'Payday Mayday' is here

Written by renxue January 09, 2008 16:37

Millions of Brits have issued a 'payday mayday' as they run out of cash in their current accounts. According to a new report from Abbey Banking, 64% of Brits regularly have to make sacrifices in the days preceding their pay packet, due to bad budgeting.

On average, these poor planners run out of money five days before they receive their pay cheque - this month that will most likely have happened on November 25th, as most people get paid on the last day of the month.

With Christmas fast approaching, up to 29 million people will have to make sacrifices over the coming months in order to get through this expensive time of year.

First to go is likely to be our social lives as 43% of us give up going out as funds start to run low. Meanwhile, 17% of us are likely to stop buying new clothes, followed by cosmetics (6%). However, 3% of people are prepared to go hungry at the end of the month rather than sacrifice anything else.

31% of Brits rely on their overdraft when they run out of money in their current accounts, 25% use their credit card to fund additional spending and 25% dip into their savings. A further 11% rely on friends and family to bail them out when they're short of cash.

Regionally, those in the North of England are the worst at budgeting, with 67% regularly running out of money in their current account before the end of the month.

The Scots, on the other hand, are the best budgeters, with just 48% having to forgo purchases towards the end of the month.

Unsurprisingly, youngsters are the poorest planners, with 81% of 18-24 year olds regularly running out of money in their current accounts before the end of the month (74% for 25-34 year olds). 55-64 year olds are the better budgeters, with just over half (51%) running out of money before the end of the month.