To ask if you will be skint in January?

[Freco010]

I’m just doing my budget for January and wondering if most people will be skint in January or do you budget and it’s not a problem?

Nothing unusual about Jan for us. Bar it being dh's first month as an employee and not a contractor. And we are going on holiday, so need to factor in some spending money, but are all inclusive so hopefully won't need much.

We have some debt from Various things but not Christmas.

Yep!

We can pay bills and eat, but not much else. Grateful for that, at least.

Got paid early so there will be 2 extra weeks before payday to factor in, and it’s a slow time of year for self employed DH to get invoices paid.

I don’t mind, though. I like a nice, frugal January.

I can't afford to be skint in January as I'm self employed and always have 2 weeks off at xmas.
Also in January business is very slow. I budget all year for it.
I have to be preapred for all eventualities and I must have £3000 put aside for this time of year in case of unexpected expenses with the business.
But then I've been saving for years, having a reasonable size cushion stops me from being stressed and anxious.

Won't be skint but no money for extras at all. But not a shock. I don't have any credit so no unexpected bills either

Not skint but do have be slightly careful. Not because of Christmas, but because we have a £1k bill for ground rent every Jan, plus other bills such as house insurance renewal, etc. We also have another baby on the way so cutting back anyway as I'm starting maternity leave soon. We eat well, have one or two treats, have a small but lovely house, clothes on our back and so on, so can't complain really

I didn't go into debt for Christmas, but January will be a tight month, like every other month of our lives. I am disabled, but at least that means I am able to home educate DD. DP works full time.

Yes! Not due to Christmas but the fact we seem to have many large annual payments go out in January.

Yes I will be. We were paid early so it's a 6 week month for me. I'm a single parent so money is always tight. I'll have enough for food and petrol but nothing else. One of my intentions for next year is to start saving every month, even if it's just a small amount.

No, we have savings. I'm going to buy a lot of presents for next year in the sales.

Yep, December was the first month of unpaid maternity leave so we're on one wage. So not skint due to Christmas.

We have savings if we need them but so far we're planning on scrimping and getting by on the minimum.

Yes I am totally broke this week.

We got paid early for Christmas it is a 11 days between weekly wages, instead of 7.

Only 6 more miserable days to go, although I am grateful there are wages coming too. I imagine for some they're feeling suffocated until March. I have been there too.

Yep! But we are skint every month!
We saved for Xmas and only spent what we could afford to so it's not because we overspent.

Didn't use cc this year, so no nasty bills there. February will be worse, family weddings late January and early march, had to take a day unpaid leave for one, expensive hotel venue and Dhs suit does not fit, so needs a new one.

No but only because our flat sale is going through. Otherwise it would be like any other January and dire straits for 2/3 weeks.

Yep big time
Just got a massassassive unexpected bill. 2019 looks shit already

Will wait for rent c/tax ect to come out 2nd Jan from our account & what DH can transfer from his main acc he normally puts his share in just after all bills come out but is self employed & this year has been a lot quieter then previous years.... I blame Brexit 🙄 he’s been off 3 weeks & not back til 7th it’s DD bday next week too. I got paid just before Christmas & next payday 24th! Will do better next year!

January will be fine, although I'm always skint come the end of the month. Budgeted for Christmas, bought savings stamps throughout the year to pay for the food shop and don't have a credit card or overdraft.

It never used to be like that as I used to be crap with money and am now in a debt management plan. That ends this year after 5 years (hooray!) so by this time next year things hopefully will be a little less tight. Possible new job on the horizon with a couple of K more than I get now too!

Not a skint January but planning to be as careful as I can otherwise will have a skint February or March! Thankfully I'm not living hand to mouth for the first time in a while.

Tight, but not skint, holiday needs paying off mid Jan. Big pay end of Jan so Feb will be much better!

Ha yes feb is the promised land as I have 2 months of expenses due!

No...and in fact I will be more flush than usual as the 30hrs childcare starts in January woo!!

No. I got paid yesterday. Need to put an extra £100 back on the credit card but that's it.

Yes but only till 17th January. Will live off working tax credit till then which thankfully comes every Friday.

No, we should be fine. I saved some money in December so I could go shopping in the sales for next Christmas and we also have 2 niece’s birthdays and dh’s birthday in Jan so have made sure we have money put by for those too. We’re lucky that my monthly wage pays all the bills and we live off dh’s weekly wage so have money coming in every Friday.

No, not skint or tight. We had a smaller Christmas this year so the damage is minimal.