Weekly income

[Marnuscgl]

I get paid every week which makes it hard to budget month to month, because certain bills i can only pay at certain times in the month.

Is there a way i can schedule a reminder when i have to pay a bill, or have a week to week budget, yet at the same time looking at my overall month to month budgets and spending habits?

[cat1985]

I have the same situation, and have been looking for a piece of software that would help me to shift from a monthly budget to a weekly one. If you have any ideas please pass them on.

[mburdsall]

I have the same situation, and have been looking for a piece of software that would help me to shift from a monthly budget to a weekly one. If you have any ideas please pass them on.

I would actually be more interested in being able to set-up a yearly budget and specifiy the month amounts. Have the ability within the yearly budget to roll over months and to add income acatgories.

[glamis1a]

I recently changed jobs and now get paid weekly. At first I tried paying certain bills on certain weeks but with varying charges it was difficult. The bills for the most part were the same each month. SO what I did is went with a micro-payment strategy.
I figured that on average there were 4 paydays every month. My rent was the only bill I really couldn't split up so the first paycheck of the month I did pay my rent and nothing else. My remaining bills I would divide each by three. SO AT&T\3 was about $25 bucks, DirecTV\3 was $40 bucks and so on.
I would then set myself a reminder to pay on one third of my bills each paycheck.
Now the only thing that is a little tricky is starting out. Now I know that my rent is due on the first paycheck and then each one there after I have the same amount of spendable income after bills are paid each week.

This might be a little tricky if your monthly bill fluctuates a lot but for my instance they are pretty consistent.

[maryannsms]

It is really hard to budget your money if you are being paid every week. I suggest that you list down how much money you normally spend on a regular basis. Also do the same for your expenses.

Write down everything you spend for your money including your rent or mortgage payments, property taxes, utilities, food, car payments, your daily coffee, and anything else.

Total up these two amounts and subtract the expenses from the income. If this number is zero, you need to budget in order to save more and to get out of any debt you may have.

[shredswithpiks]

This is something a proper envelope system would address.

You could write down, on a calendar, when you are going to get paid and when each bill is due throughout the month. Create an "envelope" (physical or just right it down, either way) and each time you get paid fill up the envelopes for that weeks bills before you do anything else with the money.

Alternatively, you could work really hard to build up 2 weeks or a month worth of expenses to sit in your checking account as a "buffer." Then you could budget against your monthly income (make sure the total budget number is less than or equal to your monthly income), pay things as they come up, and make sure you don't go over what you have budgeted.

[CcTiger2]

I've become a huge fan of the 60% budget brought to my attention by MS Money. (Overview Here (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/LearnToBudget/ASimplerWayToSaveThe60Solution.aspx))

Unfortunately, other than MS Money (which only marginally supports this concept), I haven't found any other software to help me do this type of budget. Because it's based on percentages of income, it seems to get around all the problems of when I get paid, when bills are due, and even moving money around in individual categories. I'd LOVE to see Mint help with this!


Smiles,
Laura

[GVSteve]

I just estimate that there are 4 weeks per month.

There are two months out of the year where there are 5 weeks per month and I get an extra paycheck - one of these goes to Christmas gifts and the other toward savings.

[Rayout]

As was mentioned before, save up enough money to have a 1-2 month floating fund in a checking account to pay all expected bills.

Each week when you get paid, put in 1/4 of your expected monthly expenses. For the rest of your spending, switch to a cash system. Cut up your credit and debit cards and either use an envelope or use jars (each jar labeled for a part of your budget like food/gas/entertainment/etc) for the rest of your budget.

When it comes to budgets it is a question of willpower. These "systems" will help but it is up to you to control your spending. Put at least 10% of your money into savings and build up an emergency fund (equal to about 6 months of income) then start a retirement account.