Simple Solution? Re Budget Question

[bertha katzenengel]

How can I create a workable budget with two different pay cycles? I'm paid semi-monthly, she's paid bi-weekly. there has to be a simple solution somewhere. I know, I can add all the income together to get the monthly total and go from there, but that won't work for me right now. Right now I'm catching up and paying what I can on this payday, then what i can on the next payday, etc.

Maybe what I'm asking doesn't exist in the world of physics or mathematics. Maybe I'm just a bonehead whiner looking for a little sympathy Maybe I need to go get another cat. Yeah, that's it.

Is there any help to be had?

[skygazer]

1. I will tell you what I did in the same situation

It was the only way I could find to just get stuff in order to the point where I could project ahead.

I simply estimated what I had coming in on whatever day, and what he had coming in on whatever day and plotted out exactly what I'd pay with those checks. Then I did the same for the next pay cycle, planning as far ahead as I could get and working to get all the backed-up bills taken care of. I would have a notepad by my computer with the projections worked out as far as a month or more ahead of time.

It took me probably a few months (don't really remember) to get to a point where I could really put any kind of actual budget together as opposed to the weekly pay-what-I-can. But I also used Quicken software to organize bills, remind me of upcoming payments and to help institute a workable budget.

Since I took over our finances about a year and a half or 2 years ago, we have had no late payments, we've got some savings and our credit scores have gone up pretty dramatically.

Good luck. :hi:

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Bi-weekly pay schedule can be a pain for forecasting.

Some months you get two paychecks, some months you get three.

BUT - it might help if you do your budget planning as though she only gets two checks a month; and then, for those four months that she's gets three, you have, in a sense, a bonus income month.

If your budgeting problem is that things are so tight that you really need to schedule finances down to the day, based on bill's due dates, etc., your best option might be to get a big piece of paper and draw out the year, and label all the days that see income AND, if your checks take a few days to clear in your bank account, label those days as well.

That's the best I can come up with, since there isn't really an easy mathematical formula to deal with this. It would be nice if utilities and whatnot gave us the option of monthly billing (for those of who are paid in time increments based on months), or 4-weekly billing (for those who are paid on time increments based on the week).

[Critters2]

3. Budget? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the concept. nt