AIBU to ask how to cope when moving from weekly to monthly pay.

[SoSickOfCovid19]

DH starts a new job in a weeks time, he currently gets paid weekly new job will move us to monthly pay. Due to the dates of the change he will get his last weeks wage on 23/4/21, nothing in April from new job as they take first two weeks in hand, so won't be paid anything from then unti 31/5/21 where he will get a full months wage. We are a family of 5 and I stay home with the kids. How do people budget food costs? I currently spend £140 a week on food and would like to carry on weekly shopping as fridge freezer is no way big enough for a months worth. With things like clothes, shoes, toys etc for the dc do you wait until the week before next pay day then buy these things or do you buy as soon as you get paid.

I get paid monthly. The day after I get paid the whole amount I need for my mortgage and bills transfers to my bills account which all go out by direct debit throughout the month. I don't touch that account as it all goes automatically.
The same day I move a chunk of money to my savings account.
The amount then left in my current account is for food, petrol and spending money which I spend throughout the month and keep an eye on to make sure I'm not overspending.

I understand what you're asking OP, it must be a bit of a head messer to have your financial routine turned on its head. It will soon feel like second nature though I'm sure.

We have all our bills set to come out about 3 or 4 days after payday (just in cas the highly unlikely problem with pay going in-would give time to notice and move savings across) as then we know we've paid everything major for the month.
With food we do a weekly shop as we just couldn't keep enough fresh in for even a fortnight. It tends to even out across the month, one week we need laundry stuff, another more toiletries, so it is roughly the same each week. You could do a massive cupboard/freezer shop at the start of the month I guess and just budget for weekly fresh stuff.
'Nice' things in theory are bought across the month but in reality I usually have a little spend at the start of the month and if there's a bit left at the end (savings already gone out with the bills earlier in the month) I tend to spend again in that last week/10 days before payday.

The main thing for me though is to get all the bills paid at the start of the month so they aren't going to trip us up later in the month. If we had a bigger bill than usual and didn't have any spare for nice things that month, it's a shame but it's not actively a problem, anything important would come out of the emergency pot.

I would phone all the companies and see if you can move direct debit date to nearer the start of the month and then get them all paid and out the way each month.

Excellent advice and my husband and I did this, too. It makes budgeting so much easier when everything is coming out on the same day, or as close as possible. My husband and I have also always done our bills together, so both of us always know exactly what's going on. We have a set day, we sit down for not even an hour, and go through all of our bills, payments, etc.

Another vote here for a bills account and a housekeeping account. If you leave/transfer enough in the bills account to cover everything for the month then don't touch it it actually doesn't matter what day the DDs come out. We have debit cards for our bills account but have put them away safely. It's then easier to see what is left for food, petrol and household items without forgetting about a bill that still needs to come out. (Something we got caught out with a lot before changing to this method) We also have accounts for personal spending with equal amounts in each.

I have a spreadsheet that has all my outgoing and all my income on the day's they go out come in so I know what my balance should be at any one time and so I know when things are happening.

I also use a budgeting app on my phone called spending tracker so I can set up an envelope type system. For example if we have an income of £1700, I have set this up so £800 goes to rent, £400 goes to bills, £300 goes to food, £200 goes to saving. Every time I spend money on food it comes out of the food budget, any bill eg gas, electric, insurance come out of bills. You could also set up different bank accounts for that purpose, so bills come out of one account, food out of another etc etc.

Food wise, I budget £350 per month. I do a monthly shop for all tinned, packet, frozen, jar stuff, toiletries and then buy fresh fruit& veg, milk deli stuff weekly. I've kind of got it down to a fine art now and it works really well for us.

We do have an old current account we never closed so could transfer all money left after deducting the fixed monthly direct debit amount plus a £30 buffer, so thank you that is a great idea makes it easier to see what's left after bills.

Wait until the monthly pay has started, then move direct debits if they can be moved 3 days of pay day to allow for any errors to be resolved, bank holidays etc.

As for purchases if desperate we just get, if not then we write down, including birthdays upcoming and on about 3 days before pay due in buy within our means or send it to savings keeping in a bit just in case in easy access/next few days.

It's really comes down to planning and thinking it through.

You will be fine as you already know what your budget for food is (assuming your husband is earning the same or more).
Sometimes I buy things on payday, ideally you will wait until just before payday....
At one point I had 2 accounts one for pay to come in, bills to go out and then I transferred the spending to the other account and knew that was it for all food, leisure, clothes etc for the month.

I generally do a big shop at the beginning of the month - pet food (to cover the month), any cleaning stuff / toilet rolls / squash / pasta / rice / tinned food / ketchups etc. Then I know what my food shop will be roughly for the remaining 3 or 4 shops as I know all that stuff is “done”.try to order any presents needed for the month ahead etc. I find it saves me having to check every week what we’ve run out of or having expected costs crop up at the end of the month when things are tight x x

@JaceLancs

I tend to try and arrange all direct debits to go out within a few days of being paid - I also make any big purchases and transfer some into savings - I also probably do a bit bigger supermarket shop especially non food items - then I know how much I’ve got left each week and try and stay within it

Exactly this. Paid on 19th, all direct debits are gone by 25th. Those extra days allow for bank holidays knocking things out by a couple of days. Savings also paid into separate accounts. Then what I have left is what I have left to last the month, so one week might be a big food shop, another might be a couple of quick pop ins for milk but not much else, clothes etc as and when.

I recall eons ago that as teachers we were paid both July and August salaries in July, by the end of September we were really running on empty! The worst thing was realising just before the start of term that we needed new stuff for work.

Thank you so really good suggestions. Dh will be on the same rate of pay as now for his 3 month probation then he will get an increase that works out an extra £1.18 per hour.

@ItWasntMyFault

I get paid monthly. The day after I get paid the whole amount I need for my mortgage and bills transfers to my bills account which all go out by direct debit throughout the month. I don't touch that account as it all goes automatically. The same day I move a chunk of money to my savings account. The amount then left in my current account is for food, petrol and spending money which I spend throughout the month and keep an eye on to make sure I'm not overspending.

I do as @ItWasntMyFault and @ViciousJackdaw suggest, have one account just for bills. This means they can go out whenever as I don't touch the money in there once it's transferred on payday.

Till you get used to it perhaps open a Monzo account and pay yourself weekly into that -

I use a free app called Good Budget. Knowing our budget for the month I separate the categories into different 'envelopes' eg £500 in the food envelope. Then as we spend I log it in the app and can see easily how much is left in each envelope until pay day.

Do a monthly budget. Fixed outgoings (rent/mortgage, utilities, council tax, phone etc.) Then allocate the rest: food, household, kids stuff, savings, holiday fund etc. I always leave some for unexpected expenses too. It doesn’t matter when in the month you spend each thing, so long as you track it and stick within the limits.

We are paid monthly and have a few different accounts to budget effectively. Our wages go into the joint, this is where all our bills are taken from so I leave enough in there to cover them and with the rest I transfer amounts to our own personal accounts for spending, an account for food and petrol and the rest into a savings account that we can access for anything we need.
For example paid £4000
Leave 1500 in current account 1 for dds/bills.
Transfer £800 to current account 2 for food and petrol for the month.
Transfer £400 into each of our own accounts for spending.
Remaining £900 goes into savings account which we dip into as and when needed (for things like car insurance/holidays/new furniture).

This way I know the bills are paid, I know how much I have left to spend on food until next payday, I can blow my spending on whatever without any worry, and i know that we're not eating into the savings.

I note down when my bills go out, know roughly how much I spend on food shops (usually 3 smaller ones and one bumper one that includes toiletries, cleaning products and household stuff), and tend to buy clothing and toys for DC in advance when I see them on offer or second hand

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I tend to keep a frozen dinner in the freezer and around a week of storecupboard staples in the cupboards for just in case dinners. Because it's stuff we eat regularly, I top the stash up as I use it. It's not the same as having a huge stockpile, more a contingency.

I'm too disorganised to arrange all the bills to go out on a particular date and have previously fallen foul of things like months with 5 Fridays in. So I keep a buffer of £1500 in my current account at all times. If buying anything expensive I transfer money in beforehand to ensure there is always that buffer.
If you don't have that currently I would put some effort into saving it up - it's a lot less stressful than constantly checking whether payments have gone out etc.
I'm not short of money so just buy as and when I need things. I spend more on food the more I go shopping though!

Change all direct debits to come out a day or two after being paid.
I split food money/petrol/spending over 3 online saver accounts each month. Then shop weekly - sometimes big shop, sometimes smaller. I find meal planning for the month helps.

I also have standing orders to savings accounts - for clothes etc to come out couple days after pay day (usually 1st or 2nd of the month)

5 week months are a pain but I usually stash some cash to kne side to cover the extra food for that week

I have all bills going out on the 1st as well as savings. I then know how much I have left to play with. I leave myself a safety net of a few hundred pounds. If I can at the end of the month I will put more into savings.

We buy meat every 3 months and freeze from the butchers. I do a weekly asda delivery and meal plan.

To cover for the odd 5-week months (where you have 5x money out dates instead of 4 in the pay period) take your weekly budgeted amounts and multiply by 52 and then divide by 12. This should cover you for the odd 5x month.

The best thing to do is get your direct debits moved to when you get paid. We've always been paid monthly so always come out couple days after pay day. Then you know what you can budget on etc.

Although we get paid monthly I budget what I spend a week on shopping etc. I try not to do top up shops (only for bread or milk). Clothes for DS I just buy when needed as I put money aside for savings.