The third step is to see what weeks you will be paying your fixed expenses on a monthly basis and add those to the weekly budget. The best way to do this is to enter the list of estimates that you made for your variable expenses and make sure that you are not spending more than you are making and that you are saving for future emergencies as well as your financial goals.Įveryone will have a different idea of how much they want to spend in each category, so the best way to decide is to think about which categories are important to you. Any extra income or extra paychecks that you receive that exceeds the budgeted amount should be put towards either paying off debt, into a savings account, or an emergency fund.Īfter you have determined this amount you will want to create your weekly budget. Doing this will ensure that you never come up short in your budget and that you always have as much money as you need for the week. So if you work between 15 – 20 hours a week, then you will want to budget for only 15 hours. The first thing you will want to do is look at the lowest amount that you can expect to be paid each week. And just imagine how great it will feel when you finally have control over your money! If you are a part-time worker and your paychecks differ each week, this step will be more difficult for you, but certainly not impossible! It will just take a little bit more work. The next step after creating your monthly budget calendar is to create a weekly calendar to budget your weekly paychecks. This money will go towards unexpected expenses or your larger financial goals for the future. You can do this by looking at how much you have spent in the past, but if you are unsure of the correct number, then I would recommend spending a week or two keeping track of your expenses so that you can get a better idea.ĭon’t forget to include savings in this number! The recommended amount to save is 10% of each paycheck. After listing out these expenses, include estimates of how much you will spend in each category each week. Variable expenses include items such as groceries, gasoline, clothing, and other household supplies. Lastly, you will want to create a list of all of your other variable expenses. Because these expenses are fixed the amounts will stay the same each month as well as the date that they are paid. Your fixed expenses will be the bills that occur at regular intervals such as rent, utilities, mortgage payments, and car payments. Next you will want to add the due dates for your fixed expenses into the calendar as well. Even though the amount each week may be uncertain this will allow you to see when the money will be coming in so that you can plan shopping trips and bills around these dates. To begin the budget calendar, you will want to determine what days of the week you will be receiving the paychecks each week, and then input those dates into the calendar. Choose the method that you feel the most comfortable with as that will be what works best for you. This calendar can be on paper or even through an app or on a spreadsheet. The first step for budgeting your weekly paycheck is to create a calendar that will be the map for your budget. It works especially well for folks who are currently living paycheck to paycheck and struggle to budget their monthly fixed expenses. This is a method of budgeting that can work for anyone who wants to change their way of spending and save money. Who is the paycheck budget method right for? This guide offers tips on how to budget your money each week. Because the paycheck amounts are different each week, it can be difficult to determine how much you have available to spend each week, which makes it more difficult to create a consistent plan. What does it mean to budget by paycheck?īudgeting by paycheck means that you have either weekly or bi-weekly paychecks that differ in amount each time, usually because you are an hourly or part-time worker. It can be difficult to feel in control of your finances when you feel like the numbers don’t all line up.īut I want you to know it is possible to have control of your finances and tell your money where to go even when you get paid weekly. A lot of people have asked the question “I get paid weekly but my bills are monthly, how can I budget?” The reason that this is a challenge is because if you are getting paid weekly you don’t necessarily have enough money in your weekly paycheck to pay bills like rent from one paycheck.
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