Monthly committee: sizes, dates and what to expect

Almost every committee in Pakistan is monthly, and almost every one lands on one of a handful of amounts. Here is what each looks like from the inside.

Three common plans

PKR 5,000 a month, ten members

Pot of PKR 50,000, ten months. The usual first committee: small enough that a hard month does not break anybody, large enough that the pot pays for something real — a fee, a repair, a modest wedding contribution.

PKR 10,000 a month, ten members

Pot of PKR 100,000, ten months. The most common size among salaried members. Big enough to matter, and ten months is short enough that people can see the end.

PKR 20,000 a month, twelve members

Pot of PKR 240,000, a full year. Worth doing only with people you have run a committee with before — a year is a long time for anyone's circumstances to hold.

Choosing the due date

• Between the 1st and the 10th for salaried groups — shortly after payday, before the money is spoken for.
• Between the 1st and the 28th, always. A due date of the 30th means February has no due date.
• One date, not "the first week". Vagueness in the date becomes vagueness in whether someone is late.

Starting in the middle of a month

Committees rarely start neatly on the 1st. If you set up on the 20th with the 5th as your due day, you have a choice: start collecting this month anyway, or begin next month. Both are reasonable — what matters is that everyone knows which, from the beginning. Laqfiz asks the question at creation and applies whichever you pick to everybody equally.

Paying more than one month at once

Some members prefer to pay two or three months ahead when they have it. Allow it — it reduces your chasing — but record each month separately rather than as one lump, or the record stops matching the months.

Common questions