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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

over paid then paid less etc etc

53 replies

kennyp · 01/12/2015 18:28

i do a woman's ironing. usually £6-£8 worth a week. she never pays me teh right amount. she gives me a tenner and then says "oh good. i get credit". so i am ending up doing her ironing some weeks and getting paid £1.20 or something ridiculous (as she's overpaid me the week before). it was recently 80p.

yesterday i had had enough when she gave me a tenner and asked her to pay me the actual amount. i said that it's crazy that some weeks she pays me £1.20 for ironing which takes me an hour, etc. if work overpaid me one month and then paid me less the next it'd be equally as irritating.

i text her 12-18hours before she gets the ironing to let her know what the cost is. i don't think i'm being unreasonable to ask her to give me the correct money. she knows every week that she'll have to pay me. but if i am being an unreasonable old bag then i'll accept it (aaaggghhhh!!!)

i'm not a registered business doing ironing. she's a friend of a friend etc.

OP posts:

Aliceinwonderlust · 01/12/2015 19:30

I would find this really irritating and if, overall, money is very tight then it will make it hard to budget.
But I agree, you need to carry change. Just give her the change do she's paid the right amount.

The problem with this sort of thing is you pay someone to do ironing to make your life easy but sometimes it also just adds another job to your list ie make sure you have change for ironing. I find if its not easy as possible i start to think may as well do it myself

Gazelda · 01/12/2015 19:36

It seems a bit odd to fall out with a client because you want her to give you the correct money rather than you giving her change.

Surely this is easily solved by one of the suggestions above?

whois · 01/12/2015 19:39

Just take some change with you, a couple of £1 and 50ps and price in 50p increments. Job. Done.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 01/12/2015 19:43

I don't get your issue at all. Just keep a record of what she pays you every week, against what she is due to pay you.

I used to take in ironing, I loved it.

Littlef00t · 01/12/2015 19:45

Just bring change?!

AyeAmarok · 01/12/2015 22:24

You should be bringing change with you if you are charging in pences, eg 1.20 etc.

Or are you just pissed off because you want to keep the change as a tip and her to pay you a tenner a week?

Original poster

kennyp · 01/12/2015 22:28

thanks for answers.

if i was paying someone for a service cash in hand i'd pay her the correct amount. not faff about with giving her a tenner one week and a pound the next. not how i've ever been paid before when it's been cash. i use the mony to pay for lunch at work and am on a budget (like the rest of the world) and being over paid one week and then the difference gets right on my tits. but it looks like i am being unreasonable so will take it on the chin (with an iron, most likely)

OP posts:

Fratelli · 01/12/2015 22:31

Jesus just take change.

lougle · 01/12/2015 22:45

Just don't spend the extra money from week 1, then you'll have it ready on week 2!

HappenstanceMarmite · 01/12/2015 23:08

Just don't spend the extra money from week 1, then you'll have it ready on week 2!

This ^

ChristmasEvePJs · 01/12/2015 23:22

Sadly your inability to budget is more of the issue that her lack of correct change.

Costacoffeeplease · 01/12/2015 23:45

This reminds me of a school friend who couldn't get to grips with giving change - so if you give me £5, but I give you 50p, I've still got £5. Yes but you haven't got 50p - repeat ad infinitum

BeanGirls · 02/12/2015 08:59

Perhaps she could do her own ironing.

Then you'd be out of a job!

Enjolrass · 02/12/2015 09:10

i use the mony to pay for lunch at work and am on a budget

so if you spend, say £2 per day on lunch , spend that.

The week you get more still spend £2 and you will have spare.

It's called budgeting. It sounds like if the money is in your pocket you spend and are not budgeting.

PrettyBrightFireflies · 02/12/2015 09:15

As you so rightly point out, she's paying you cash in hand. This is not a formal arrangement at a fixed price.

You trust her to recompense you at a specific rate but there's no contract or guarantees and I assume you're not insured - so she has to trust that you won't ruin her clothes or do a runner.

Be grateful that she's not short changing you - if she offered you less one week, saying that's all she had to give you, what would you do?

TheSecondViola · 02/12/2015 09:19

CHANGE! Aren't you listening to anyone?

TheWildRumpyPumpus · 02/12/2015 09:24

How weird is this thread?

You do £6 worth of ironing. She hands you a tenner. You (knowing she never has change) have gone prepared with some coins and hand back £4 change.

All sorted.

You seem to think that she is choosing how much she wants to pay you each week, which isn't the case at all.

Aliceinwonderlust · 02/12/2015 09:42

Prettybrightfireflies I don't understand your post at all. What does insurance have to do with it? Insurance doesn't pay out for ruined clothes or runners. And being paid cash doesn't mean you don't had a formal arrangement. It's just method of payment, it doesn't negate anything else.

Aliceinwonderlust · 02/12/2015 09:42

It's seems like you're saying when you pay cash you can do what you like, which is odd

PrettyBrightFireflies · 02/12/2015 10:45

Not at all, alice - just highlighting the inherent risks associated with "cash in hand" on both parties.

Things could be a lot worse for the OP than being paid upfront for future weeks work - she could return the ironing only to be told that she's not going to be paid at all! No contract, no formal business arrangement - the end result is no work lunches for the OP!

Because of the informal nature of the arrangement, the person who is paying the OP upfront is incurring far more risk than she (the OP) is - whose to say the OP has to agree to do the ironing next week, that has already been paid for?

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 02/12/2015 10:53

I see you have another job. Presumably one where you earn over £2,500 per annum?

In which case I'm wondering how you will manage your tax return when you can't manage not to spend £4 for one week. If you pay basic rate tax how do you manage not to spend the 20% tax you owe on your additional income?

Do you keep basic cash accounts? ie money in vs money out and net profit?

SpendSpendSpend · 02/12/2015 11:09

Jesus christ!!! You are making this such a big deal for such a very small issue.

Just give her change.

Also your ironing rates are very cheap

PrettyBrightFireflies · 02/12/2015 11:27

I think the OPs rates reflect the fact that she's charging mates rates as its a friend of a friend and that she is not a "registered business" as she puts it.

I suspect that means she's not registered as self-employed, and does not pay tax on her earnings. Which is all fine unless she gets caught, or something else goes wrong.

Pippa12 · 02/12/2015 11:47

Anyway- off topic, I wish I could find someone to do my ironing for £6 Your post is very odd tho. You just sound like you don't like your client/ job very much and picking fault.

RobotLover68 · 02/12/2015 12:04

sorry don't understand this at all - I'm a sports coach and get paid for a lesson with cash - sometimes the client doesn't have the exact cash so pay a bit extra on account or they give me double and say "that's for next week's lesson" This doesn't mean the following week when I'm doing the lesson I'm not being paid!

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