How do most people cope with repeated 5 week months in this country?

[woody87]

DH and I lived overseas for a number of years, fortnightly pay was standard in almost all industries.

Since moving back to the U.K and both commencing work with the NHS I am astounded that people just put up with repeated 5 week pay cycles.

NHS pays on the last Thursday of the month in Scotland, however nursery fees (£800) are due on the 27th of the month with no exceptions and the latest date that council tax, British Gas and my mortgage company will accept is the 28th!

Therefore this month I had to pay almost £2k of bills out of savings three days before we were due to be paid and I fully accept that I am in a fortunate enough position to actually have a small amount of savings that can cover this.

What on Earth do people do if they don't have savings? Overdraft? Then incurring fees that go into the banks pocket?

This country is a fucking riot.

I don’t have a buffer to pay bills. I don’t receive all my income in one go. Most of my bills go out on the first of the month, a few later on to take account of the later income
Sometimes, like this week I’ve do slip into a small overdraft for a couple of days,
but mostly its just about getting into a new cycle.
If you have paid this month out of savings then surely you will be ok for next month

I was paid my monthly salary on Thursday 26th of May and then not paid again until today. How is that not 5 weeks?

It's 5 weeks. It's not a month.

Yep, me too.

Wages go into a "wages and spending" account, bills come out of a "bills" account, savings go into a "savings" account.

Get paid, (auto)transfer money to bills account to cover the month's bills. Spend from the wages account (clothes, food etc). At end of month (auto) transfer any money to savings account. Rinse, repeat.

I generally just try and be tighter with money December into January as it does equate to a "6 week month" ie 6 full weeks between pay. Although I'll probably get bashed for using that phrase on this thread seeing the way it's going 🙄

Most of the comments here indicate that people have a large buffer to cover their bills.

Not at all. It means they put aside the money at the start of their month for salary terms & then they are there for all payment dates.

I have a very tight budget; I can't imagine any other way to do it.

The food shopping does catch me unawares in a longer month, though!

You need to get a month ahead and pay everything on the first.

Could you do it gradually over a few months so one month you pay your car insurance twice etc, gradually moving your DD's to the first? Eventually you would end up a month ahead rather than a month behind

I'm paid the last working day of the month, DH is paid his salary on the last Friday and then dividends as and when he can draw money, so I do a lot of juggling to pay bills as we rely on the dividends and I never know when they are coming, plus have to set aside a lump for tax.

It's a phrase ffs, perhaps more common in Scotland or with people that it actually affects. Many colleagues of mine speak of it regularly.

You need to tinker around with your DD dates

and then you’ll “cope”

Are you sure you’re not just being paid by manual bacs transfer until they get you onto the actual monthly pay roll?

Your sarcastic comments are not really required but thanks anyway.

I'm in Ireland so we don't have this system but I heard about this before on here & am astounded how unfair it is.

@woody87

4 week month or 5 week month is a common expression I think, I use it. Some people just like to be awkward

Bloomin heck op

you sound like you’re struggling to “cope” with a lot in life

This is shocking.

I fully appreciate that I am not in a financial situation anywhere near as poor as this.

DH used to work for a UK supermarket and most staff got paid weekly, except managers like DH who got paid 4 weekly. That was a nightmare. It meant that there was a shift in payment dates each month and some months you got paid twice in a calendar month. We ended up having an overdraft facility that matched the grand total of all our bills just in case the direct debits came out before pay went in.

Bills out as sn after the 1st of each month as we can arrange them.
Paid, currently, on the last working day of each month. Previously used to be the 25th.
Use June's pay for the July bills.
BUT, this all started when we could have an exceedingly skint few months to catch up on everything. Once you finish the month on £0 rather than in the overdraft, it's straight foward. Getting there is a bit more complicated! Moving overseas is very expensive!! Took us about 6 months each time to settle without having a massively expensive bill!

How do you pay a big bill like a mortgage, and survive on half a pay packet when you get paid every 2 weeks?

Surely it's just about managing your money carefully? As long as you have enough money coming to cover your expenditure, it shouldn't really matter whether you're paid monthly or fortnightly - unless you have no self control and spend all of the money on unnecessary stuff as soon as it hits your account? I mean, I get that it's tough being paid in arrears for the first month if you don't have any savings, but after that, as long as you have enough income coming in to cover your essential costs, I don't really understand why you can't budget for the month.

FWIW, I have lived and worked in two urge countries outside the UK, and it was normal to get paid monthly in both, so I don't think the UK is especially unusual in this regard.

I fully appreciate that I am not in a financial situation anywhere near as poor as this.

Or at all OP.

That sounds snarky but isn't meant that way. I have zero spare money despite a good job (thanks, feckless exH) but I recognise my privilege & that for all I feel hard-done by at times, I'm lucky that I & my DC have essentially all we need.

Still hard in a month where I'm looking at massive uniform & school book costs.

Because my pay that comes in on the 30th or whatever is for the bills for the next month, so all my direct debits come out on the 1st. To me you are doing it backwards

Most companies don't pay on a certain day of the week. They pay on (e.g.) the last working day of the month. This means that there are typically 30/31 days between payments, and it's pretty even throughout the year.

NHS in England typically pay on around the 26th/27th of the month, bringing it forward only when there's a weekend. So again, average of 30ish days in between, fairly evenly spread.

It’s never been an issue for me. I’d hate fortnightly pay! I get paid on the 25th every month and all bills out on the 1st. So June 25th pay (was actually 24th this month) pays the 1st July bills. What is left over (hahaha) is what I can spend before next payday.

I suppose we were just better at managing our money. Each pay cycle a percentage went into a separate "bills" account and we also had a large buffer to cover mortgage and bills. Council tax equivalent was paid yearly and a few other bills were quarterly but we never seemed to have an issues. Since the move back we always seem to be into overdraft every month.

I'll see about slowly moving all DD's over to 1st of Month and hopefully start to feel like I'm managing our finances more appropriately.

All our bills go out on the 1st of the month so we know what we have left for the month.

Just change your direct debits so they go out on the 1st of the month. That way , there will always be money in there for then, as you'll have been paid within the previous 7 days.