According to Bankrate, "Legislation has virtually eliminated the grace period for bill payers." That means most check writers, especially the ones whose bill-paying schedules depend on payday schedules, are going to need to buy some "check floating" time to avoid bouncing checks and earning late fees.

Bankrate (via this handy AOL Money & Finance slideshow) is offering up six ways to buy that time. Some of them are pretty simple (Sign up for direct deposit), some are somewhat technical (Sign up for account alerts), while others are downright OCD (Customize your due dates). Color coding might help, as well.

If you ask me, No. Five is the way to go: Use online banking. You'll never bounce another check. The computer just won't let you.

B. Brandon Barker also writes for Political Machine.