Beware the December pay trap!

ndf9876

Payday for me is usually the last working day of the month (the last Friday if that falls on a weekend). I'd assumed that being paid early for us was because the payroll would need to be run over Christmas (when no staff were in) for us to be paid at this time in December. I get paid on 20th this year; in fairness though I've already budgeted for Christmas so it doesn't bother me either way - as long as my salary is in my bank account for when the direct debits start to come out at the beginning of January, I'm happy

D_M_E

Also everyone - don't forget to allow for the odd little December overspend which may be due for clearance out of January's pay.

TryingAgain2022

Thank you, a timely reminder! I got paid on 18th, next payday is 26th Jan yikes! Have shunted my regular 'savings' ie what I set aside so I don't accidentally spend it - into a separate account. Given I'd already run out of December's money (prescriptions and presents, unbudgeted for...) it would be far too easy to start in on January's. Xmas 2020 will be better precisely because I've started a regular shunt, and because this forum keeps me on the straight and mostly narrow. Thanks!

Naomim

ndf9876 wrote: »

Payday for me is usually the last working day of the month (the last Friday if that falls on a weekend). I'd assumed that being paid early for us was because the payroll would need to be run over Christmas (when no staff were in) for us to be paid at this time in December. I get paid on 20th this year; in fairness though I've already budgeted for Christmas so it doesn't bother me either way - as long as my salary is in my bank account for when the direct debits start to come out at the beginning of January, I'm happy

MrM also gets paid tomorrow and then in January the last Friday of the month is 31st Jan so we are definitely shunting the salaries over to keep us on the straight and narrow in January. :T

Naomim

yellowbear

Years ago I got paid on the last working day which was bad enough. The first year in that job I was given the option of taking up to £250.00 from January's pay in mid-December to help with Christmas shopping.
When January's pay packet landed it was a wake up call! How quickly I forgot I would be £250 light plus I didn't realise I would be taxed on a full pay packet. I only did that once! Never made that mistake again.

Sncjw

Got paid today and I have moved my money over. It’s another week to go but it makes it easier for me to work out how much I am able to spend. Also to put extra money onto my credit card.


This complaining about payroll the banking system might be down over the Christmas break so they do it early to ensure people get their money. Payroll has a cut off so they can sort the money out.

onwards&upwards

I got paid today, usual payday is the 25th.

Since I started using YNAB things like this make very little difference. Every penny is budgeted so the actual date it arrives doesn’t actually matter anymore, it’s very freeing!

Naomim

onwards&upwards wrote: »

I got paid today, usual payday is the 25th.

Since I started using YNAB things like this make very little difference. Every penny is budgeted so the actual date it arrives doesn’t actually matter anymore, it’s very freeing!

MrM and I got paid too. My usual payday is the 25th, his is last working Friday of the month. Both salaries moved into savings for now. This is my first full month of giving every penny a job so not quite there yet on organising how it should be.

Naomim x

monetxchange

It’s happened! A smallish invoice has got paid today, a staggering two weeks early. I actually chuckled when I saw it had gone in, thinking of this post. It’s safely sitting there in my account I only use for direct debits not for spending, awaiting the new year and all the bills to come ��

DD265

We normally get paid on the last working day of the month, and this year they're paying us on the 27th I think. I am not so skint (thanks to YNAB) that I need to know as long as the money does hit my account before 2nd January!

They do this so that we can take advantage of the sales, but (in theory) don't get drawn into using it for Christmas. I suspect quite a few people will have a bit of an overspend to cover though.

There's a radio advert doing the rounds at the minute, not sure if it's Samsung or Argos, but the mother has basically bought the latest phone for one (teenage/adult) child, a tablet for another, and either headphones/speakers for the third. Do they honestly expect that one parent will spend that much?! :eek: