Bi monthly pay - how to budget

**adavant** · 02-26-2010, 11:49 PM

My husband just went from being paid monthly , the last working day of the month to being paid bi-monthly. The last working day and the biz day closest to the 15th of the month.

This is the first time in our marriage this has been the case. I'm also a freelancer and make varied amounts monthly usually between 500-700

I'm trying to "budget" for us, but having a hard time. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We are on Dave's Plan on Baby step 2 paying off debt. We do have $1000 Emergency fund.

**Greebo** · 02-27-2010, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by adavant

My husband just went from being paid monthly , the last working day of the month to being paid bi-monthly. The last working day and the biz day closest to the 15th of the month.

I hate to be anal but that's semi-monthly. Bimonthly would be every 2 months, which would REALLY suck.

This is the first time in our marriage this has been the case. I'm also a freelancer and make varied amounts monthly usually between 500-700

I'm trying to "budget" for us, but having a hard time. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

What are you finding to be the problem? Money comes in, money goes out. You know when money is coming in, you know when money is going out - so your budget needs to account for both.

The variable income should be accounted for by starting with your lowest income amount - and if that doesn't cover *everything* that your budget needs to cover, then you make a list, in order, of what will be covered as the money coming in goes up.

Anything EXTRA on the good months gets put into a Hills and Valley fund - so if you need 600 a month from your income and you make 700 this month, put the extra $100 into the HV fund. Next month, when you only make $500, you use the HV fund to cover the shortfall. The HV fund should be built up to hold 6 times what you need minus your minimum income - so if your min is 500 and you need 600 that's a 100 shortfall, so you need a HV fund with $600 in it (100*6).

We are on Dave's Plan on Baby step 2 paying off debt. We do have $1000 Emergency fund.

Excellent!

**ladykemma2** · 02-27-2010, 08:48 AM

this is how i get paid. i arranged for all savings, tithing, sinking funds to come out of the first paycheck and all bills to be paid out of the second.

**Rebookie** · 02-28-2010, 12:14 AM

I was slightly confused with your post... I would think it would be harder to budget once a month, than it is bimonthly???

Also your picture is soo cute!!

**Mom2-3** · 02-28-2010, 02:25 PM

I took all the bills in the house and added them up.

Took that number and divided by 2 (2 paychecks in the month) Watching the due dates, I put the bills into two columns.

I tried to get the two columns as close as possible within a couple dollars.

I took all this info and put it into an excel spreadsheet. Now when we get paid, I look at the date pay the bills under that paycheck and it takes less than 10 minutes!

It may take a month or two to get it all sorted correctly. Good luck

**mateosbaby** · 03-04-2010, 04:08 PM

I'm not sure I understand the problem.... You're being paid the same amount overall, correct? So for example, you WERE being paid $2000 once a month. Now you're being paid $1000 on the 15th and $1000 on the 31st. It's still $2000 a month, right? Maybe I'm not understanding your question?

**craftypam** · 03-04-2010, 06:42 PM

For you Greebo;

Does bimonthly mean 'twice a month' or 'every two months'? Printer Friendly Version

I'm afraid it means both! But in the publishing industry, it is used fairly consistently to mean 'every two months'. The same ambiguity affects biweekly and biyearly. If you want to be absolutely clear, use a phrase such as 'twice a week' or 'every two years'.

**Greebo** · 03-04-2010, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by craftypam

For you Greebo;

Does bimonthly mean 'twice a month' or 'every two months'? Printer Friendly Version

I'm afraid it means both!

Hmph. That's dumb. I checked the dictionary and you're right - but it's still dumb. Especially since it's ONLY true for bimonthly not biweekly.

**craftypam** · 03-05-2010, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by Greebo

Hmph. That's dumb. I checked the dictionary and you're right - but it's still dumb. Especially since it's ONLY true for bimonthly not biweekly.

I fully agree with you. The reason I knew that is because I've questioned it and looked it up more than once because it doesn't make sense to me either.

**mateosbaby** · 03-05-2010, 09:16 PM

Gotta love the English language..... :-/ My 7yo hates trying to learn how to spell. :-(

**MomToTwoBoys** · 03-09-2010, 06:58 PM

DH is paid biweekly and I get a minimum amount every month with both the pension and the kids' tax credits.

This is how we do it:

Gather all of your bills. Include the ones that you have taken out as automatic withdrawals as well.

If you have bills that have varying amounts per month (like utilities, for example), always budget for the highest amount that you'll pay. For example, if my utilities are at max $320, I'll put that in the budget as my amount to pay every month.

Take the bill and divide it into two. Pay one half on the 1st and one half on the 15th.

Since you have a variable income, use the lower end of that amount in your budget. Tuck the extra away. If your bills end up being less than is in your budget, put that extra amount away also.

DH gets paid every other week and I get money at two times in the month. We get extra checks for things like semi-annual tax credits, so we tuck those away as well or we use them to pay on debt.

**DukesAngel** · 03-30-2010, 05:06 PM

I follow what everyone else has said. I have beginning month bills and end month bills. (well, did)

The first paychecks of the month go to utilities and house payment, the most important things. Then some goes to food and the rest into a savings account. The second set of checks go to insurance and then savings.