Does anyone else hate payday?

[cjt110]

I know it sounds random but I hate it. It gives me anxiety and makes me feel like it's a bloody military manouvere. Moving money to different accounts for things. Remembering if I have used my DD card in the last few days to account for it. Budgeting for the month ahead. And I always fall on my arse a few days before payday.

How do you all manage? I used to be great with finances but then it's all just gone a bit shit.

Justaboy It's just shit. To be honest it's probably mostly food!

I hate the fact that everything is mentally spent before the money lands!

Yes Shoulda

I'm trying to think ahead and be good and save for Christmas etc but it never happens.

It's our wedding anniversary on Friday and my parents have offered to have our son so we can go out for a meal. Problem is, that costs, We never go out for meals so as a matter of principle, we would like to go out. But in reality - it's what £20-£30 each.. Thats a lot of my budget for the month.

Thats a really good example with the coffees Wombling Three I don'#t buy them but I'm sure I could find something I do buy instead.

Today for instance, I went to Asda and bought Jacket potatoes for next 2 days lunches. 3 packs of Alpen bars for breakfasts. Some babybel for lunches. Toothpaste. Cream. Scones and a toothbrush for DS. That's £9.41 essentially gone poof for nothing

The only thing I hate about payday is waking up to a nice amount of money in my bank account only to see the majority of it go out in direct debits not long after.

Slightly different to you OP as I'm self employed so have no 'payday'- I get paid when my clients pay me which is difficult.

I hate 'bills' day. Used to be absolutely fantastic when I was in employment and when I was self employed with only 1 little one at home during the day as I billed out a lot more but not we are all living month to month- bills due tomorrow and I have £3 before I'm over my overdraft!

cjt110 that’s where getting organised with the shopping would save you. Presumably the “big shop” comes out of the joint/family/household money? So you need to make sure you have all that sort of thing planned and added in.

When I worked and passed the supermarket most days, I spent loads on bits and bobs. Now I’m housebound I have to plan more carefully and make sure I’ve got everything in the big shop, which has the added bonus of saving my money as it comes off the household budget.

OP - please stop being harsh on yourself. If no-one has taught you how to manage money or budget then it's not a skill you have - yet!

Start with writing down everything you have spent and look for patterns, if buying food for work lunches is the problem area then address this. By becoming more organised with your weekly lunches, you can include these ingredients in the weekly shop and avoid going to the supermarket ad hoc which is often when you will see and buy other things.

When it comes to savings, I identify an amount that I can save (without leaving myself short for essentials) and this money is transferred straight out of account soon after being paid.

You don't need an expensive money management package, Excel can do the job fine. You need the clarity to know what you are spending on and then the discipline to change your habits. Good luck.

When I worked and passed the supermarket most days, I spent loads on bits and bobs This with bells on.

Thank you poppy

As others have said, you need to record and analyse your spending. There's a book-keeping system called VT which has a free downloadable cash book - it's aimed at small businesses but does have a "household" set of account codes aimed at normal people rather than businesses. Far better than a spreadsheet as it's a database system so far easier to use. You can set up all your separate bank accounts to keep track of your transfers and once it's all set up, you can see at a glance what balances you have in each bank and credit card account. Once you've been running it a few months, you can see where the money is going and once you know, you can then evaluate how you can reduce your costs. It's the chaos and lack of control that's the problem usually - get in control and then you can concentrate on making the finances better.

It's literally track of my spends I need.

Have downloaded a app which lets me record my spends. I must be disciplined and write things down. A pound or two here and there soon adds up.

Thanks for the advice offered. I am happy to take more advice if it's there.

How would you budget for a meal out (anniversary meal this month) and also Christmas?

What a load of crap. People who live month to month, don't routinely spend money on stuff for their house or holidays people who are truly skint are trying to afford food
Op yabu your a pretentious twit who needs to have a reality check

rightnowimpissed Perhaps the wrong term to use but I live, with the money I have, month to month. There's not any of my money left at the end of each month and I'd like to try and sort this out. Nothing pretentious about that.

Do you have any good advice?

@rightnowimpissed that’s a bit harsh. The OP has realised she’s got a spending problem and is asking for help to address it.

It’s a sad fact that lots of people haven’t been brought up with how to budget. Budgeting isn’t just for the poverty stricken, it’s something everyone should learn about. Everyone should have a budget, it’s the amounts available that vary.

Now I've seen everything.

Hating payday. WTF. I got made redundant a few months ago. Payday is a thing of the past. Think how scary that is to have no payday at all.

NikiBabe Yes I've been there too with £20 to spend for shopping for two of us or a week. I think that's partly where my fear stems from. I'vbe been on my arse buying 10p tins of mixed beans from B&M trying to figure a meal to make with them.

That's why I'm so cross because I've done it before, £40 a fortnights shop for 2 of us and made it last. Now I fritter money away and it's a shit annoying habit.

We used to be hopeless with money (more DH than me) & had a LOT of debt & were in the overdraft constantly. We basically had to completely change our habits so originally we worked on paying off debt, then when that was more manageable, we started saving as well. & rather than putting into savings at the end of the month, we put money into savings at the start of the month & worked with what was left.

Take whatever cash you need for the day, maybe £10 and leave your cards at home. No cards on you, no spending.

We don't have 'spends'. Everything goes in & out of one account except that dh does a small amount of self employed work so he has a business account where he saves his tax. All bills go out via direct debit. Everything is joint. If someone needs a larger item or something specific we may save for that particular item.

I don't have a credit card or overdraft. I've been there and it wasn't nice. I even give DH my joint card for our bank account because I've been known to spend money from there too.

It's like a compulsion to spend.

oddest Good suggestion about savings. I will take this up and move some funds there now.

I'd reduce the number of bank accounts. You need one joint account where everything gets paid in and your direct debits come out of. Then have joint savings accounts where you save for specific goals. We have savings accounts for holidays, rainy day, Christmas and we used to have one for a new car but we decided to be a one car family.

At the start of the month I take cash out and split it into weeks. We have six jars. You can use envelopes. Each week the money goes into the jar, each jar representing a spend category. We have food, health and beauty, family fun, transportation, home maintenance (this is stuff like a new mop, microwave etc) and a misc jar for things like gifts and other stuff. The goal is to get to the end of the week before you get to the end of the jar. Every single purchase must be written down. You can move money between jars during the week. You can't spend money from the next week but can save money up from prior weeks to purchase something.

Having cash made it easier for us. At first it felt cumbersome to write down every spend but it helped us be accountable. The amount we have saved is insane.

The other thing is we pay ourselves first. Savings go in at the start of the month.