With the current technology that we have, it is good to utilize them as they make life easier for us. But when the time comes that it malfunctions (come on, technology has its bugs), just remember that you always should have a back-up plan, or in short – push the red button on emergency exit.

Here’s a real-life story of how a stay at home mom managed to save $576 in NSF fees. I’m glad that she was able to incredibly cancel all of the automated payments for 16 bills. Now that’s a lot of transactions and to remember lots of logins and passwords, dealing with technical difficulties and try back later messages, she was still able to save the day. Wow, you deserve a pat on your back for doing a terrific job on saving your budget from the penalties.

Moral of the story: I think that this is a very good example that we should not depend on technology and especially put all of our transactions automated. Who knows when there would be a sudden general power surge or even a black out. Though it is good to make a few transactions automatically get paid, you must always have a backup amount of money in your account.

Especially if you have it fixed every month, it would be wise to have an untouched balance to assure you that your bills get paid on time even though your paycheck gets delayed.

What about you? Got any interesting stories to say? Comments and suggestions are also welcome.