I’ve always had a rule of ‘paying myself first’, this doesn’t mean putting aside money I can spend willy nilly, it simply means putting funds aside into long term savings accounts (for a specific purpose, ie. Travel as that’s important to me, House/Car savings etc). I find having these funds go straight out of my bank account as soon as I get paid helps to minimise the amount of money I waste on stuff I don’t really need. I have a specific amount each week which is left in my bank account to spend on whatever I want and when it run’s out too bad (Most of the time, I’m still human and occasionally raid those savings accounts when I need *cough* want something bigger).
I have also always been paid either weekly or fortnightly so not had to worry too much about the money as it comes in regularly and the AP’s I have set up sort everything out for me. Enter the new job and being paid Monthly, seriously what the heck is up with that! I’m sure it will be a sweet pay day when you do get the funds but how do people who haven’t got AP’s and the like set up get by?
Genuine question, what do you do (or have you done) when your paid monthly?
Welcome to the life of accounting firms 🙂 Save money for them by paying you less frequently (ie: less payruns and more time that they $$ sits in their account earning interest, rule of finance #1).
I found the adjustment a bit hard initially, but once I realised most bills come in monthly I found it works really well. You just have to be a bit careful when you do get paid as it seems like you have SO much money, then come week 4 it can be a bit of a struggle… buy me coffee? 😉
I’ve adjusted to it now and think I actually prefer being paid monthly now, I find I’m saving more as I take a certain amount straight into a savings a/c as soon as I get paid and so far have managed not to touch it. It was a weird adjustment though as the firm I was with before was accounting and we got paid fortnightly! Sounds like all the bigger firms do it monthly though which does make sense from their end!
LOL I could buy you a coffee since I’ve only just got paid 😉 But don’t ask in a couple of weeks :p