Most people create a monthly budget by estimating their total income less their total expenses expected for the next 30 days.
If you’re determined to make your money work for you and you get paid every two weeks, forget your old way of budgeting and follow these three simple steps instead.
Grab a blank calendar or print out a copy of my free “bi-weekly budget plan template” inside of the resource library. On this calendar I want you to write down three things.
1. Monthly income: write down when you expect to receive your paychecks in the month 2. Pay schedule: write down the due dates of your monthly bill 3. Monthly expenses: write down when you plan to buy living expenses.
With a zero-based budget, you’re not going to look back at the previous month and wonder where your money went.
Instead, you’ll be in the driver’s seat, giving every penny a job to work towards your financial goals. When your paycheck comes in, assign 100% of your income to a budget category until you have zero dollars left over.
Your budget is fluid with a lot of transactions going in and out. If you don’t diligently track your cash flow and expenditures, this budget isn’t going to work.
My husband and I both work full-time and are apart often. Since we use our debit cards for daily expenses, we needed a way to track our expenses against our budget in real time.