option would be great for the monthly bill. I'm in Australia, which I'm guessing will make a difference to the texts.
I'm the main tenant of a four person sharehouse, and I collect the bills money and then pay the bills. Or that's how it's meant to be. Mostly I get some of the bills money and then have to bug one or two of them to pay me. They generally do immediately, and I'm set up to cover the difference, but I'm getting sick of constantly having to follow up. Other than rent, we have one monthly bill and three quarterly bills, and the dates for the quarterly bills change slightly each billing period.
Is there an easy way I can schedule an automatic email or text (or facebook message even) to three people to remind them a couple of days beforehand that a bill is due? I obviously give them as much notice as I can, but I'm hoping a follow up closer to the date may reduce the late payments (and reduce my grumpyness level). A recurring option would be great for the monthly bill. I'm in Australia, which I'm guessing will make a difference to the texts.
Do you use splitwise? You can set up recurring payments, but it would require your housemates to turn on notifications.
posted by Grandysaur at 11:14 PM on May 27, 2018
posted by Grandysaur at 11:14 PM on May 27, 2018
Do they use online banking? Is there any feasibility to them setting up a recurring payment directly to your bank account for their share of the bills?
posted by Autumnheart at 11:38 PM on May 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Autumnheart at 11:38 PM on May 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Boomerang is an add-on for Gmail that lets you schedule messages for the future. It’s free for up to ten messages a month.
posted by nat at 12:15 AM on May 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by nat at 12:15 AM on May 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
IFTTT, which stands for "if this, then that," can be used to send out emails or texts on a given calendar day. You'll essentially tell IFTT to use whatever apps you already use (eg text app + calendar) to do a task you create. Does not require anyone else but you to have an IFTT account. Does not require you all to be using the same email client or calendar tool.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 6:27 AM on May 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 6:27 AM on May 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I've used both gmail and outlook for reminders and haven't had any issues sending reminders to other email types. Both allow for recurring events.
posted by bunderful at 8:10 AM on May 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bunderful at 8:10 AM on May 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
You can use Splitwise.com to list recurring bills and have reminders sent out automatically - not sure if it does text/Facebook messages. This will also make everyone's paid-up status visible to each other, which could be an advantage or drawback depending on the people involved.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 11:10 AM on May 28, 2018
posted by the agents of KAOS at 11:10 AM on May 28, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks for the ideas, for now I've gone with using my work outlook account and delaying emails till three days before it is due. I'm trying to work out the reminders option too.
IFTTT would have been great, but I can't seem to get it to send emails or messages to other people, only myself. Autopayment won't work for the quarterly bills, as the amount changes every time. Splitwise looks cool, but probably more than I'm willing to do right now.
posted by kjs4 at 10:45 PM on June 6, 2018
IFTTT would have been great, but I can't seem to get it to send emails or messages to other people, only myself. Autopayment won't work for the quarterly bills, as the amount changes every time. Splitwise looks cool, but probably more than I'm willing to do right now.
posted by kjs4 at 10:45 PM on June 6, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by redlines at 11:00 PM on May 27, 2018 [6 favorites]