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So, my awesome DH has just been offered (and accepted) a new job! Downside is it's paid monthly... End of each month.
currently we are paid weekly and we live week to week. Well that's about to be turned upside down :(
For the first 3 weeks there will be no money coming in.
can anyone give me some pointers on managing monthly pays?!
im really stressed out about it. Have rent + loans + credit card as well as shopping and fuel etc to consider
Both DH and I are paid monthly, we work for the same company.
There is definitely an adjustment period, but you do get used to it.
Budgeting is the key, if you haven't already got one, get a budget happening.
Everything is paid monthly for us, including our mortgage, which I know isn't ideal, but whilst we're both being paid monthly it works for us. We get paid on the 15th and I have direct debits in place for the 16th that pays everything we need to - mortgage, electricity, phone, gas etc
I then have a monthly budget for everything else - groceries, incidentals, fuel, clothing, entertainment. I then divide this amount by how many weeks are in the month (sometimes there's 4, sometimes there's 5) and I then know how much I can afford to spend each week.
DH and I get a set amount of "pocket money" for the month and once it's gone, it's gone. Savings are also budgeted and go straight into our savings account on the 15th so we're not tempted to spend it.
If there's anything else you need help with let me know, it's a big adjustment but it can definitely be done :)
My Dh gets a monthly salary too. We set a budget for day-to-day household expenses that get transferred into another account each fortnight and what's left stays in the account that accumulates and gets used to pay monthly bills and the power bill etc. We are really strict with enforcing it and it's worked really well for us. We've been doing it like this now for the past 7 years. We worked on $400 p/w ($800p/ft) plus the FTB when we were getting that. that was enough to cover groceries and other minor expenses each week.
My brother is paid monthly. They make sure that everything that can be paid monthly is, and they get that out of the way first (rent, electricity etc). Then the rest is divided into four and a quarter is transferred to an everyday account each week.
We manage it with 4 bank accounts.
1. Bills & Mortgages
2. Groceries and other family spending
3. DH's pocket money
4. My pocket money
I have a big spreadsheet that lists all our income and expenses, I used that to develop a budget, and that tells me how the income needs to be split to cover our costs.
To begin win, it helps to try and get all your bills to come in monthly, that way you don't get a big ones that come in quarterly.
Eeek, i can see a huge stressful mess happening. DH does all our finances and budgeting , I do the spending! I think I'll need to be strict on myself big time
Any Centrelink money I get, goes to my bank account, his wages into his own. Each fortnight a set amount is sent to our joint account.
Spoke to the RE today and told them that his wages are changing to monthly, and that there will be 3 weeks before we pay (we are in advance any how) and the manager had a sook that we needed to pay the extra 3 weeks now then.
Im really really scared and that we will fall into financial problems. I guess like all new changes, will be a huge adjustment, and I may need to return to work ASAP
I get paid monthly and all the bills come from my pay. DH gets paid weekly and the mortgage comes from his. I'm about to go on mat leave with no pay till baby arrives so possibly 12w without an income.
My DH is on monthly wage and in all honesty, it took time to get used to. The amount of times we thought 'we're rich!' lol, but the money has to last of course :lol:
We use a cash envelope system for everything. So we worked out how much all our expenses are and put money away each month in seperate envelopes. That way when bills come in the money is already accounted for. For instance, we worked out our gas was usually $120 bi monthly, $60 goes in that envelope each pay. There was nothing worse than those months where everything was due and we had nothing left over, hence starting this system.
All other expenses like health insurance are debited monthly, a day or two after pay day.
We love it now! Good luck to your DH on the new job.
We have been on monthly pay for 6 years now. It took some time to get used to, that last week can be a killer. I remember at the start being in the next town with the petrol light on and I only had $2 left - I put in less than a litre lol.
I do the finances, so on pay day I do internet banking and pay all the monthly utility bills and anything else. I leave enough in the account for mortgage and insurance direct debits and leave one week of groceries/petrol/spending in the account and transfer the rest to another account and then pay us weekly. Any extra/unexpected bills have to wait until next pay. The five week months often come to stuff up my system. They are the biggest issue, because you have the same amount of cash but you have to make it last longer.
It is only 11 pays until Christmas.
Is only in the past two years I have ever been paid anything but monthly - I am not sure whether it is has just got more common to be paid more frequently or was just more common in the UK to be paid monthly.
I used to do a budget on a spreadsheet - now I use YNAB software/system (which is like an electronic envelope system really) - we also just pay on credit card what we can and pay that off each month, I check where we are with everything at least once a week sometimes more frequently (I save alot on petrol using credit card because I exchange credit card points for Caltex vouchers). There is a whole system around YNAB which is about basically getting a month ahead (having a month buffer) so you don't have to worry about exactly when paid, it takes a while to achieve it but makes life easier when you get there).
DH is paid monthly. We have 3 joint accounts: one for direct debits, one for spends and one for savings. The mortgage, utilities, insurances etc are paid by direct debit. We use bill smoothing on all utilities so that some is paid off each month. A certain amount is paid into that account each month and it cannot be removed.
the spends account is for groceries, meals, household etc. we both have our own accounts for personal spends. DH also has an accrual account for things like car rego.
i'm a spender and find that the month often lasts longer than the money, so I've also started to accrue for certain spends within the month. This includes putting money away for chiro, physio, etc.