You’ve gathered your bills together and have a general idea of the amount of money you need each month. You’ve made your budget calendar so you can visually see what is due every month. Now what?
Now it’s time to set up your paycheck budget. A paycheck budget is just what the name implies: a budget that covers your income and expenses from one paycheck to the next. In my case, I get paid from my fulltime job twice a month. I group any other planned income in with these main paychecks. However, if your income is irregular, you may want to set a budget for each paycheck. If you have two paydays close together (within 1-2 days), feel free to lump them together to simplify your budgeting.
The first step is to evaluate what needs to be paid with this paycheck. If you are working at a deficit (you don’t have enough money to cover all of your bills), pay the most important things first: food, housing, transportation, etc. Then fill out from there until the money is gone. The important thing is to get a plan in place.
If you have more bills due in a particular pay period than another, you have two options. You can call the provider and see if you can have your payment date adjusted (many will do this with no problem), or you can set aside money from the current check for the bill, even though it is not due until after you get another paycheck.
After allocating what absolutely needs to be paid, I include the rest of my bills (I still have oodles of debt, so my minimum payments are included here), and allocate for my spending categories.
April 30’s paycheck budget looks like this:
I opt for a zero-based budget, which does not mean I have zero dollars left at the end of it, but rather that every dollar is allocated, even if that purpose is to sit in my checking account in case I need it.
Keep in mind, the budget is a living document, a strong suggestion, a plan to help you achieve your goals. It may not always happen the way you expect, but some type of plan is better than nothing. Having your budget planned also makes it easier to know what you can and cannot play with when something pops up (and something always pops up).