budgeting tool: options for bi-weekly, etc instead of simply 'monthly'

[jawz101]

very hard to calculate an accurate budget if I get 2 paychecks one month & 3 the next month

[quixotiCfluX]

I agree with this very much.

Real life expenses happen on many more intervals than just per month, so a budgeting system should be able to reflect that. Example:
Car insurance - every 6 months
Trash service - every 3 months
Paychecks - every 2 weeks (not twice a month)
Groceries - every 1 week

I think it would be awesome to be able to set budgets that happen every x weeks, or every y months.

It would be the best thing EVAR, if you could even specify when the cycle begins. For example Monday is the beginning of the weekly budget for groceries, but Friday is when the paychecks arrive, so on a Thursday, you'd be half way through the grocery budget, but nearly finished with the paycheck budget.

That is my 2 cents.

[leefamily]

To work around this, I budget for only 2 paychecks a month, and if you get paid bi-weekly, that is 2 "extra" paychecks you will get per year. So, twice a year, you will get an extra check.

You can either change your budget for that one month, or better yet, live on just the 2 paychecks, and use the 3rd for paying off debt, savings, etc.

[meekay]

That is obviously what most of us do, however if I set up a budget for groceries, I want it to reflect my pay periods, which aren't monthly (Quicken Online does this). A budget needs to be tailored as much as possible to your real life situation in order to be effective.

[chris.horney]

Unless you are living paycheck to paycheck, using the budget rollover feature and sticking to your Mint budget should accomplish this very easily. A big hurdle though is not focusing on the balance of your checking account, but rather your monthly budget. If you only pay for car insurance every six months, then you budget one sixth of the cost of it every month and have it roll over so that when you get the sixth month, in theory you have the money in your account. Again, this only works if you can detach yourself from thinking that the money in your checking is extra money, when in actuality it is money that you may be carrying over from the previous month.

[mcavity]

Not only is my paycheck bi-weekly, so is my mortgage!
This can make things a bit messy in the budgeting stage.

[VTHokiEE]

I very much agree with the OP. There really should be an option for bi-weekly and weekly paychecks. I'm really surprised Mint overlooked something this basic. The suggestions made by quixotiCfluX would make things even better.

The workarounds (that is all they are) given by other posters are good for the time being, but don't make up for a feature being absent. While living as if you had 2 checks a month instead of every other week is a great idea for budgeting/saving, it is also not realistic for people trying to just get control over their money. THanks for the suggestion though (leefamily)! This would be great to have that extra $$ available around Christmas.

Come on and make your budgeting tool even better Mint by giving us more options! :D