Going from monthly pay to weekly pay.

[imwithspud]

DP recently got a new job but the pay scheme is different and instead of getting all his wages in one large chunk at the end of the month like his previous job, he is now getting paid weekly. All our bills come out at the end of the month within a 5 day period, I'm trying to get my head around ensuring we don't overspend every week so there's enough left in the account to cover all the bills. I did used to use a budgeting spreadsheet but have been very lax with it lately. I think I may need to get back to it.

Any hints and tips to help us adjust would be much appreciated.

Can't you just move a set amount each week to cover bills into another account?

So if bills are £1000 a month, move £275 in per week to cover amount plus build up a spare amount incase bills increase. So at the end of each month you will have £1100 in bill account. The rest of the money is for whatever or transfer some to another savings account

Yes I think I need to sit down properly and do some sums, I find numbers and dates confusing. Much prefer when it all comes in and out at the end of the month as I then don't have to worry about it for the rest of the month.

I changed some of my direct debits dates when this happened to my dh

you need to make a list of all your fixed costs, i.e those bills, plus the annual things such as insurances, car tax and so on. Tot them up and that will tell you what your monthly spend is. Food is more difficult to quantify, but if you start with the costs you know, that will help.

as things sound tight, look at all the usuals; cutting out waste (adult clothes, food waste, magazines, takeaways), minimising car use and driving more economically, hammering down utility costs with regular switches and using less energy.

As there are 4 and a half weeks in a month you can either multiply your monthly out goings by 12 and divide by 52

So if your bills are £1000 per month and you want to put and extra £25 in for increased bills you need to put
£1000x12=£12000÷52=£230+25 extra for increases£255

I use s seperate bank account for all my bills so sweep the amount needed into the account each week/month by standing order.

You could do this in reverse and sweep what's left into a new account and that's your money left to spend each week

You could also try over a period of some months setting aside your total bill amount so that you're a month in advance iyswim. So if total bills come up to £700 get a current account until you have £700 saved up. Then transfer all direct debits to that account and then put £165 into the account each week (£700x12/52). If you overspend a little once in a while you've still got time to put extra in.

It's worth looking at Ynab - will allow you to put money towards your monthly expenses without having to set up extra accounts. Means you have to log all parts though (which may or may not work for you). There's a free 34 day trial so you could try it out?

Parts = payments

Lovely thanks for all the tips!