How long are your budget intervals?

[greekislandgirl]

Not the most fascinating topic ever, but I'm curious: how do you break your budget down? Per month? Per two weeks? Per week? Something else?

I've just started budgeting one month ago and so far I've been doing it on a week-by-week basis. I think it's going okay but I'd love to hear how others do it.

My husband is paid every 2 weeks and we also have single lump sums sometimes (like my summer job I'll get one big payment sometime end of August).

[Mom2-3]

I have two budgets. We get paid on different days and weeks. It was confusing at first. DH gets paid on Wednesdays and I get paid on Fridays.

DH's income pays the major bills, so there is a budget for each paycheck (every two weeks) I get paid weekly, so there is a weekly budget to fill up the spending categories.

Did I confuse you completely? lol I guess you have to look at your income and expenses and see when/where you need the money.

[mommy2010]

I do it monthly, it is easier if I see the whole month ahead of me and what I have left over.

[ladytoysdream]

Our's is set up monthly in a notebook.
I list what has to go out, the date due, the date paid, and the amount for the columns.
He gets paid every other week. I don't count that 3rd paycheck for the 2 months those happen in. That money just gets blended in. We now have a small cushion, so I just write checks as they come due. I don't worry like I used to. I balance the statement every other week or so. All that comes out of his paycheck is our regular bills, and his money for gas. I find my own gas money and money for our groceries. Which is really interesting when I have no job, UE has now ended, and being creative about finding a few dollars here and there.

[Momto5RN]

my budget on paper says week # 1 for dhs pay ck on the 30th and week # 2 for the pay on the 15th.

i have listed all bills ( or cash that goes to us for gas etc ) under one of the weeks.

i have one job that is 1x a month that pays car insurance and one CC.

my other job i get paid weekly pays food- misc stuff for the kids activities - unexpected or expecteds but not in regular budget - and goes to CC debt .


i usually sit down and do the checkbook and the bills on the first of the month . and again on the 15th .


i use quicken and i will even do week# 2 in quicken because dhs check is the same and what goes out is the same and because alot is on auto billing and if it isnt i deduct it and put not paid yet next to it and on the 15th ( payday of week # 2 ) i go in and pay the things not paid.

sounds a little crazy but works for us - i have never bounced a check or paid anything late or forgot about a bill .

my paper in my " mom binder " has the initials of the months next to each thing we pay and when i pay it for that month i X that letter out .

[frugalwarrior2]

monthly.
15th has its bills
30th has its bills
w/ the exrta you pay lump sums to debt,do repairs,add to $1000. BEF.

[CrazyHomemaker]

DH gets paid one week and I get paid the next. I've paid bills every week out of both of our paychecks. However, I decided we waste too much money doing this and need to pay everything out of one paycheck...his. I just started this last week. DH's check is bigger and hopefully we can pay off some of our debt and add to our savings with my check. So, for two weeks out I pay bills using his check. My last check saw a couple of insurance bills. There was a chunk left over so I made a payment on one of our worst credit cards.

[Simple me]

I do ours every other week. That's when DH gets paid.

[krbshappy71]

I'm paid monthly and when I get child support it shows up randomly, sometimes weekly sometimes every other week, sometimes held up for months. (as of right now its held up)

All bills are on autopay, paycheck covers very basic bills so I don't do anything with my budget other than figure out what to do with child support situation and look at what birthdays/maintenace things might need done that month.

[ladykemma2]

monthly, on a spreadsheet, but the truth is- it is updated daily or so on large post it notes. because whatever is left is my pocket money, past the official 20 dollars.

[jennordhavn]

I have an Excel spreadsheet and it is based on my paychecks, which I get every other week. I do it at least a year out so I always know what's coming up.

[MomK]

I budget monthly as that's how I get paid. I use a template I found on Google docs for this.

[FrugalMom123]

Your "Mom binder" technique is very interesting. I'd like to try that! You mark a corner of the monthly bills with the name of the month and when you've paid it off you cross out the name of the month? Beautiful! I'm going to try that.

[Jellybeanz]

I use a regular notebook and pen. My husband things I should put it all on the computer, but I have been using notebooks for years and can look back years and see what I paid for various categories.

I set it up with a month by month heading for each new page, and if something comes up like car insurance very six months or house insurance once a year I also log it on the same page.

Other things too , such as a gas bill for heating in the winter or the cost of a dentist visit, or eyeglasses, so I can check back and compare costs and average out a yearly amount we usually spend on those things.

It's simple but it works. The only thing I haven't finetuned is logging grocery money spent and I think that's just b/c I really hate to see it . LOL

[mongo]

I do it monthly, it is easier if I see the whole month ahead of me and what I have left over.

indeed this seems to make the most sense for me too