Bi Weekly Budget Spreadsheet

[pbmom]

Does anyone get paid bi weekly that uses a spreadsheet? If so could you please share it with me, I'm stuck on how to make one. Any help would be appreciated!!

[souldoubt]

Not really sure why you are stuck on it. Hopefully you are able to budget and get by on 2 pays a month because that's what you are getting 10 out of 12 months the year. Myself and others on here have referred to that third check we receive 2 times a year as being "extra" and have been criticized because of semantics. I consider it an "extra" check not because it's extra earnings but because I live on 2 checks a month so that third check goes straight to savings. If you budget based on what you earn annually and split it over 12 months you're going to have cash shortfalls more often than not because you don't have that actual income coming in. You should know when you will receive 3 checks in a month so I'd recommend budgeting your income based on what you actually receive in a month.

[strider]

I might be going to this schedule. Sucks. I like getting paid on the 10th and 25th every time all the time.

[Tiny]

I did my first budget with pencil and paper. Basically listed my fixed expenses and DUE dates. I guesstimated variable bills like natural gas and electric. I added other monthly expenses: gas for the car, grocery, fun, pets. I then did quarterly, semiannual, and yearly expenses and divided by 26.

I then looked at how to best divvy up the Fixed expenses (mortgage, loans, utilities) between my "two checks" a month. I actually requested that some of my bill Due Dates be changed so that I could even out the bills over the two checks. The 'two extra' checks each year aren't totally unallocated. I do take some 'expenses' out of them to get me thru two weeks (like gas, grocery, fun) and then the quarterly, semi annual, yearly expenses.

Oh yeah, I consider "savings" an expense... so long term saving is built into the budget and I do pay myself first.

ADDED: you would set up your spreadsheet around 2 paychecks a month. But, some of your line items are still monthly (maybe divided by 2 so 1/2 of the payment comes out of one check an 1/2 comes out of the second paycheck). For the 'extra check' you wouldn't allocate to this expense.
Some of your line items might be fixed like $100 for two weeks allowance/fun money or $120 for gas two weeks or $50 for car insurance (cause you divided the yearly amount by 26 paychecks) or x$ for charitable giving for 2 Sundays. For the 'extra check' you WOULD allocate these expenses.
You will have some unallocated $$ from your extra checks so you'll need to figure out where you want that money to go - savings? debt paydown? whatever.

[haapai]

I don't have what you're asking for. However, if you explain the practical problem that you are trying to solve, someone here might have what you're looking for or be able to nudge you in the right direction.

Are you trying to get a bead on where you're money is going, saving for a goal, or struggling to keep up? Those are different objectives and the accounting tool for each objective is likely to be different. As souldoubt points out, if you can make it on two paychecks, the solutions are fairly simple.

The ugly flip side is that if money is tight, you may have to build a pretty complex and high-maintenance spreadsheet that's more of a forward-looking cash projection than a record of past expenditures.

I've been in the situation where four weekly paychecks barely covered my regular monthly expenses. A fairly complex spreadsheet that listed all of my future cash inflows and outflows for the next two or three months was necessary. I slept a lot better and paid bills a lot more promptly because of that spreadsheet. I hope you're not in a similar situation.

FWIW, I landed up building a daily spreadsheet instead of going by paycheck. It was easier to plug in bill arrival and due dates if I did it that way.

ETA: After a couple of months, I noticed that most of my financial transactions were occurring on or shortly after pay days. In other words, a per paycheck spreadsheet would have made sense at that point. I don't think that I would have gotten to that point without the daily calendar, though.

[haapai]

I'll say it a little plainer.

When you're borrowing tools, it helps to describe the job that you want to get done. You're basically asking for a hammer. Now I'll be the first to admit that your standard 13 " clawed hammer is an excellent tool. You can use it to drive tiny tacks into the wall for light items. You can tap paint cans closed with it. You can even take down walls with it.

However, if describe the job that you are doing, you might get an even better tool for the job. Tell me that you're driving tacks into the wall and I'll hand you my cute little eight and a half inch hammer that isn't rusty and won't mark up your walls. Tell me that you're painting and I'll hand you the hammer as well as an already bent screwdriver for prying the lid back off. Tell me that you're taking a wall down and I'll tell you that my neighbor owns a sledgehammer. Tell me that you're attaching quarter-round trim and I'll hand you both hammers and a drill for predrilling so you don't split the trim.

Can you describe what you are trying to accomplish?

[wodehouse]

wow! haapai, you sound like me with my "collection" of around 12 hammers of different types, sizes, etc.

Including rawhide mallet with wooden handle, rubber mallet with fibreglass handle, small 12 oz claw hammer with wooden handle, big 16 oz Estwing claw hammer (rubber grip), the 2 lb Estwing hand drilling hammer (for chisels, etc), the big 4 lb sledge with fibreglass handle, the set of 3 Estwing ball peins with leather washer handles, and more. ...the things I collected in my youth.

[kiskis]

I get paid biweekly, but I keep a monthly spreadsheet. I based mine off of this one: www.freddiemac.com/corporate/buyown/english/pdf/monthly_budget_worksheet.pdf

I just copied into excel, deleted the line items that didn't imply, and made a few other modifications. It's worked well for me for the past five years.

[haapai]

I may have some of those too. Problem is, they're mostly hammers that my grandfather collected. I don't know what they're called, what they are used for, or even where they are. I reach for the standard baby a lot unless I describe the job to someone else.

[lulubean]

Yeah I can't figure out how to account for that third paycheck so it is extra to us also.

[haapai]

Not knowing what to do with the third check is a very nice problem to have compared to figuring out how to keep your bills paid when it takes 18-21 days of working to keep your monthly bills paid.

[TrixAre4Kids]

My momma taught me: 1st extra paycheck pays for Vacation, and the 2nd one pays for Christmas.

[Firebird]

Sorry, my weekly budget spreadsheet is straight ;D