Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Money matters

Find financial and money-saving discussions including debt and pension chat on our Money forum. If you're looking for ways to make your money to go further, sign up to our Moneysaver emails here.

Original poster

Budgeting when on weekly (variable) pay

27 replies

Lovetosinglalala123 · 03/08/2018 20:04

I'm self-employed as a private tutor and clients pay me for lessons in blocks of 5. Everyone is on a different block of 5 - i.e. maybe 5 or 6 will be paying me this week, 10 next week, 2 the following week etc. DH is also paid weekly. Last year we had a number of things go wrong which wiped out our savings and we've never caught up. Fast forward to the last few months and, again, we've had some unexpected bills. We know how much we have to budget each week for everything but we seem to be stuck in a robbing Peter to pay Paul situation permanently and we just can't seem to get ahead of ourselves.

Anyone else in/been in this situation?

TIA

OP posts:
EllaNB · 03/08/2018 20:19

No advice, but watching eagerly as I am in a similar situation.

Original poster
Lovetosinglalala123 · 03/08/2018 20:56

It's not much fun is it Ella?

On paper we should be comfortable, but it certainly doesn't feel that way.

OP posts:
Brumchum · 03/08/2018 21:00

Yep never know from week to week how many hours work I will get. Every time the minimum wage goes up my hours seem to go down.

Strawberrybelly · 03/08/2018 21:02

Watching too. I have a job with variable hours each week and Dp is self employed so its a nightmare.

drquin · 03/08/2018 21:06

Sounds like a situation where an overdraft might work .... on an arranged basis, to get best rates.
I.e you know over the course of a month or 3 or 6 the total amount you should earn? It's just not the same equal amount each week / month? So, dip in to overdraft on some weeks, then pay it off on the busy weeks!

Years ago, I had a bank account which offered an account for exactly this purpose - the overdraft amount was equal to the annual deposit (I think!) so when I got paid weekly, I could still pay the annual car tax or insurance from the overdraft even if I hadn't "saved" enough.

drquin · 03/08/2018 21:07

Sorry, that was meant to be a ? Not a ! When suggesting paying off the overdraft on busy weeks.

flaofno · 03/08/2018 21:08

Is there a way of doing additional work (or separate job) for a couple of months to build up a buffer? Or being extra cautious with the money, even more so than usual, until you have built some savings?

Original poster
Lovetosinglalala123 · 03/08/2018 21:09

drquin it would be nice to be able to do that, but our credit rating is shot Sad

OP posts:
WeaselsRising · 03/08/2018 21:12

DH has been on weekly variable pay for many years, which has actually been paid 4-weekly for the last 10. The first thing I did was make sure that regular payments are spread out evenly through the month with a big enough gap that we never have 2 huge amounts come out the same week. The other thing was to work out the weekly mortgage payment and always ring fence that.

EllaNB · 03/08/2018 21:13

No it’s not fun, like you we spent our savings earlier this year and although I am to save again we seem to be forever chasing our tails. I’m working more and more to try and put some money aside to resolve the issue but ‘stuff’ keeps happening which means the money is needed in other places, this week it is my car!

Original poster
Lovetosinglalala123 · 03/08/2018 21:36

I keep starting a spending diary but end up forgetting by the middle of the week. Over the last few months I've been shopping almost daily for food, not huge amounts - between £5 and £15 - so I'm going to start putting my food budget into an envelope and make it last Friday to Thursday. DH is paid every Thursday.

I'm also looking at other ways of cutting back. I've not renewed the pet insurance for our dog - she's 13 now and it seems pretty much that any illnesses linked to old age are not going to be covered anyway, and should anything else crop up we wouldn't have the heart to put her through any treatments at her age. We don't have any other outgoings through the bank that are not necessary.

Weasel I've been trying to pay myself every 4 weeks but with things cropping up all the time, as soon as the money comes in it's being used. We have DD payments spread throughout the month and arranged with the mortgage provider that we pay weekly (we actually overpay by a few pounds a week - I round it up to the nearest £10) and luckily we're up to date with that and council tax. But, other payments sometimes bounce. I'm in the process of changing our current account and have found one that charges £12.50 per month but if payments bounce you don't get charged. I'm currently paying £15 for our account so an instant saving plus no charges should something bounce. Things always get paid just not always on the days they should.

Anyone know how easy it is to change payment dates of DDs? I've just had a look on our utility provider's website and it doesn't say.

It's a vicious circle!

OP posts:
drquin · 03/08/2018 21:43

Most DD or S/O you should be able to change the payment date .... maybe need to phone them up, rather than do online. Be prepared obviously for a month or so for everything to line up .... ideally you'd move some bills to your "busy" weeks (assuming there's some regularity to your income, even if it's over say a 6 or 10 week cycle rather than calendar months)

Would it work to buy an "extra big" food shop on the good weeks, buying as much in bulk as you could?
Or buying a "normal" week's shop ... but buy a gift card for supermarket at the same time, so you've got that for the quiet weeks?

Original poster
Lovetosinglalala123 · 03/08/2018 21:45

I'm considering suggesting to DH that we go down to one car. We own both of ours outright. DH's car is very old and only worth around £200. Mine is 10 years old but should last us a good few years even if DH uses it daily for work. That's £36 a month saved in tax and insurance, plus I won't be putting £20 of diesel into mine every week. The only downside to that is my DC are in school 10 miles away and should they become ill or I need to get to the school quickly I wouldn't be able to (everyone is in work!).

OP posts:
Original poster
Lovetosinglalala123 · 03/08/2018 21:57

I'm currently outstanding over £300 in student fees. Lesson 1 of the block fell the last week of school, parents "conveniently" forget on the day, promise to do a bank transfer or drop the money/cheque in the following day but bugger off on holiday before they do it. I have thought about pay on the day but knowing how people are, even if they signed a contract to say that all missed lessons must be paid for, you'll still get some who think the rules don't apply to them.

The joys of being self-employed!

OP posts:
Original poster
Lovetosinglalala123 · 03/08/2018 22:15

DrQuin there's no regularity unfortunately. My lesson timetable remains the same every week during term-time and I fill my diary in for two weeks in advance with a note of the total sum I should receive each week. In theory, I should be able to look at my diary and say "in 3 weeks time I will have x amount coming in" but it never works out like that.

OP posts:
MessySurfaces · 04/08/2018 11:25

It is a tricky one, and fundamentally the only way to do it without a lot of stress is to always be a month ahead- hahahahaha though. Far easier said than done!!
YNAB budgeting software is really good for this, actually. Someone put a link on here for a three month free trial, you could give that a go?

Ta1kinpeace · 04/08/2018 17:42

I've just bumped my spreadsheets thread to the top of the board.
Download the budgeting one to your own computer and have a look.

First thing I'd say is to stop using cash for anything ever.
Use your debit card for even two pints of milk
as then your bank statement becomes your budget sheet

Original poster
Lovetosinglalala123 · 04/08/2018 18:55

Isn't it easier to lose track of what you spend with debit cards though Ta1kinpeace?

I've filled in your budgeting spreadsheet (big thanks for that) and also Martin Lewis', but in black and white we have at least £100 left over every week after everything.

I need the whole of August and September to be unexpected cost free.

OP posts:
Ta1kinpeace · 04/08/2018 19:21

With credit card yes ....
with debit card less so - as the bank statement will glare at you
AND
because you can then download your transactions you'll know where EVERY penny went.

Moving away from cash is one of my standard pieces of advice to tax clients as it reduces their spending

MessySurfaces · 04/08/2018 22:57

I find I do well with "spending money" being cash, because that's frittering money anyway, so no great advantage to knowing exactly where it went. It's magazine, coffee, going out etc money. Our belts are tight right now though so it's only £10 a fortnight and when it's gone it's gone though, so not life changing sums! Everything "proper" goes on card.

OP, I think the problem is also that your budget clearly needs an "unexpected expenses" line, which is currently underfunded...
What kind of thing were the rogue expenses?

BarbaraofSevillle · 05/08/2018 08:49

Can you get all your income paid into one account and then transfer a fixed amount to a separate account once a month to pay for all your direct debits?

Then separate out the money you need for food/travel and child expenses and again transfer it to another account to spend as you need it and try to make it last?

Good to see you've thought about budgeting - have you included all 'unexpected costs'? You say you need August and September to be unexpected cost free, but if you have a car, pets or household appliances etc you will need to spend money on these sooner or later so aren't unexpected, just irregular so your budget needs to include them and you need the discipline to not spend this money on other things.

Then you need to look at what you are actually spending your spare £100 a week on and how much you are actually spending and can you cut down.

Are some of your essentials actually costing you more? Are you frittering or spending money on things that aren't strictly essential. Eg food and drink outside the home is massively more expensive than packed lunches etc and can be a huge money drain - the odd sandwich, coffee etc really adds up if you are doing it regularly, so something to look at.

Bellabutterfly2016 · 05/08/2018 09:05

We have another account for bills so we pay money it that one and everything comes out there and then our main accounts are for spending - that works quite well to keep it separate.

You could also get a second job to top your money up? A couple of shifts a week in an evening somewhere could really boost it up - worth considering

Bellabutterfly2016 · 05/08/2018 09:05

We have another account for bills so we pay money it that one and everything comes out there and then our main accounts are for spending - that works quite well to keep it separate.

You could also get a second job to top your money up? A couple of shifts a week in an evening somewhere could really boost it up - worth considering

KeynesianFem · 07/08/2018 22:31

The best thing to do is to change direct debits so they all come out around the same time. Then you can budget with what's left :-)

Original poster
Lovetosinglalala123 · 09/08/2018 20:53

Had a busy week so haven't been on here much. Thanks for the responses.

So this week I've stuck to my food budget successfully. I've had over half the outstanding monies owed to me in but that's paid the council tax and a new tyre on DH's car. DH's pay this week has been slightly less as he did a couple of hours less overtime last week. That's mostly eaten up by mortgage, gas & electric DD today and mobile phone DD, monthly car tax and insurance, B&C insurance and a personal loan. Between us there's enough left for my food budget for the coming week, plus hopefully I'll get the rest of the monies owed to me and a couple of others are due next week.

A couple of evening shifts would be handy if I didn't work between 11am and 8pm Monday to Friday plus much of Saturday and DH already does 6 days a week plus overtime.

I think the best thing to do is to shift as many DDs as possible to the end of the month. I know exactly how much needs to be put aside each week for bills so not knowing how to budget isn't the problem, it's trying to get ahead of ourselves.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread