Dealing with Bi Weekly Pay Days

 

I feel like most budgeting apps are geared toward monthly pay checks. However, it seems that many people are paid bi weekly. I remember when my company switched to bi weekly payments. It was a bit of a learning curve since things are more fluid. You have to have a bigger buffer in case dates don't line up perfectly for bills.

We usually keep a $1k buffer in our checking at all times for this reason. It's part of our emergency fund, but instead of hanging out in our savings, we let it hang out in checking.

However, there are some benefits to being paid bi weekly. It can be easier to save 7.7% of your annual take home income. If you are paid every 2 weeks, then 2 times a year, you get 3 paychecks in one month. I recommend doing your budgeting off of 2 pay checks a month. Then, whenever you get a 3rd paycheck, you throw that entire amount into your savings (or debt pay off depending on your situation).

2/26 = .0769 or 7.7% of your take home pay. This is a great way to practice living on less and increasing your savings pretty painlessly.

I also recommend taking as much of your living costs out of your first paycheck of the month and leaving either the second or most of the second to savings or debt pay off. This allows you to not stress about meeting all of your bills, while also separating and freeing up a lot of money for debt pay off/savings.

Of course, the amount you can "free up" all comes back to your budget and lifestyle choices as well as your income level.