To this this IS extra money

[WhatsAppening]

DH has really confused me. Easily done tbf and it is early and I’m tired.

I get paid 4 weekly. We treat my wage as though it’s a monthly wage though, and all budgets are done accordingly.

This month I got paid on the 1st. So this morning I made an offhand comment about looking forward to us having an extra £1700 this month what with the extra payment.

DH first looked really puzzled and then went into great detail about why that’s not how it works. His logic was that the mortgage (same amount as my wage, coincidentally) comes out on the 1st then the first payment this month pays this month’s and then the payment on the 29th pays November’s so I’m ahead but it’s not spare money.

I KNOW he’s wrong, if we have 12 bills a year and 13 wages then it MUST be extra. But he’s confused me with his (wrong) logic.

I think because he’s focusing on one specific bill? And forgetting that we have lots of monthly bills and his monthly wage as well?

I need a simple explanation so I can convince him that we do indeed have a ‘free’ £1700 this month. It’s for his own good as it will make him happy, he’s all stressed this morning for other reasons.

@Singlebutmarried

Make a spreadsheet.

You know you want to.

My husband gets paid 4 weekly and I look forward to his “extra” pay all year!

He gets paid into a separate account and we transfer it into our spending account on the 29th of each month (the same day I get paid), so there is always one month he gets paid twice before the 29th and there is a true extra pay!

I used to get paid 4 weekly and do remember having a ‘bonus month’ as all bills were paid by calendar month.
But it depends on the dates you get paid and the days of the month that your big bills come out. And you obviously don’t save the whole wage as there are ongoing costs like food, fuel, etc that you’ll have anyway.
I think you need to list out all of your pay dates and see where there is a time in the year that you get paid twice in between mortgage payments. I think he might be right that it isn’t this month because your last pay goes on this months mortgage and your next pay will be needed for next months mortgage. What dates do your next few paydays fall on?

@noworklifebalance

You get paid every 4 weeks There are 52 weeks in a year 52/4 = 13 So you get paid 13x each year but there are only 12 months. One pay packet is “extra” to your monthly mortgage payments.

Yes this, at some point you get two wage payments before you are due a mortgage payment. The second of those is 'extra'.

@WhatsAppening

My wages aren’t used for the mortgage.

Dh gets paid on the last day of every month so his wage is always in there for that.

I think he’s just confusing the issue because the amounts are roughly the same (my wage and the mortgage payment).

My wage is basically the spending money every month.

I see your point but I think to work it like that when your salary is used for spending money you'd need to have saved 1/13th of your pay each month as your "extra". Otherwise if this is "extra", what will you use for November's spending money?

If your 1700 is used for spends for 4 weeks then it isn’t extra. You still need to use it for spends on the month.

You’d be right if your money paid the mortgage.

So this month, DH got paid as usual on the 30th Sept. Mortgage payment came out on the 1st Oct. my wage also went in 1st Oct.

I’ll be paid again on the 29th Oct, DH on the 31st. Mortgage comes out 1st November.

There’s an extra wage in there. The 29th is extra.

I don't understand the confusion. OP was paid Friday 3rd September, then Friday 1st October, next payday Friday 29th October. How on earth are people trying to say that she's already had 'extra payment'?. Clearly October is double payment month and when budget is single payment, second payment is 'extra'.

@BoredZelda

If your 1700 is used for spends for 4 weeks then it isn’t extra. You still need to use it for spends on the month.

You’d be right if your money paid the mortgage.

It’s used for spends for the month.

I draw out cash on the 1st and use it for the month regardless of when I’ve been paid in the month. And the food etc goes on the CC which runs monthly.

There’s no 4 week budget involved at all.

Did you last get paid on the 3rd September then? Did your 3rd September pay get used towards the September bills/mortgage, or was that money used towards October bills? If the latter then your 1st Oct pay is the ‘spare’ one.
I think you need to do a spreadsheet though.

@WhatsAppening

So the way I track my spending is that we have £400 each pcm (cash to make it clearer). Then we spend pretty much the same every week on the big shop/petrol, this never really changes.

So the spending money is monthly, not paycheque to paycheque for me.

There’s always money left in the bank, it’s never at zero.

But will there be 1700 sitting in the account on the 27th, before you next get paid? If so then great- you've managed it right and it's spare money. That's the deciding factor.

Oh just saw your latest updates. If your pay is used for regular spends rather than monthly bills then you can’t treat it as a bonus payment. You’ll still have the same outgoings over each 4 week period presumably (food, fuel, etc)

@noworklifebalance

You get paid every 4 weeks There are 52 weeks in a year 52/4 = 13 So you get paid 13x each year but there are only 12 months. One pay packet is “extra” to your monthly mortgage payments.

Yes this.

Mine happens to fall in December this year. Which is great for Christmas!

You are definitely right. My DH used to work for a railway company, where he was paid four-weekly. So 13 paydays a year, 12 months of bills = what we used to call our "free month".

Obviously he used to be paid on different dates every month but the money would wait for the bills if that makes sense. So if for eg. he was paid on 10th January, that was for the bills on 1st Feb. Pay on 7th Feb would be for 1st Mar. Etc until we reached a month where there were no bills to come out of that pay period, then we had our free month.

@WhyOhWhyOhWhyyyy

Oh just saw your latest updates. If your pay is used for regular spends rather than monthly bills then you can’t treat it as a bonus payment. You’ll still have the same outgoings over each 4 week period presumably (food, fuel, etc)

Our spends are based on my 4w wage + DH monthly wage minus all the bills and a bit into savings. Worked out monthly.

So the 4 week aspect of mine doesn’t come into it.

It’s the two salaries that’s clouding it I think, if it was just mine it would seem clearer.

I get paid 4 weekly, my 13th one is always December. I'm paid £2800 but I have noticed approx £400 of that still goes tonwards bills due to misalignment of dates im not including mortgage here but credit card, phone, subscriptions etc. (guess my mortgage payment date judt works out regardless)

So I end up about £2400 extra. Roughly 70%

So your right and he is right but it depends on your outgoings and if dates misalignment. I would err on caution and say you get most as spare.

I do like it though, enforced saving

You are correct but I always found my 13th payment went on Christmas or holidays when I was paid 4 weekly

So there's an extra £1700 sitting in the account then?

It's not that your next pay is "extra" because you'll need that for November. It's that you've saved a bit of each paycheque over the last year to make "extra"?

@namechange30455

So there's an extra £1700 sitting in the account then?

It's not that your next pay is "extra" because you'll need that for November. It's that you've saved a bit of each paycheque over the last year to make "extra"?

That's true, its about £200 for me each month makes up my 13th paycheck.

If you use the salary calculator it shows you pay by monthly and r weekly so its easy to see how much the difference is

It’s extra. Like the month where you get 2 child benefit payments. If you budget as if it’s a monthly wage then you benefit from the extra money, if you budgeted 4 weekly then you’d be no different. Your dh is incorrect.

This is funny - I’m in Australia and getting paid fortnightly is the norm here. So there are 2 months every year when I get paid 3 times, not just twice. I love it. 2 extra mortgage payments a year without even thinking :)

And if OP takes her usual £1700/4 weeks, but budgets as though it is £1700/month, then of course it is an extra payment. This is what it sounds like she does. Of course, if she actually counts on getting £1841/month (which is her take home income divided into 12 monthly payments or £1700 x 13 payments then divided by 12) then it won’t be an extra payment, it will be the payment that tops up all the others to get it to the equilateral of one monthly payment.

I have a few income streams that are paid 4 weekly, it is indeed extra money. It helped me to map out monthly all of our outgoings and income and our income each month to see where the extra payments fall, we then tuck that money into savings and use for fun stuff.

@DecayedStrumpet

Well if he wants it framed in the terms above, your payment on the 29th oct pays the November mortgage, you'll get paid on the 26th November which will pay the December mortgage, and then you'll get your 'free money' on the 24th december.

But yes, a better strategic move would be to say "oh yes you're right dear silly me" and blow it all on gin and handbags.

Yep! ‘Of course you are right, H!’ That leaves you £1700 to spend/save..

I'm the same, 13 pay days a year. But, the 13th pay day has to last 4 weeks like all the others. So food/petrol/bills any other living costs for those 4 weeks will come out of it as normal

if we have 12 bills a year and 13 wages then it MUST be extra. But he’s confused me with his (wrong) logic.

I get what you mean. If you budget on the basis that your pay is the monthly budget, then the 13th pay isn't budgeted for, so across the course of the year you have £1,700 to put into savings or whatever that is additional to your regular budgeted in/outgoings.

The impact of it won't all be felt in one month though, so your DH is partly right.