How to budget by paycheck
A monthly budget treats the month's money as one pile. Many people are paid weekly or every other week, so bills and paydays don't always line up. Budgeting by paycheck plans each paycheck on its own.
Step by step
- List your paydays for the next month or two.
- Match each bill to the paycheck before its due date. Rent due on the 1st comes out of the paycheck before it.
- Set aside everyday spending (groceries, gas) from each paycheck.
- What's left goes to your goal: extra on a debt, or savings.
- Check in on payday. Adjust anything that changed.
Example (made-up numbers)
Example data Made-up numbers, not a real person's budget.
Paid $1,850 every other week. Paycheck A covers rent ($1,150) and the phone bill ($65). Paycheck B covers the car payment, utilities and insurance. Each paycheck keeps money for groceries and gas, and what's left goes to the smallest debt.
Try it in the Moneycapade web beta
In the web beta, Moneycapade can find your paychecks and bills from linked accounts or a bank file (CSV, OFX or QFX), asks you to confirm them in Check my numbers, and builds a paycheck plan. It shows how many days until your next payday and what's left to spend after bills and goals.
Free: the Debt Snowball Tracker.
Join the waitlist at moneycapade.app.
General education, not financial advice.
The iPhone and Android apps aren't in the App Store or Google Play yet, and Premium isn't live yet. The free web beta runs in your browser.