That time of year.....beware the spending trap!

louby40

I got paid on the 14th December, 2 weeks early and I did exactly as you said. It's sat in my savings account waiting.

I'm going to pay myself officially on the 27th

Katzen

Great idea EH! Thank you

System

I an being paid 3 days early all i will do is pay my rent early everything else is DD .

Deep_In_Debt

I actually get paid on 23rd this month and usual payday is 26th so not too bad.

When I worked for my previous company we got paid very early in December which often left 6 or 7 weeks until January payday. I often used to have 2 mortgage payments going out in the one pay, so no overspending at Christmas at all. Plus I used to have car MOT due in the January too so it was a bit of a tight time.

Dobbibill

Excellent advice EssexHebridean.

I echo you in wishing everyone a Happy Crimbo and here's looking forward to more DFW success stories in 2017.

EssexHebridean

Loving seeing all the reaction to this. It's a drum I've banged for a good few years now but this is the first time I've thought to give it its own thread. For me it is very much part of the whole thing of learning to budget, and becoming fully aware of exactly where your money is going, and where it needs to go.

DD265

This is what makes me glad that we only tend to get paid a couple of days early. There would be too much temptation in the sales otherwise, despite the fact that I really struggled to think of anything I wanted for Christmas.

GirlupNorth

Hi, we get paid tomorrow! it's SO early and makes January 7 weeks long. Luckily I'll have enough and have already bought relevant presents etc, but I'm not sure how this is a good idea. We also finish on Thursday so even that would have been slightly better. It's just a slippery slope, but I guess employers (even large ones) don't think about people who may struggle by the end of January.

I have some cash which I'll use this week and still some money in the bank, but will have to be careful until January actually starts as I don't want to use my credit card which is now clear or emergency fund

GirlupNorth

I've also cancelled my overdraft now so I have to live within my means going to try and spend as little as possible until pay day would normally be, so it feels more normal. We will see...lots of netflix and sleeping I think!

EssexHebridean

This is where setting the money aside if it arrives early come in though. Essentially nothing is different - January is the same length as March, May, July, August, October and December, it's just that the money arrives ahead of time. It's just that psychological thing that causes people problems though, and that's what a little bit of advance planning can help to counteract.