changing hours - how will I manage financially

[EleanorReally]

one of my weekly job pay becoming monthly pay
so lacking the extra £75 - 100 per week top up, will receive it at end of month.
how can i tighten belt?

‘Eat the cupboards’?
Basically, make sure that rather than buying food, you use what you got.

I’ve also been known to do a bog chunk of overtime and use that money as a buffer for anything life migt throw at me.

Depends how tight to the wire you were before. If it’s a “drop the caviar” or “can’t afford bills”.

Can you look at any of your bills and see if you can get a lower rate? I recently “saved” £200 a year (same provider) for home insurance, £16.70 a month adds up. Reviewed all of our insurances and dropped it a bit (I decided insurance is needed but you can drop cover levels to drop cost).

Energy saving - switch off / use less. Results in penny savings daily, difficult in a gadget age but kids (husband) can leave a lot of things on.

Food savings. Shop around a bit, use loyalty points and bonus point periods - Tesco’s Christmas clubs handy and nectar is useful. Online ordering can mean you’re more savy rather than impulse buying. Go to own brands rather than well know. Aldi / Lidl are cheaper for certain things compared to Asda. Frozen meat and veg is often a lot cheaper.

Bulk out meals with cheaper items - pulses, grains, rice, veg. Fruit is often relatively expensive so stick to offers or frozen fruits.

Check the entitled to website incase you’re missing any help you can get.

Is there any chance you can gain hours back?

I wondered about just doing extra for a few weeks
thanks all

We are tight to the wire, which is why the odd extra week is a godsend, will have to work all hours

Other than any initial transitional period where it might be difficult to manage you won’t be getting any less money though. You’ll just need to budget it differently.

Can you get it paid into another account and only transfer what you need weekly as if it’s a weekly wage?

good idea latte, the extra will come at the end of the month

I find it useful to transfer my money into various pots with specific names,

• general (mortgage, bills, etc)

• child (childcare, clothing, bits)

• gifts (Christmas and birthday)

• savings 😂

Means I feel slightly less pressured if it’s a tight month, and I will transfer spare money from another account if needed. But we don’t have to panic that I’ve got no money for a card or small present for family.