Weekly vs. Monthly

[GrumpyGoat]

Part of my difficulty in adjusting to NZ has been a switch from Monthly thinking to Weekly thinking. I was completely unaware of the psychological repercussions until a recent conversation.

In the US, billing cycles are monthly. We pay rent and car payments etc 12 times a year. In NZ, you pay weekly (or 13 months per year).

Pay periods in the US vary greatly (weekly, bi weekly or monthly with bi weekly being most common) but as a teacher, for example, I got paid monthly.

Since moving here, I have had to adapt to the weekly way of doing things--which makes me feel like I am ALWAYS paying someone (I am!!) and makes me feel rushed for time as I now mentally operate on 7 days instead of 30. Psychologically, I think it feels like we pay more because we pay more frequently. And make less money because the weekly pay is pretty depressing.

For a long time, I changed the "weekly" into "monthly" but I have stopped doing this now since I am usually comparing prices "NZ weekly to NZ weekly" these days.

I feel a great sense of relief to realize that this is (at least partially) the reason I am always feeling so stressed with time.

I am not sure I articulated the issue very well.

Anybody else having similar issues?

[KelvinAng]

I had to make a similar adjustment too, and had faced exactly the same sort of frustration you faced! I do quite like the idea of being empowered once a week rather than once a month when the salary gets credited into my bank account

However until I read your post, I haven't realised that I've now fully moved into the weekly cycle, and found the monthly internet and power bill being a bit "odd" when it arrived in the mailbox.

[Mgee]

Wow. You mean I'm not the only one?
We've struggled with the same thing too! We previously got paid once a month, all the bills were either monthly or yearly etc. etc so it's been hard to try to adjust that everything is priced weekly or forthnightly. When I get a quote from an insurance company saying that the forthnightly sum is X dollars, it means absolutely nothing to me. I always have to convert it into a monthly or yearly payment to get some kind of a grasp what it means. And I completely agree that it seems that we're constantly paying someone and that the biweekly pay looks meagre if you're used to monthly pay. I quite often freak out at the low amount of money on our bank account, because mentally I think that at this stage of the month there should be much more money left -my brain isn't used to biweekly pays and (bi)weekly thinking yet. Even though it's all an illusion, it's still stressful.

[LAsmith]

oh wow... i've already been through that once going from monthy/quarterly at 'home' to fortnightly and monthly.... oh well...glad to know its something that a) i'll be dealing with and b) is an issue for someone other than me!

[GrumpyGoat]

It feels good to identify the problem!! And even better to realize I am not alone!

We have several accounts and I only put my budgeted amount each week into my checking account (which I don't actually have checks to just an eftpos) to spend and I really stress out when I am out of money. But by then, it is usually time to put some more in there. But the boom/bust cycle is happening every week. And it is super stressful!!

[KelvinAng]

We have several accounts and I only put my budgeted amount each week into my checking account (which I don't actually have checks to just an eftpos) to spend and I really stress out when I am out of money. But by then, it is usually time to put some more in there.

I've done it the other way round. My salary gets credited into my chequeing account and I move the appropriate amounts I don't need into the interest-bearing savings account. Everything gets paid out from this chequeing account. The "stress" would therefore be losing out on interests not earned if I forget to manage my accounts that week, but would otherwise prevent failed automatic payments (and therefore incurring fees!) for rent etc.

[zemien]

Hmm... interesting! I haven't considered culture shock from this angle before, since most financial transactions in Malaysia are done monthly (rent, wages) while insurance premiums might be half-year or yearly.

Does NZ's online banking systems allow auto-bill payments? That way I can set it up once and don't have to worry with thinking about bills every 7 days (except for the occasional maintenance and tracking). This should somewhat reduce the stress I reckon?

[GrumpyGoat]

Hmm... interesting! I haven't considered culture shock from this angle before, since most financial transactions in Malaysia are done monthly (rent, wages) while insurance premiums might be half-year or yearly.

Does NZ's online banking systems allow auto-bill payments? That way I can set it up once and don't have to worry with thinking about bills every 7 days (except for the occasional maintenance and tracking). This should somewhat reduce the stress I reckon?

They do (our bank charges a fee to set it up though). We have them. Just hate to see a tiny amount come in each week and then MOST of it is gone before I even get a bit.

And divide your monthly disposable income by 4.3 and you end up with a very small amount. So depressing.

[TJH]

You are lucky in my opinion if all of your bills and such are done weekly bi-weekly. We have some things that are billed on a monthly schedule (not by choice) while others are weekly which makes keeping track of finances a bit interesting.

[Mgee]

You are lucky in my opinion if all of your bills and such are done weekly bi-weekly. We have some things that are billed on a monthly schedule (not by choice) while others are weekly which makes keeping track of finances a bit interesting.

Oh, don't get me started on that... We're slowly getting the hang of it, i.e. know how much to budget from each pay for the monthly bills. It's still a hassle -at least at this stage when we're still learning how everything works.

I have to say that this was one of those things that I never thought could matter in the emigration process, but it's been surprisingly stressful at times to try and adjust to this new rhythm of things. Apparently it's not just inner compasses that get all confused when you emigrate to the Southern Hemisphere, it seems it's the same thing with the biological clocks as well!