Had my lightbulb moment!

ajbell · 7 April 2016 at 7:49PM

Being paid every 4 weeks means 13 paydays a year so you should make it easier not harder?.

scottishbrummy · 7 April 2016 at 8:38PM

Afraid not ajbell, being paid every 4 weeks means payday gets earlier and earlier until you get to the point where you get paid (for me 8th April) and if all your bills go out on a fixed date it gets tricky to budget. Made even worse if you get yourself into a position where you've missed a payment!

ajbell · 7 April 2016 at 8:41PM

That's crazy.
If you asked people whether they would like to get paid earlier each and every month they would take it.
Plus at some point you get paid twice in a month.

scottishbrummy · 7 April 2016 at 8:49PM

Yes I get paid on 3rd June then again on 1st July, which is when the bills go out. Will be great but just making it to that point right now seems like it'll be a struggle!

scottishbrummy · 8 April 2016 at 7:56PM

So today's payday giving me an available balance of £1375. I've paid off my gas/electric (£205) and the loan payment I missed has come out too (£170). In the morning I'll phone Santander and pay mortgage (362) leaving me with £843 for the rest of the month. I'm scheduled for the next loan and mortgage payment on 1st May but not getting paid until the 6th. When I call Santander tomorrow I'm going to ask if they can move my payment date to the 6th so that nothing bounces and will hopefully give me breathing space until June. Because my loan went to debt management (within 6 days of the first time ever missing a payment) RBS have told me I can't ask for the payment date to be moved until 5 days after the loan has been paid, so will pop in next week and see them.
I've still got a massive way to go, but I feel at least now I'm not sticking my head in the sand and will be paying my debt back relatively soonish.
Off to check valued opinions now for some surveys.

scottishbrummy · 9 April 2016 at 10:07AM

Just paid mortgage - and they've agreed to me paying 6th may, 3rd June then 1st July which means no double payments (yay!!). The woman I spoke to was actually really helpful.
Doing this takes a lot of stress off. Needless to say - I'm a happy bunny right now!

eschaton · 10 April 2016 at 6:10PM

ajbell wrote: »

Being paid every 4 weeks means 13 paydays a year so you should make it easier not harder?.

scottishbrummy wrote: »

Afraid not ajbell, being paid every 4 weeks means payday gets earlier and earlier until you get to the point where you get paid (for me 8th April) and if all your bills go out on a fixed date it gets tricky to budget. Made even worse if you get yourself into a position where you've missed a payment!

Afraid you are making excuses. Pay day does get earlier until the point where you get paid twice in a month.

I've been paid 4 weekly for over 20 years and it's great to be able to add even more to your savings once a year when you get paid twice in the month.

scottishbrummy · 14 April 2016 at 3:38PM

Just a little update to let everyone know how I'm getting on...

I probably was making excuses re the 4 week pay, however, I do think once you're in a cycle where you're behind with bills it doesn't really matter if you're paid weekly, 4 weekly, or monthly.

I've been looking through the forum and found a really good tip which I've used this week and has been really helpful: take out cash from the cashpoint instead of spending on card all the time. I can't believe how well this has worked for me. I withdrew £30 last Saturday to cover food and anything else I might need. I still have £2.80 left! Yay!
It might sound like I've spent a lot, but when I look at how much I'd normally spend I've saved loads

I'm up to £7 on valued opinions now too, surprised by how quickly it's adding up. I've not been on there that long, so I'm hoping by June I'll have enough to buy a goodish fathers day gift that I can add to with something I can make (no idea what yet!!)

Also, found out yesterday I'm getting a bonus in May (5% of last years pay!) so that will help me to pay down my debts quicker.

Thanks for the feedback so far!

moneyonmymindsam · 14 April 2016 at 11:04PM

Hi SB :j

Well done you seem to be doing great! - do you have a debt free diary?

Think about keeping some of the Bonus as an Emergency Fund - i.e. enough set aside to pay mortgage or an emergency bill :eek:

:T Good luck and wishing you all the best.:beer:

muppetscotland · 15 April 2016 at 12:15PM

Often creditors will allow.you to make smaller payments every four weeks, for example my mortgage provider offers that although we don't use it as paid monthly. If.you are finding it hard to budget then that might be an option?

Well done on sorting things at a young age. Trust me it only gets worse the longer you leave it.

Had my lightbulb moment!

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