Clockwork
Member
For me:
Rent 1st
Utilities (water/electricity) 3rd
Internet 5th
Phone 13th
Car payment 15th
Car insurance 23rd
Other bills (credit cards, subscription services, etc) can vary.
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Paycheck the same week as spouse/SO or opposite week?
- Thread starter CitizenCope
- Start date
- Status
For me:
Rent 1st
Utilities (water/electricity) 3rd
Internet 5th
Phone 13th
Car payment 15th
Car insurance 23rd
Other bills (credit cards, subscription services, etc) can vary.
Randolph Freelander
Member
I worked a job where I got paid monthly for about 3 years. I began to pay myself by having my income go to savings, and then have regular transfers into checking to cover my expenses. I still employ that technique even though I've left that job and am now in one that pays every other week, as it helps to promote savings in general (by paying myself a lesser amount than what comes in).
whatsinaname
Member
Nah, I chose not to have automatic payments for most items. Safer to pay it after checking the amount than trying to correct a mistake after the fact. The only automated billing I have is for my phone.
Basically, lol.
We just switched to opposite weeks since I got a new job and I really prefer it because we can grocery shop more often. A lot of times we would start to run low on food and not have any way to get more for 4-5 days.
Yep, but it's basic fiscal responsibility. I get paid monthly and do fine; I have friends making much more than me who are living paycheck to paycheck.
And I don't do automatic billing, just have reminders on my phone make sure I remember to pay. Too easy for a service to keep drawing off money "accidentally" even after you've cancelled service if you give them the opportunity.
Randolph Freelander
Member
I'm not giving every last utility and creditor my banking information. How many times have we seen data stores get compromised with consumer financial information involved? Screw that. I do, however, handle all of my bills through online bill payment through my bank and I can schedule those things to be automatic (or in automatic response to received bills, as the case may be). So I can coordinate them all to go out on the same day, if I so desire, or spread them out during the month. It really doesn't matter as long as I'm consistent about ensuring the funds are available when needed.
ClosingADoor
Member
Fair enough. I'm a bit more lazy with it. Over the past 8 years or so I never had my internet company or others make a faulty transaction with this. And over here you can just reverse such a payment anyway in the 2 months after. The bank will transfer the money back.
Tell that to the people on London. People are paying over half their income on rent.
Marty Chinn
Member
If half your monthly income is going to your mortgage, you can't afford the place you bought. So it's not usually a problem getting paid twice a month and being able to pay a mortgage.
this is actually pretty smart.
it also reminds me of my mom who used to say that she would always make it require the most work possible for them to get her money, so she always sends a check, at the last possible second haha
Marty Chinn
Member
I live in the Bay Area; I'm well versed in high housing costs. That doesn't change what I said though.
Zoe
Member
Of course nearly everything allows automatic payments these days. But some people would rather double-check the billing before hitting the button to send over money.
All but two of my accounts (rent and gas) are set to auto-pay out of my credit cards. I manually check my credit card transactions because I don't want to pay for something if I've been mistakenly billed.
And this past month, if I had had my rent set to auto-pay, I would have overpaid by around $100 because they messed up entering my lease renewal into the system and a month-to-month fee was getting tacked on.
ClosingADoor
Member
Sounds like a waste of money on stamps. Although I understand the paying at the last moment mindset for interest and such.
You could just reverse the payment then right? I have little experience with how it would go from a credit card, never claimed money back.
Private sector yes. Public sector, it varies.
That was one of the sticking points in the last BART contract dispute here in the Bay Area. BART wanted to move to direct deposit. The union insisted on keeping live paper checks.
1) I think he meant that the bills always have the same due dates each month, not that they were all due on the same day.
2) If someone can't get a credit card, there are always debit cards and bank bill pay. Plenty of free options to auto-pay so you don't miss a due date.
If your bills are spread out, then getting paid on say, the 1st and the 15th isn't bad. But if your bills are all concentrated in the first half of the month, you might as well be getting paid monthly, because you're using two checks worth to cover it all.
Nope, it's all spread out. Getting one lump sum each month is easier for budgeting as you have the whole month's allocation at once, but if you're living paycheck to paycheck and don't budget, it's easier to just "spend it as it comes in," which is way more common than it should be in the US.
Use a credit card and you're protected. Zero risk that way, plus cash back and/or rewards points to boot.
50% of monthly income to mortgage is standard in SF. If you're paying less than that, you're living the good life in the Bay Area.
Yes. Especially with energy companies who couldn't tot up a tab at McDonald's. Jokers.
I've always been paid bi-weekly but I make it a point to pay everything with my credit card outside of rent, they charge an extra 20 bucks for that crap. I don't live paycheck to paycheck but live with that mentality always trying to siphon more money into my savings account that then goes to my IRAs or stays in savings. I leave myself 150-200 to pull out some cash and for "fun" that I have to make last until next paycheck.
My work could pay me once per year and I would not have a problem. I know my expenses and would just plan ahead, keeping the rest save. Monthly is normal here in Germany and even then I don't care. Germans have another culture in that regard. Most have savings of at least one or two months (statistically).
Marty Chinn
Member
The way I look at it is if you're not living paycheck to paycheck, then the frequency doesn't matter. It could be every week, every two weeks or once a month but it wouldn't matter.
If you are living paycheck to paycheck, then more frequent payments is more beneficial than less frequent paychecks. Thus, having it every week or biweekly isn't weird because it helps those who need it. A monthly paycheck might be problematic. As much as I would hope that it would kick their ass in gear about budgeting if they got paid monthly, my guess would be it wouldn't do that at all and more people would end up suffering.
Ugh, I know how ridiculous housing is here, but I just can't ever imagine paying 50%. I still say paying 50% means you can't afford the place, but that doesn't mean people don't do it. Our mortgage is about 1/3rd, but I think it helps that we're dual income rather than single income. Paying 50% just sounds like you're setting yourself up for potential disaster in the long run. I think I'd be afraid if I was paying that much every month.
Clockwork
Member
No weird 3 paycheck months
But I love 3 paycheck months. My bills don't change so I know one of the checks I can just transfer right to savings.
Well they wouldn't pay you before hand.
SolidusDave
Member
Yeah I don't really get it. Must be a US thing where most have literally no savings?
You have to always try to save up some reserves. I would see it as dangerous to look eagerly forward to your next paycheck so that you can buy thing x. Possibly even spending more than usual because you get that I'm-rich-bitch feeling.
That's exactly why that money gets spend so quickly so that you have nothing left in the last days waiting for the next paycheck to which the cycle begins all over again.
Nah, that's just seems super stressful.
Walter White Walker
Member
I've been paid monthly for years. Also it's a small business and I get an actual check, which is handwritten. The FICA info is written into the memo field.There's been a few times over the years where someone is like "But I need your paystub" and I'm "That is my paystub." ¯\_(ツ
_/¯
_/¯
spawnsniper
Member
I get paid every two weeks with her getting paid every friday. We're pretty good.
Jeronimo Jones
Member
Mentally, I prefer the idea of getting paid on opposite weeks just because money is coming every week, even though we don't live check to check. Our pay schedules are now synced and it hasn't made a difference.
*I don't know how many times a day I see some variation of "lol must be a US thing" get posted only to be proven wrong.
*I don't know how many times a day I see some variation of "lol must be a US thing" get posted only to be proven wrong.
I get paid on the last Thursday of the month, which is shit because 5-7 times out of 12 (give or take) I have to wait five weeks before getting paid again instead of four. My girlfriend gets paid on the third Friday of the month and it's the same story. We're in the UK.
Getting paid on the last day of the month would make the gaps more consistent and is a novelty I can't wait to experience one day.
Getting paid on the last day of the month would make the gaps more consistent and is a novelty I can't wait to experience one day.
Skellig Gra
Member
We've always got paid on opposite weeks. It's definitely nicer that way.
Thing on a Spring
Member
Last working day of the month for almost ten years for me. She gets paid every Thursday. It works.
Marty Chinn
Member
Are you saying that people outside of the US don't live paycheck to paycheck? Are you saying everyone outside of the US is fiscally responsible and knows how to budget and has money saved? I find it hard to believe this is a US only problem.
Dr. Zoidberg
Member
Same. I pay no attention to this. We always make sure to keep enough "buffer" money in the bank so we don't live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Septimus Prime
Member
I get paid twice a month, on the last weekday on or before the 15th and last day of the month. My wife just started at a new firm, so I actually have no idea when her pay periods are yet.
For bills, we try to pay as many of them as possible with credit cards and then pay off the cards. It helps tremendously in earning points, so it's like a 1-3% refund. Utilities are backwards and don't allow that, though.
For bills, we try to pay as many of them as possible with credit cards and then pay off the cards. It helps tremendously in earning points, so it's like a 1-3% refund. Utilities are backwards and don't allow that, though.
I really have no idea if we get paid at the same time. I usually don't know what week I get paid in. That's not a boast..I'm just oblivious, because I use direct deposit, and I know that what I get is enough to cover my end of the regular bills and a specified extra principal amount to student loans (but not a heck of a lot more), so I only check it every so often, to make sure there's nothing funny going on.
SolidusDave
Member
I'm from Germany so yeah it's definitely less common here.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/08/15/10-countries-where-people-save-most-money.html
On average a US citizen saves half as much of their income.
Coupled with that thread some time ago about most Americans having less than $1000 in savings (counting EVERYTHING) makes me think there are indeed differences in how money is handled even among different first world cultures. The concept of e.g. using loans from your credit cards as emergency funds is pretty much unheard of here.
theignoramus
Member
No kidding. Ive no doubt its brought you great peace of mind and neutralized many an argument.
The Albatross
Member
We're both bi-weekly and I think we're on opposite weeks but I really have no idea. Our finances are mostly separate, minus a shared account we have for vacations, groceries, etc., but our paychecks go into our own accounts.
*edit*
I used to love getting paid monthly.
And then I loved getting paid twice monthly (e.g., 10th and 24th)
I like bi-weekly the least because it's always changing and takes a slightly more amount of brain power to remember if I got paid last week or if I'm getting paid this week.
I love how every topic, every thread, can turn into a good ol' fashioned, nose-in-the-air elitist scolding from Europeans.
*edit*
I used to love getting paid monthly.
And then I loved getting paid twice monthly (e.g., 10th and 24th)
I like bi-weekly the least because it's always changing and takes a slightly more amount of brain power to remember if I got paid last week or if I'm getting paid this week.
I love how every topic, every thread, can turn into a good ol' fashioned, nose-in-the-air elitist scolding from Europeans.
electricshake
Member
When you guys say biweekly do you mean twice a week or fortnightly?
BeforeU
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
Septimus Prime
Member
It could mean either one, but usually people mean once per every two weeks.
Soapbox Killer
Grand Nagus
I just went from weekly to 7th and the 21st.
SolidusDave
Member
I was just replying to the question if there is indeed a lack in savings in the US and that it's more likely that more people are doing the paycheck-to-paycheck thing.
My initial observation was just that such a thread would probably have a different tone if posted in a EU-centric forum.
Random Painted HIghway
Member
my wife and I both are paid monthly on the 1st. This is not a big deal for us but we aren't close to the poverty level or spend to where we would run out of cash.
- Status