There's months I wish DH got paid on the 1st and 15th...(budget rant)

[MomToTwoBoys]

I sat here for over two hours last night, banging my head into my desk at one point because I was trying to set up August's budget. I usually start figuring out the budget in the middle of the month or whenever I first start getting bills. This month, however, is pure torture. DH won't touch the budgeting because truth be told, I can't even get him to do his taxes. Maybe I should...

Anyways, his paydays for August are just awful. Instead of them being the first week of August and the third week to make it easier on us, they're on the 7th and 21st. That's not the bad part. The bad part is that a good majority of our bills are taken out or have to be paid before August 7th. This would be alot nicer if he was salaried. So now I have to include his income (and mine) from July 24th into August's budget in order for us to make bills on the 1st.

Income (before August 1st) - 766.24 (July 24th payday) + 677.26 (money leftover from July 10th payday) + 295.31 (July 18th cash for August) + 486.86 (July 25th deposit for tax credit) = 2225.67 max available cash plus 450 for my pension = 2675.67

Expenditures - $408 (food budget to cover from July 14th until August 10th) + 87.04 (cell phone) + 33.59 (alarm system) + 105.00 (property tax) + 94.76 (car insurance) + 50.79 (house insurance) + 25.00 (student loan) = 804.18 so far

Leftover cash - 1871.49 until August 7th

After August 7th, DH gets another 2200 minimum in pay and I get another 295.31 for the kids so add that to the 1871.49 and I get at max, 4366.80 to use between August 7th and August 21st. However, I didn't remove the mortgage from that amount so after I take the mortgage out, I'm left with 3699.59. I also don't have my bills for the cable, internet, phone, utilities, VISA, and Mastercard yet so I guess I really shouldn't even be budgeting this far in advance.

I guess in all of this, I was trying to put aside money to pay on the Best Buy account before I get the first bill in October. I found out last night the balance on that account and divided it by 3, so my goal is to pay 287.52 each month on the BB account before we hit that first interest charge statement. I also have to use the money leftover on August 21st to pay for September 1st bills and make sure I have enough in the checking accounts to buffer the automatic withdrawals.

I'm going to drive myself to drink at this point...

[Greebo]

You need to budget bi-weekly, not monthly, if he's on a biweekly schedule.

Treat it like there are 13 months in the year, make 13 budget pages, and ignore the dates on the calendar.

Weird, I know, but we have to do it too.

[MomToTwoBoys]

I think that's probably our best option. I sat down after I made that post and looked at my budget, going 'omg I'm just making this way harder than it needs to be'. I did start by putting down all the bills and their due dates, then separated them based on when DH got paid. So now I look at it like this:

July 10th - 24th Income:

677.26
295.31
------
972.77

July 10th - 24th Expenses:

972.77
192.00 (Food Budget)
------
780.77

July 24th - Aug 7th Income:

766.26
486.86
450.00
-------
1703.12

I'm waiting for the remaining bills before I do the July 24th - August 7th expenses. It'll save me the headache.

[ladytoysdream]

My husband gets paid every 2 weeks.
In order for me to keep our bills paid on time out of which check each month, I have had to write everything down.

I have a blank page book, and each page has one month bills on it. I write down the bill, the amount, and when they are due on one line. I have 4 columns across the top.
I now pencil in next to each one, what date paycheck of that month, I plan on the money covering it.
Today's paycheck for instance covers the truck payment and our home equity loan. His paycheck at the end of the month will cover utilities, and insurances,etc.

My paycheck covers gas and groceries.
We have a pretty tight budget, but if we stay on it, things work out okay.

[MomToTwoBoys]

I was like that before. I'd sit down and figure out what our bills were for the month, then write down the dates they were due and how much. I think I was starting to micromanage too much because it was all I could think about. I can still write down the bills, how much they are for and when they're due. I just need to stop making it so complicated and overdoing it.

Our bills for August:

1) Rogers (cell phone) - 87.04 by July 29th
2) City of Calgary Property Tax - 105.00 on August 1st (autowithdrawal)
3) Co-Operators Auto - 94.76 on August 1st (autowithdrawal)
4) Wawanesa Home - 50.79 on August 1st (autowithdrawal)
5) ADT Security - 33.59 on August 1st (autowithdrawal)
6) CSLP Student Loan - 25.00 on August 1st (autowithdrawal)
7) TD Life Insurance - 12.95 on August 5th (autowithdrawal)
8) Shaw Cable (includes cable, internet and phone)
9) Enmax (utilities) - 164.83 on August 7th
10) VISA - July 31st (bill not received yet)
11) MDG (computer) - 53.00 on August 16th
12) Resmor Mortgage - 333.74 on August 7th and 21st
13) BMO Mosaik (Mastercard) - August 14th
14) Good Life Fitness - 14.70 on August 8th and 22nd (autowithdrawal)

Bills # 2, 5 and 14 are all autowithdrawn from my bank account and the rest of the autowithdrawals are from DH's bank account. My main concern was that I'd have enough cash in both accounts to cover them so we didn't go into OD. I was also concerned with putting money into savings on July 24th, August 7th and August 21st for DH's account and then July 18th, August 1st and August 20th for my account. I even went as far as breaking down what bills to pay at what time and that's what was driving me nuts.

The bi-weekly budget will be alot easier on my mind and on our financial well being.

[mkkl19]

I have lurking for weeks and have finally decided to chime in.

Dh gets paid every 2 weeks also and it helps us to budget this way:
Pay check #1 all 1st of the month bills House, cc, and student loans

Pay check #2 all middle of the month bills car, insurance, gas, electric, and cable

2 pay days a year are extra money to apply to debt or savings.

I always make sure that pay day #1 is before the 1st and that pay day #2 is before the 15th before we use the "extra checks".

For example dh got paid last Monday July 7 but for us this is pay day #2 to pay car and insurance. His check on the July 21 will be used to pay house. August 4th will be car. August 18 will be house. Sept. 2 will be car. Sept. 16 will be house. Sept. 30 will be extra. Oct. 13 will be car. and so on. This is how I keep a handle on him getting paid every other week.

I want to add that his checks go directly yo the bank and only get used for monthly payments. I work as a waitress so I get paid daily. We use the money I make for groceries, gas for the car, doctors visits, oil changes, other items that pop up.

[prftstrngr]

My main pay comes only once a month...the third friday of every month!! Try to manage that!! When my husband was working it wasnt so bad as he had a pay every 2 weeks that covered most bills. Now what he gets from EI every 2 weeks will only cover our mortgage and another loan and give him enough to put gas in his car and MAYBE have $20-$25 spending money. So I have to take my pay and budget it to last me a whole month paying every other bill. I do have a small pay that comes every 2 weeks that covers my car loan that is also paid biweekly. Sometimes there is a little left from that to cover a few extra groceries we may happen to need. Its really a challenge to budget that far out as of course it LOOKS like you have lots of money in there..... there just isnt anymore coming for another month!

[Ilovesewing]

I was going the head banging thing yesterday too! Dh came in the kitchen to get his breakfast, saw what I was doing, and took his bowl and spoon and ran out of the room. Said he wanted to eat in peace

Anyway, dh gets paid once a week, I get paid once a month. Our problem is almost every single bill gets paid out of the first two weeks pay - and there isn't enough money! We have plenty of money the second two weeks, but I need it scooted over to the first two weeks I do think i make it harder than it needs to be sometimes. There just has to be an easier way!

[Wendy99]

You need to budget bi-weekly, not monthly, if he's on a biweekly schedule.

We budget biweekly all the time along with our payperiods actually. our first day of the budget is the day the first check comes in and the last day is the day before the next biweekly check comes in. So much easier than budgeting monthly .. we swear by it!!

[MomToTwoBoys]

Yeah I think I'm going to have to take his check from July 24th and August 7th and use those to pay the bills for August. We'll use the August 21st check to pay for September's bills too. We're getting ahead in October with a third payday, which will be awesome for us.

I figure I can do this:

1) Pay the Rogers bill due the 29th of July with the July 24th paycheck.
2) Leave the amounts for the car insurance, house insurance, student loan, life insurance, in the bank on August 1st to pay. That's roughly $183.50 and also leave in the amount for the bank fees (it's roughly 15 dollars) so $198.50 will definitely have to be in there on August 1st on DH's account. He gets $766.26 on July 24th and together with $485.26 in there from July 10th, he'd have $1251.52 in his account with the mortgage already being taken out.
3) I have $105.00 being taken out on August 1st for the property tax, so that stays in my account. I also have the alarm system being taken out, so I leave another $33.59 in there. My gym membership is being withdrawn once before August 20th, so I leave another $14.70 in the checking account. So in total, I have to leave $153.29 in my account. Between now and August 1st, I'm getting $1232.17 in pensions and tax benefits.
4) I figure out how much maximum will be in the accounts before August 1st to pay bills with. I then usually pay as many of the bills as I can out of my account before going into overdraft and I pay the remainder out of DH's account. His account gets hit the hardest because he has the mortgage being withdrawn and he makes more than I do. I get roughly $800/mo in my account and he brings home $2,200 but I still try to pay the bills evenly because he also buys the groceries. I try to pay my Mastercard out of my account because it is my card.
5) I then put money into savings out of both accounts on the day that more money is being deposited. For example, DH should have a maximum of $485.26 in his checking account (this is hypothetical because he buys smokes, gas and other things before the next payday) by the time he gets paid again on July 24th. I'd realistically pay $485.26 into the savings account on the 24th when his paycheck comes in and even out the amount in the account to what I had budgeted, which is $1,100. I would also then take my account and any leftover cash in it on July 18th would be put into savings because I get $295.31 into my savings account on July 18th. So if I had $59.00 in there on July 18th and then I get $295.31 more, I'd put the $59.00 into my savings account.

All of this would take care of us before August 21st and we'd use the August 21st check from his payday and any money I get between August 20th and September 1st to pay bills. I have to leave $105 and $165 in my account on September 1st to take care of the prop tax and a check I postdated for DS bus fees, but that's for another time.

[jamie79]

We, as military, get paid on the first and the 15th. No extra checks if its a 5 week month. Just twice a month. Its not as easy as you might think it is

[Moonblossom]

My DH and I are paid bi-weekly I budget 1-15 and 16-end of month no matter what. The months that we get extra checks are extra money to be snowballed or saved. But we also have fully funded sinking funds (extra check did this) so we can use that for any problems we may have. And we have our BEF which actually has 3x's DR advise to have in it (Large security gland here). I'm going to start to save money to have enough in there for a month of bills in advance.

[zakity]

I have a spreadsheet where I worked out the rest of the year. DH gets paid every two weeks. I have the paychecks noted on the spreadsheet. He is salary so I know exactly how much he will bring in. I have it set up where I can see which bills need paid out of which check. I can see where we have extra money and where we need to borrow from savings.

I go by when the bills arrive instead of when they are due. It was leftover from when I got bills mailed and, that way, if I didn't receive one, I could tell. I also knew that I had the money for it when it was due.

Side note: I am OCD about money and bills. I sleep so much better with my spreadsheet.

[MomToTwoBoys]

We, as military, get paid on the first and the 15th. No extra checks if its a 5 week month. Just twice a month. Its not as easy as you might think it is

I went through that before too. I served four and a half years in the Marine Corps. It was easier for me back then to get bills paid and situate them between the 1st and the 15th. I don't think I could do that now.

[my4littlebuffaloes]

My dh gets paid biweekly as well. I do a completely new budget each pay period. This way I can make it work regardless of when the pay day actually falls. I do know that $600 needs to come out of each pay period to cover the mortgage, but I only pay it once a month. My bills fall that some are due towards the beginning of the month and some are due towards the middle, so it usually works out pretty well and they end up being evenly split between pay periods. There is no easy way to figure a monthly budget on an every 2 week pay schedule. Figuring a budget for each pay period allows you to work with it better. Good luck!