5 Simple Steps To Create Your Perfect Biweekly Budget

When it comes to sound money management, coming up with a good budget should be the number one thing in your mind. But what about a biweekly budget? How to manage bills when your paid biweekly? How do you create a budget like that?

I know you may think creating and following a budget is difficult, I get it. For a long time I thought the same.

But honestly, it really is the best way to manage your money effectively and avoid falling into debt.

Debt is no fun, whether you are paid biweekly or monthly.

Your biweekly budget is basically you creating a plan to spend the money you are paid every two weeks. You’re in charge of deciding where your money goes, what you spend it on and it’s purpose.

Having a budget that works helps you to ensure you have enough money to pay bills and other expenses. As importantly, if not more, it will help you save more money towards your future money goals.

Should you budget monthly or based on two paychecks?

Depending on how your pay periods fall, you can decide between having a traditional monthly budget or a biweekly budget.

Some people advocate using the 50 20 30 budget rule and budgeting monthly. I’m not a fan as the idea of allocating 30% of your budget to fun when you have debt to pay off or retirement to plan seems irresponsible to me.

Any extra money you have after you have paid off debt, planned retirement and saved for a rainy day can be allocated to fun.

Speaking from personal experience I think it is better to have a biweekly budget if you are paid biweekly. It keeps things simple. And I like simple!

What Is A Biweekly Budget?

A biweekly budget is simply a budget that focuses on having paychecks arriving every 2 weeks instead of monthly.
Budgeting biweekly is about knowing how to budget when you get paid twice a month so you never miss paying a bill, including monthly bills.

What are the Benefits of having a biweekly budget?

Your biweekly budget will help you plan for a buffer that comes in handy in case you get a big expense out of the blue or other unexpected expenses.

When you budget biweekly, you don’t have to create month long estimates like you do with a monthly budget. A budget that can be affected by unexpected or surprise bills.

With short timescales in your biweekly spending plan, your numbers are going to work even if you are hit with a bill you hadn’t planned on.

a family budget that matches your pay period

A biweekly spending plan will help you examine and anticipate your biweekly expenses in a much better way, which is the primary purpose of a budget.

You will have a mapped out plan of how you spend, and in case of any extra expenses, you can make sure you add them.

You won’t end up spending extra cash and using money meant for other essential expenses on fun stuff.

Keep checks on your spending

It will help you keep your weekly discretionary spending in check. This means that you will not overspend on stuff or expenses that don’t go into paying the various bills or the rent.

Without a control measure for discretionary spending, you might find yourself overdoing it and end up spending your full biweekly pay without realizing it.

You get a lower number of transactions happening with this type of zero based budget. Because you’ll review it every two weeks instead of once a month.

This makes it less tedious, more manageable, and much easier to go through your expenses as there are much fewer transactions to crunch out the numbers when compared to the monthly budget.

Human hand writing on lined notebook with dollar bills beside them to show biweekly budget
Every good budget starts with a plan

Easy to make changes with a 2 week budget

When you need to make changes to your budget, a biweekly budgeting plan makes it much easier since you go through your bank statements more often.

Because of the advantages you may get from having a biweekly budgeting plan, you need to know how to budget when you get paid twice a month. Rather than just presuming you should stick to a weekly budget or a monthly one.

If you move to being paid monthly then have a read of my post on how to budget your money for monthly income payments.

what should you do with the third paycheck?

The beauty of being paid biweekly is that twice a year you get a third paycheck because there are three pay periods in those months. Your biweekly budget covers all your monthly expenses and spending for a whole month so that third paycheck is pure bonus money.

What’s the best way to budget these extra paychecks?

The best way to budget these extra paychecks is to think of the money as a bonus. It’s money that you can use in a completely different way to your normal paycheck. You can throw your third paycheck at debt, at your mortgage, into savings or treat yourself to something special.

You may also like:

How To Pay Off Your Mortgage Early (So You Can Be Free)

Vacation Savings Plan, What, When And How To Save

10 of the Best 52 Week Money Challenges For You

piggy bank and receipts pile finely balance on a balancing beam
Balancing your budget is the aim of the game

How to budget when you’re paid biweekly – 5 simple steps

Just like with any other budget, starting and following a biweekly budget takes a little getting used to.

But getting your budget and finances organized, and monitoring your everyday expenses against your biweekly income. You can come up with the perfect biweekly budget to help you achieve your financial goals.

If you get paid biweekly and want to create a biweekly budget, here are some budgeting biweekly tips and steps to follow to create a new budget that you can implement and follow easily.

1. Make a list of all your monthly bills and fixed expenses

Write down a list that contains all the fixed expenses you have like the mortgage payment, car payment, internet or cable, and even the loans you are repaying.

Take note of the due dates for payments and the amounts you are supposed to pay.

To make things easier, go through your latest two months’ bank statements. These will give you the due dates of those bills and expenses that occur monthly that you may forget about.

Once you have your list the next step is to plan how you will use your biweekly paychecks for paying bills throughout the month.

To make the month ahead easier, make sure as many of your bills as possible are set to be paid automatically from your checking account on their due dates. That way you don’t need to remember to pay these bills.

2.create a budget calendar for your bill payments

The next step is to map out the bills and expenses you have for the month ahead on a calendar meant for bill payments.

Making a calendar for paying your bills will help you organize your bill payments depending on their due dates.

There are other ways to track the payment days but having a calendar is perfect if you prefer to visualize your budget.

I have found that seeing your budget laid out on a calendar makes it more real and much easier to understand.

When writing down the bills on the calendar, you should indicate if a bill is to be paid from the first paycheck or the second paycheck. I found using different colored pens for each paycheck really helped.

Doing this will help you to track your bill payments easily.

You can add additional expenses like birthdays to your calendar to act as a reminder of the expense you make for gifts.

Another good thing about a calendar is that you can create one on your phone with reminders for the bill payments.

open notebook with spending transactions written down with a pen and other financial items around.
Biweekly budgeting keeps you in control when paid every 2 weeks

3. Create your first biweekly budget from the first paycheck

With your bill payment calendar and all the dates for payments mapped out, it is now easy to know the total amount of money you will spend from the first of your biweekly paychecks.

From here, you add other variable expenses to your budget like groceries, gas money, and even to buy things like clothes.

If you have any leftover money from your first paycheck then consider adding this to your emergency fund, into a savings account or towards outstanding debts.

Every little bit of extra income you put towards debt repayments brings forward your debt freedom date.

If you have no debt, put this money towards your financial goals. Pay yourself first so you can spend the money later.

4. Create your second biweekly budget from the second paycheck

Like the first, create a budget from the bills on your calendar and pay all the bills according to their due date.

You can also have some additional groceries and other variable expenses such as payments into your sinking funds or towards your savings goals.

Also, ensure to add in the irregular expenses you pay out on for your day-to-day life like paying memberships, different kinds of maintenance, including haircuts.

Making and following a thorough biweekly budget will have you set up for a successful financial journey.

5. follow up and do checks on your monthly finances

Just having a biweekly budget is not enough to guarantee your financial success.

You need to know if your budget is realistic as you spend, and you can do this by monitoring how you are spending money. You may think you have made the perfect budget only to find out you have spent more money than planned. Oops!

If you don’t know how much money you’re spending you could spend too much too quickly leading to blowing your budget.

Having put so much effort into creating your perfect biweekly budget, you don’t want to end up worrying about money.

Black noteboard with writing on about semi monthly budget
You could even use a biweekly budget app to help you monitor your spending

Biweekly budgeting tips for your finances

Biweekly budgeting can take a little getting used to, especially if you have just moved jobs from a monthly salary. The extra paycheck can confuse you majorly!

These helpful tips should keep your bank account in the black while you get used to the extra paychecks and how they impact your new budget.

Use the cash envelope system

Using cash envelopes can help you plan your variable spending so your money lasts as long as you need it to. The common categories that people use the cash envelope system for are:

  • groceries
  • entertainment
  • clothes
  • fun money

Work out the average amount you spend on each of these categories each week and withdraw that amount in cash and place in your envelopes.

Leave your credit cards at home and use just this cash, and no more for each of your chosen categories.

set a regular date to re-work your bi weekly paycheck budget

Getting used to a different budget takes a little time. It helps to regularly review your finances, track your spending, get your receipts organized and so on.

Set a weekly date to make this happen. You will thank yourself later.

make a savings plan for your 3rd paycheck before you receive it

With the help of a calendar you can work out which months are going to have three paychecks in them. Work this out and then make plans for that extra payment, way before you actually receive it.

As it’s ‘extra money’ it’s a golden opportunity to do something special with it, and I don’t mean spending it all!

Top up your emergency fund, make a lump sum payment into your retirement account. If it feels better, allocate 10% for spending on anything you feel like.

The remaining 90% can be put towards your long term financial goals.

How do you save money when you get paid every 2 weeks?

To save money when you get paid every 2 weeks you need to treat your savings as another line in your budget. It’s not about saving the cash you have left over after you’ve finished spending. Create a bi weekly savings plan with a goal for your finances. Then ensure that money is put into a savings account as soon as you receive your paycheck.

include a budget buffer

The ideal budget is a zero sum budget, where every dollar is given a job to do, a category to be spent in. The reality is, when you’re just starting out, that your newly created biweekly budget won’t work perfectly first time round.

Giving yourself some wiggle room, a budget buffer, makes life less stressful. With a buffer, the budget isn’t blown if you’ve made a small calculation mistake or spent an extra $20.

pay off debt

If you’ve got debt, then your budget needs to reflect the importance of paying it off. Debt costs you money with the high interest you are often charged.

If your debt repayments are $300 a month, that’s $300 that is not yours to spend. Better to be able to keep all your hard earned money and make plans for it. Rather than having to ring fence a big chunk of it for the loan companies.

Your different bi weekly budget template options

Having a biweekly budgeting template can help you visualize your budget that much easier in the early weeks. You could make your own bi-weekly budget template for free. Alternatively Etsy has many different cheap options. Check out these examples of printable biweekly templates.

If excel is your jam then making a bi weekly budget template in excel is probably your best option and can be created in an hour or so.

How do I create a biweekly budget in Excel?

I am a non-techy so not best placed to help you create a biweekly budget template in excel. I can only just use the Z SUM function! But this post is an excellent guide to how you can make a free budget in excel. Whether that’s a biweekly, weekly or monthly budget.

Benefits of monitoring your spending

Gain more control of your money

Following up on your expenses will help you know your financial situation. Knowing your expenses well gives you more control over your finances for better and more responsible spending habits.

You may also like:

How to stop spending money on clothes: 10 Simple Tips for Success

How To Stop Spending Money On Unnecessary Stuff

Learn additional ways to save money

When you monitor your expenses, it may surprise you how much you spend on less important things. How much do I spend on chocolate?!!

This realization will enable you to re-evaluate how you spend and find the expenses you need to cut back on to improve your saving rate.

When you do this each week, you will find that you have saved a fair amount from your biweekly pay hence improving your financial situation.

Learn how to make a budget you can stick to

When you track your spending, you get to learn more about your money habits and how you spend it. This makes it easier to write a budget you can follow as you already know how you spend.

budgeting biweekly

Budgeting biweekly is one of the best ways to manage your income when you are paid biweekly.

Your biweekly paycheck might not feel as much as a monthly payment. But with a proper plan on how to budget when you get paid biweekly, you will soon find yourself saving money and on your way to financial freedom, after paying off your loans and debts.

Start taking back control of your money by grabbing your copy of the Money Saving Starter Guide today.

.

Come and follow me on Pinterest for more money saving hints and frugal tips!

Pinterest image for biweekly budget article
Pinterest image for biweekly budget article

Last Updated on 25th March 2022 by Emma

About Emma

I'm here to help you become confident in making the best money decisions for you and your family. Frugal living has changed my life, let me help you change yours.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.