To think it’s not that unusual for people to have no money in their bank account

[Iftheclouds]

At the end of the month? I know ideally it’s good to have savings but would imagine it’s not that unusual to have any?

@jeffsar4 is he going to put the money back? That must have been an awful shock.

I used to end the month with at least a C oh couple of hundred quid and savings, things have changed in the last 2.5yrs. I've about £85 to keep 5 people going for the next 10 days. I know I'm not the only one and I'm probably doing OK compared to others I know x

jeffsar4 how awful. Is he planning on putting it back? I hope you get an explanation and he isn't just a bastard.

Not unusual. I used to have nothing or be in overdraft every pay day and remember those times well.

My 'dream' (aim) is to be at a point where as soon as my pay comes in, I don't have to immediately divvy it up between all the different accounts to ensure bills are paid- to have the luxury to be able to do it when I remember, not to have to do it immediately as direct debits will be coming out it.

I get paid weekly but I'm usually in my overdraft by the weekend.

Not surprised with the shockingly low British wages

Story of my life.
But I do have savings

I aim to have £0 in my account by the end of each month.
I get paid, save some money, put some aside for bills, the rest is for my budgeted living costs which, if I remain within budget will mean I reach £0 by the end of the month. If I've got money leftover, then I should have saved more. I try to budget so I don't use my overdraft if possible (but, you know...life sometimes gets in the way of that)

I should add that I mean £0 in my current account

A lot of people seem to be coming up with excuses as to why they couldn't possibly save anything. If you have ever had a pay rise, you managed (and managed will mean different things to different people) prior to that, so what you get extra you should be able to save something out of. Because to be honest, you were never guaranteed that rise and had you not got it then you'd jolly well just have had to manage.*

If I get a pay rise it's swiftly removed (and more) from the bit of housing benefit I get , like when we were generously given the extra tax credits due to covid, the council had the adjustment letter through the door within 2 days so I end up worse off. I do actually put £40 away each month but normally at least £30 is transferred back before next pay day as things always come up like school trips and suddenly outgrown shoes and the rest is always needed at some stage during school holidays not for Xmas or birthdays so never makes it past about £60 before it's back to zero. We do 'jolly well just have to manage' as do so many. None of us have had a hair cut this year yet and my roots are down past my ears. The covid hair excuse is running thin now 😆

I transfer my savings out on payday, and if I’m getting towards the end of the month with quite a bit of money left I’ll bang the extra on paying off some more on my credit card. I’ve got a H2B isa, a standard isa and a generic savings account. Also got several pots of money invested in stocks and shares that I could access if I was in dire straits but I’d go to my other savings before I got that desperate because you never want to be selling shares through desperation.

My money hasn’t always worked this well (and it’s still not perfect, I still have a credit card to pay off), i’ve had more years on the breadline in the two weeks before payday than I’ve ever had with money going into savings and the discipline to service debts with leftovers rather than blow it because it’s burning a hole in my pocket.

I get paid a week on Friday and have £170 of unassigned cash left over if I need it. I hope to be able to put £100 of that onto my CC.

No money at the end of the month used to mean literally no money for me, now it’s because I paid into my savings first. So I only leave what I need to live on in my account. It took a while of getting used to but works for me.

@Smallsteps88 Is that the app you download to your phone? Is it easy to use?

I used to work in payroll and AP and a huge portion of people at the company it was no money at the end of the month for the final week. Everyone got paid on the same day (or nearest if It fell on a weekend) every month and would often desperately ask if it was going to fall into the payment run before or after the weekend.

We got the junior staff to put their expenses in so they would get paid out for the final week before pay day because I knew they were totally broke by that stage.

I get paid on the 24th and have £140 left, which is low for me, I usually have quite a bit more left as I like a safety buffer of at least a few hundred pounds.

I have around £25,000 split between savings (easily accessible) and shareholdings (not so easy to get access to).

For many years I lived totally within my overdraft and started the month at around £0 and went down from there. Not a place I want to go back to at this point, unless unfortunate circumstances conspire against me.

We do tend to go for brand new cars, because we lease them so that we never have to pay any repair or maintenance bills. We are both useless with things like that and couldn't repair ourselves. I also found the process when we bought and needed to change the car really complicated and stressful because nobody will give you a straight answer about what it's worth, so you end up on a wild goose chase.

I wouldn't mind leasing a cheaper car a few years old but that doesn't seem to be an option.

The point being a higher monthly fee is worth it for the peace of mind of never being presented with a huge bill that we need to pay in order to sustain a necessity.

I have nothing in the bank, £26 left on my credit card until Monday. Never understand how I run out of money so badly every month. Every month I tell myself I need to sort it out. I earn a good salary but am absolutely hopeless at managing my money. I constantly feel ashamed.

I make foodbank referrals, and I know many don't have any kind of buffer. Last month I made 156 referrals. So that's 156 in my small area that couldn't even feed themselves.

We did have savings but have had to use them all getting out of negative equity selling a rental house earlier this year. On top of my H income falling due to covid by 300pm. Also we needed to replace the boiler before the winter. So we've gone from several thousand in savings to 600 quid.

Even that small amount makes me feel better though and I will hopefully build it back up after Christmas. We will be careful with presents this year.

@percheron67

TartanDM's. What on earth is squeaky bum time?

Squeaky bum = getting tense

I've managed to save some money this year as I was on furlough for 6 months and just wasn't spending it as I would do normally - fuel, swimming lessons, music lessons, going out for lunches, days out etc
Made me realise how much money I waste. Now I'm really careful with it