Budgeting gets easier when you stop thinking in months and start thinking in paychecks. If you are paid every two weeks, your bills do not line up neatly with your pay, and that is why some paychecks feel flush and others feel impossible.
This free biweekly budget planner matches every bill to the paycheck that pays it. Enter your next payday, your take-home pay and your bills, and it shows what is left after each paycheck for the next year. Your numbers save on your device and never leave your browser.
Want this to happen automatically on your phone?
BudgetGem is the iPhone app I am building for exactly this. It assigns every bill to the paycheck that comes before its due date, shows what is left until payday, and warns you about a shortfall before it happens. It is coming soon to the App Store, with no bank connection needed. Get one email the day it launches.
How to use the Biweekly Paycheck Budget Planner
- Enter your next payday and your take-home pay per paycheck.
- Add a spending-money amount for groceries, gas and fun, and an amount to save from each paycheck.
- Add each monthly bill with the day of the month it is due.
- Read your paycheck-by-paycheck plan, and ask a company to move any due date that makes a paycheck go negative.
Why two months a year are different
Because 26 paychecks do not divide evenly into 12 months, two months each year have three paychecks. The planner shows you exactly which months, so you can send that extra paycheck to savings, debt or sinking funds instead of spending it.
Next step
Your next step: Fill in the planner today, then use your first 3-paycheck month to start a Sinking Funds Planner or knock out a debt with the Debt Snowball Tracker. Want to track your budget in an app built around biweekly pay? Take a look at BudgetGem. More free tools are on our free printables page.