The great payday debacle

Now those of you that know me, know that I am always banging on about how I am short of money 'this' month. Blah, blah! I know! Hopefully I will pass my probation and keep my new job, which if I bring in the same about of business in 2008 as I did in 2007 I can expect a 30% pay increase in '08 over '07. Fingers crossed!

Right now, I am out of money! Lol! But it was January's pay that wiped me out.......

Like most folks I was paid early in December, on the 21th in fact. I had to pay off for the France trip, buy Xmas presents and leave enough in the tanks to make my financial commitments in January. January is always a tough ole month for everybody, and for me it was to be 6 weeks without money coming in. So obvious I was quite desperate by the end, and it was with glee that I went to the ATM Jan 31st, only to find no money there!

I hastily rang my old company and was told that the last pay is made out in a cheque! Not a problem, 'If I had known!', but I have all of my direct debts set up to come out within the first 7 days of each month and with my bank needing 7 days to clear a cheque I was in deep doo-doo! Facing £200 in bank charges and my credit rating being thrown back into the dark ages, I was not happy! After half a day ringing around trying to find a solution, my brother, thankfully, stepped in and bailed me out, taking time out of his day to deposit enough money in my account to cover the bills. The cheque itself didn't ultimately clear until February 11th; 8 days after I took it to the bank, meaning I went 7 1/2 weeks between pay days!!!

I still incurred 2 bank charges; £60 down the crapper! Even worst still, I'm on flat pay till May, meaning I can't dig myself out of this hole till then. However back to my first paragraph; the future is looking bright!