Irregular income amounts and payment dates

foolofbeans

GlendaSugarbean wrote: »

Do you have a complete list of all bills and when the payments are due? Can you pay everything plus basic groceries (minus spending money) on your minimum pay months?

That's the problem...we don't have enough income in the winter months to cover all our outgoings so end up getting further into debt. We need to get out ahead while we have a surplus income in summer and I'm hoping to pay debts down to an amount that we can cover in winter.
Doing an SOA and setting a budget was the easy part but I was just struggling to figure out how much I pay and when due to not having regular monthly payment dates.

foolofbeans

Fosterdog wrote: »

In the long run you need to get ahead of your payments with a buffer, firstly just the two weeks would do to cover until your OH gets paid next, eventually a full month meaning that it won't matter what date exactly you get paid you will always have enough to cover you. The final goal then being saving enough in the summer months to cover your costs over winter without getting into debt.
It would be worth posting up an SOA but go back over the last few months and work out what the lowest you've both been paid in a single month is, use that for your budgeting and any extra earned is a bonus that can go towards buffer savings/debt/luxury items.
Also if your OHs money is significantly lower in winter then he needs to look for an alternative income source in those months, plenty of retailers take on seasonal staff for the Christmas period.

I think the two week buffer is a great idea and something we can aim for in the short term and hopefully extend it to a four week buffer soon after. This might also enable us to get ahead of winter bills that we can't usually afford.
OH works very hard and his hours are variable so I don't know if he would be able to have a second job in winter. His income in winter is from a full-time job with some overtime so he already works a lot of hours and then in summer he works almost double the average working week so he's not a slacker.
It might be easier for me to get a winter job as OH's job is quite specialised and may prevent him from getting a supermarket job. I have childcare responsibilities but I'll try and find an evening job to tide us over in the winter months. Unfortunately we live in a seasonal area so most jobs are available in the summer months and in winter most places shut down.

thegreenone

I agree with Fosterdog but would also send extra payments to utilities now, in the summer months. I know most MSE'ers would say no, don't let the companies have the interest but I love getting my water bill in March that says "£0" or "£30" owed if I've had some weeks off paying, instead of a £480 bill. I pay an extra £9 per week on my CT which means my last payment for this year will be 19 November. Not affordable for many, I accept, but even small overpayments now will lessen the load in the winter. Send the overpayments to the utilities this summer/autumn, get on track and then next year save the money, if that suits you.