how to make a weekly salary work?

[bananafish]

I'll be doing a quick 6-8 month contract as a freelancer, but they will be paying me weekly and I'm a bit bemused as to how to make it fit with my outgoings.

I wish I was better at budgeting but I'm not the best with money and have got myself into serious trouble before, even though I earn above average, and I don't want to screw up.

I've always been paid monthly and all my direct debits and standing orders are set up to go out around the 26th as I'm usually paid on the 24th.

I was thinking that after a month, I could just set the weekly payments to go into another account and then pay myself at the end of the month.

Does that sound sensible or is there another blindingly obvious thing that I am missing?

Spreadsheets literally make me panic, so anything that avoids them would be most welcome.

I used to move money into a separate account and then move over enough for my bills on the due date and treat the rest as my spending money.

Set up another account (if you don't already have one) . Pay yourself on 24th the amount you've got in the account from the incoming weekly payments on the 24th, and if it's enough for you to survive on then set up the subsequent payments from that account to you for the exact same amount. What's left in that account at the end of the contract is savings for tax (or whatever)

1 account for spending, another account for bills.
Leave the card for the bills account at home. Set a standing order between accounts.

If you can't trust yourself to have the money sitting around in an account with your name on then you could find out the account numbers and sort codes for the payment accounts of your various providers ( electricity, council tax, etc, they'll be on the bill). And then set up weekly standing orders sufficient to cover your predicted usage. You'd need to come off the direct debit tariffs and go over to being billed quarterly in arrears. You'd be paying the providers early, and your account would be constantly in credit, so they shouldn't complain.

You need a budget (YNAB) is perfect for this. It's budgeting software based on the envelop method. It's paid but there's a 30 day free trial.

Open a second bank account and get your pay added to that.

Work out your bills for the next 12 months and add whatever percentage you anticipate they will increase by too. Divide them by 52 and then have a standing order from your new account to your existing account.

Also have a standing order to transfer money into savings each week. What is left is for weekly expenses like food.

As a separate tip also keep a balance in your account that you treat as if it were a zero balance e.g. £500 it should help stop you going overdrawn.

Work out your bills for the next 12 months and add whatever percentage you anticipate they will increase by too. Divide them by 52 and then have a standing order from your new account to your existing account.

I would do this, you can have weekly standing orders - just cut up your debit card for that account, so you can't spend the direct debit money.

I would just add, I used to use this method when I was paid weekly but divided the yearly 12 month figure by 48 not 52, that way I had some wiggle room for money

woodcut - sorry I meant to highlight your paragraph

Work out your bills for the next 12 months and add whatever percentage you anticipate they will increase by too. Divide them by 52 and then have a standing order from your new account to your existing account

This