To be worried about transitioning from weekly to monthly pay?

[novemberbluerain]

Obviously long term I'll be much better off but I am quite worried about this.

At the moment I am paid weekly. I don't earn a lot and so saving is difficult. Then I won't get paid for 2 weeks in December which means by the time I get paid for my new job it'll be the end of January.

Has anyone else had this? how did you manage? It's stressing me out quite a bit, silly really!

I had to make that transition once and it was stone soup for a couple of weeks but I got by. Are you also getting a pay rise as part of the change? Just changing the frequency won't leave you better off.

Wow wonder what the deleted message said? Yes, it's more money so that's really good! Also get paid for holidays and if I'm ill, which obviously I hope won't happen but good to know I won't be at a financial disadvantage if I do.

I went from weekly to monthly, and it took a bit of adjusting.
What I did was got my monthly pay, and opened a separate account, I then put my 'liveable and spendable money' into that and kept everything else in the main account.
I also found the first month very hard, so tried to live a bit more frugally in the run up, so I had a small buffer. It wasn't much, as I didn't have much. But even £7 from each weekly pay gave me £35 when the weekly stopped, which got me a very basic weekly shop- think tinned soup, basics bread etc. And meant I didn't start my month in negative figures.

Are you starting the job in December?

The one thing you can do is alter any direct debits or standing orders so that they won’t come out in January before you get paid .

The deleted message said you should work out your outgoings and income and see if you could manage for the month.

MNHQ as always seem to working to their own agenda and fuck knows what it is!

Thanks!

I start the new job in January but I finish the old one mid December (not my choice, just the way it has worked) so my final pay will be on the 15th December, then my account won't have any more money in it until January the 31st. Ouch.

At the risk of being deleted too, are your outgoings going to take you into the red during this period or will you be able to manage?

Yeah, just make sure your direct debits go out on your flush part of the month.

Maybe it was a previously band poster.

Would you be willing go pick up a couple of weeks temp work in the 2 weeks you're not getting paid? There should be jobs round with the Xmas sales, even if its just a few nights bar work it would help the transition.

If I were you id try to find some agency work to help you save a bit to get you through.

I don't think so. I think I'm just somehow going to have to manage but this is what worries me as I'm not totally sure how! I am sure it will work out but it is a worry. What sort of agency work?

I agree that if there are any direct debits/payments you could cancel in January (fun things like netflix, not essentials obviously), then it might be an idea to stop them for the month, even if it's small amounts it may help stop you going overdrawn by accident. There may also be things that you could change from monthly payments to quarterly payments- so you could pay in March instead- obviously you'd have to remember to save for these, but it would hopefully help in the short term.

If you have two weeks off in December, and it would be possible, you could see if there are any businesses that might want casual help for those two weeks- try pubs and restaurants rather than big companies. This could bring you in a little bit for the two weeks when you aren't earning anything. I would also explain the situation to family and friends, and maybe they will be happy to host you for meals etc. during this period which could help reduce your outgoings, and you could return the favour in the new year. You could also have a pre-Christmas clear out and see if there is anything you could sell.

It sounds like the new job will give you much better prospects that your old one, but I think a lot of people would struggle with no money coming in for nearly 6 weeks. If you think you will have problems paying major bills such as rent/mortgage, it might be an idea to talk to your Landlord or bank in advance and explain the situation. Banks especially do sometimes have options they can offer to reduce your payments temporarily.

If things are going to be very tight, it might be an idea to agree an overdraft with your bank now- this should help you save on fees etc if you do go overdrawn, obviously it's not ideal to get in debt, but you will hopefully be able to pay it off when you are earning more. This would also potentially cover you if an unexpected expense came up in a January.

In the next four weeks I would save as much as you can so you have a buffer and budget everything as tightly as you can in January, really look at your outgoings and see if there are places you can make big cuts- if it's just for a month, hopefully you/your family can endure some short term pain?

Will you have any income e.g. child benefit in January?

I could possibly look at working for a bit in December but it will be difficult as I am relocating as well.

I don't really have anyone to help - this is why I'm worried, as I know if my dad was alive he'd just help me out but there's not really anyone else I can ask. I'm already overdrawn! I think I will talk to my bank about putting a hold on fees though, hopefully they will be understanding.

I would check when your new employer actually kicks off its payment process. A lot pay on 3rd Thursday of the month or similar.
Congratulations on the new job!

Either way it'll be the end of January unless I'm seriously lucky and it's the 15th which happened once before!

Do you have either adequate savings or access to sufficient credit?

If not, can you arrange an overdraft limit increase with your bank?

Possibly - my credit has taken a bit of a battering of late though. The main thing is having a frugal Christmas and saving as much as I can i think!

If you're already overdrawn is it an agreed overdraft? Are you at the limit of it? If it's not an agreed overdraft, I'd make a huge effort to pay it off while you're in work and try and agree an overdraft with minimal fees to use in emergencies until you get paid. Alternatively, if your credit score is still pretty good, you might be able to get a credit card which is 0% for the first 12 months- again, look into this now as you are more likely to get one while you still have a regular paycheck coming in.

Again, getting in debt isn't great, but it seems like you're not going to get through this period without debt unless you've got something big you can sell, so a 0% credit card is probably the best way to get in debt- if you borrow £600 on it to get you through the month, that would be a repayment of £50 a month to clear it before interest kicks in- hopefully manageable on your new salary! This could also help with any unforseen costs when relocating (there are always unforseen costs :( )

If this isn't an option (e.g. because you're already in quite a lot of debt) then you're going to have to prioritize payments for a month. Missing a monthly payment will mess up your credit score, but there aren't huge consequences to missing one month of any particular bill as long as you are able to pay it in the next month. Alternatively, you could cancel direct debits and pay whatever you can afford over the phone, and pay the balance the month afterwards- again, this isn't ideal at all, but it's better than nothing, and most companies will accept that you are trying.

Have you looked at the money saving expert forums at all? If not, there are people on there who may well be able to advise on the best way to get through a short term period where you've got no income, and what bills can be put off, and what you can't ignore.

Is there anything you could sell or pawn? Sometimes you can do surveys/reviews online to receive vouchers- this might be worth looking into as it sounds like every little will help during this period.

It is agreed, yeah. I could definitely look into a credit card, that's a really good idea.

In general, if you can get a 0% credit card, they are the cheapest way to borrow, so they're always the first option to look at if you think you might need to get in debt. Some of them will also give you rewards/cashback as well. You'll still need to be frugal with your spending, as you need to pay back what you've borrowed before the 0% period is up ideally, but if you can get one I'm sure it will help a lot.

Speaking of rewards, do you have any loyalty cards with points etc on them?

There are some good on line resources to help you manage budgets. Try the Citizens advice website as a starter. Links on there.