How to budget a biweekly paycheck

Budget each paycheck on its own

Treat every paycheck as a two-week cycle with its own plan, rather than adding two together and pretending you are paid monthly. Each one has to cover the bills that fall due before the next one arrives, plus two weeks of everyday spending.

Give every bill to one paycheck

List your monthly bills with their due dates. Assign each one to the paycheck that lands before it is due. Rent due on the 1st usually belongs to the last paycheck of the previous month; a phone bill due on the 20th belongs to the one around the 10th.

Aim to split the bills so both paychecks carry a similar load. If one check always pays the rent and the other pays almost nothing, the light one will feel rich and the heavy one will feel impossible.

Split what is left into two weeks

After the bills a paycheck covers, set aside its share of your pots (groceries, fuel and the like), then divide the rest by two. That is your amount for each of the two weeks until the next payday.

A paycheck of 950.00 covers bills of 410.00 and pots of 180.00. That leaves 360.00, or 180.00 for each of the two weeks.

The three-paycheck months

Twice a year a month holds three paydays. Because your bills were already shared between two paychecks a month, the third one arrives with almost nothing assigned to it. Decide in advance what it is for: a savings goal, paying down a debt, or the next yearly renewal. Planning it ahead is what stops it from disappearing into ordinary weeks.

Watch the yearly costs

Insurance, memberships and other yearly charges hit one paycheck hard. Note the paycheck each one falls in and give that check a lighter week or two, or set aside a little from every paycheck in a pot for it.

Reset every payday

Every two weeks, check that the bills you expected actually went out and see which week went over. A short, regular check suits biweekly pay better than a long review once a month.