'Does early pay in December help or hurt?' poll discussion

Wendle

I too thought companies paid earlier to avoid possible delays and disruption over Christmas. If January wasn't a depressing enough month after the festivities of Christmas, waiting 5 or 6 weeks for your salary is the icing on the cake.

nearlyrich

Makes no difference to me really usually get paid on about 27th and December salary went in on 23rd, I use a credit card for shopping to get the cash back so the early cash is no big deal.

Mips

It most definitely hurts if you're last minute shoppers

If you endeavour to get the shopping all finished by November.. and just do a food shop in December.. all is fine.

We're OK this year but I remember one year when the shop was about to go bust... we spent all our money paying the girls who worked there.. so we had nothing.

kathy206

I think there should be an option where,say , £50 a month is deducted from your wages Jan-Nov then the lump sum be paid around the 2nd week Jan to soften the blow. Or maybe I could just do that this year- Doh!

Spendless

In his previous job Mr S used to be paid a week before his usual pay date in December and whilst it made it a tougher January, it was most def a help in December. In Jan you've got goodies left over from Christmas you're sick of the sight of, probably received smelliesfor Christmas so no need to buy toiletries and supermarkets gear their special offers knowing this is a frugal month. You're probably all partied out, so won't want to be going anyway and most of your friends are in the same skint boat.

In his current job Mr S gets paid on the same usual pay date, which for us is the last working day of the month, so NYE. I find it a killer for December tbh and I make sure that I've got all my xmas presents bought by end of Nov for this reason BUT there is still extra expensiture such as turkey, more 'special' foods, food & alcohol for entertaining friends/family, drinks and sometimes cost of meal on a works xmas night out etc etc.

Having experienced both I'd much rather have a payday in December that was BEFORE christmas.

minerva_windsong

If you do all your Christmas shopping early in December (or even before), ie using November's money or money you've been putting aside all year, then you should be OK. And no one has to buy things in the January sales, although if you are doing a stock up of some kind (ie on toiletries) then in a way you're saving yourself money over the next year because you might not have to buy it for a while. I'm not saying don't treat yourself but for me it's about spreading the cost in a sensible and manageable way (say by saving any extra money from earlier in the year to dip into if necessary), if that makes sense.

irishwench69

I put it helps, as I definitely don't think it hinders.......an option for it doesn't make a difference either way would have been best, as others have already said!

I wouldn't have thought it would have such an effect on a lot of people with budgeting and spreading the cost of christmas, new years etc......or do people not do this?!

IW x

Bargain_Rzl

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

Doesn't matter as I budget on the calendar month anyway.

Me too - I get paid on the 21st for the month running 1st-30th/31st of the month, so mostly in arrears, but partly in advance. I aim to live only on the previous month's money until the month is actually over. Most of my direct debits go out on 1st of the month, and whatever's left after that is the money for the rest of the month.

I also budget monthly for Christmas, with my annual Christmas budget running from December's payslip to November's payslip. So it makes absolutely no difference either way. I also do an annual round-up of my accounts at the end of December, and any spare cash (say I've budgeted £200 for haircuts over the course of the year and only spent £150 so have £50 left over) gets siphoned off either into savings, or for spending in the January sales, or more commonly a combination of the two.

We used to get paid on 26th, except for December which would be earlier - now it's 21st we get paid on the 21st (or last working day before 21st if 21st isn't a working day) every month including December.

tara747

Jennifer_Jane wrote: »

Doesn't matter as I budget on the calendar month anyway.

Me too. :beer:

Bargain_Rzl wrote: »

Me too - I get paid on the 21st for the month running 1st-30th/31st of the month, so mostly in arrears, but partly in advance. I aim to live only on the previous month's money until the month is actually over. Most of my direct debits go out on 1st of the month, and whatever's left after that is the money for the rest of the month.

I also budget monthly for Christmas, with my annual Christmas budget running from December's payslip to November's payslip. So it makes absolutely no difference either way.

Same here! I am lucky in that I earn a good salary, so I am never stuck for money, even in the month. So my budget is not affected. I spread the cost of Christmas with Grabbits, sales etc. It does, however, hurt most of my friends, who do not budget and just spend from paycheque to paycheque. Result: they are all skint by the 6th of January. I cringe at the money some of them waste sometimes! :eek:

January is a good month for a physical and financial detox and I take the opportunity to do both (well, the chocolate consumption never really dips that much, ahem).

Halima

It would have helped me this year! I got paid on the 24th - which was earlier than usual but what was the point in that for people who wanted to shop?! anyway back to the point. I went on holiday and was stressed out about not having enough money to spend!! It worked out good in the end though :T but NY is so expensive even just to eat!!