Comments on: How to Pay Bills During an Extended Absence

on 8/8/2006 If you're going to be away from your residence that long, chances are you've saved up enough for the long haul. Why not just pay your bills ahead of time? It's easy to figure out how much you usually pay per month for each bill, so on the last bill before you go, pay that extra amount. Virtually all collectors will let you do this, but be sure to pay a little more than the usual (say for your cell phone bill) so you don't have an oddly expensive bill that saps your credit line.
Also, have the post office, local newspaper and magazine subscriptions hold your mail until you return, instead of forwarding all of your mail to someone who probably has a lot of their own mail begin with.

on 11/22/2005 You can either pay all of your bills as you go by using Internet cafes (get a list before you depart) or schedule all of your monthly bills to be paid automatically before you leave. At the end, you will have a full accounting of what was sent.