Anyone who tracks a budget monthly when you both get paid on different dates?

[BudgetBrainFog]

ETA title isn't clear - it should have said when you and your PARTNER get paid on different dates.

Specifically asking for replies from people who successfully track their monthly budget with a partner who is paid on significantly different dates to them.

I had a great budget set up, using the MSE budget planner then adapting it to track daily spending. We could look at it on any date in the month and by inputting that date, it would show how we were doing based on bills still to be paid, pro-rataing flexible 'pocket money' etc etc.

Now I've moved jobs and our pay dates are two weeks apart....and I can't get my head around how we can track our budget in a joint way anymore. I can only think we'll have to have two separate spreadsheets now, or we have to do two months on one file - so that it takes account of one full month's outgoings for one of us, plus mid-month to mid-month for the other person???

I'm actually really good at Excel so I can't work out why I'm finding this so hard!

My partner and I get paid up to a week apart, but I don't think we track / budget to the granularity that you do.

We've got an annual budget that shows what we expect to spend on different things (this really does aim to capture everything, and is regularly updated), then once we've both been paid, we have a summing up session where we leave enough in our accounts for the month (and some buffer), and a small amount in a personal spending account each. The remainder is then put into savings accounts.

Not sure what her that helps, as it sounds like you already have a different system that works for you!

/ whether

Have you got enough flex in your budget to put income into a separate account as it comes in, then do a monthly withdrawal from that account which is your 'income' for budgeting?

That's what we do as one of us is employed and one is self-employed.

Some of that sounds needlessly complex, like ‘bills still to be paid’ - why not just get them all to come out as soon as you’ve both been paid?

I'm behind the times tech wise, but I use a spreadsheet to track. The amount in our bank account is irrelevant - the spreadsheet tells me what money we have in our account. Our DDs for the month go out anywhere between the 1st and about the 25th and our incomings arrive at different times too. So once a month I sit down and update the spreadsheet balance with all the money that has come in in the last month and the money that is due to go out in the next month. That tells us how much we actually have left over for spending/saving. Almost all our spending is on a credit card for the cash back, so any spending this month will be on next month's bill.

I think I've made this sound a lot more complicated than it is in reality! But in practice it's easy and quick because a lot of it is copy/paste and just changing the payment dates.

Partner gets paid 25th,i get paid 31st. Both totals add together as total for bills and expenses 25th Jan to 24th Feb.
So although some money comes in a week later it doesn't matter, it will total the money for that month.
Dds come out usually 1st to 5th month so that's the last pot added to on the second pay day as that money won't be needed on the 25th.
Same for savings, they can be added to last.

Both salaries get paid into individual accounts then transferred into joint account.

One big spreadsheet with ALL bills listed and accounted for at payday, so I only have the 'leftover' money to spend each month. Daily entries for everyday spends.

That way it doesn't matter what day you get paid, or when you start tracking, as all income and bills are covered for the whole month.

I get paid on the 25th so start my month then, all my dds and standing orders go out on 25th, then DPS money comes in on the 16th

I might have explained it badly. Some bills come out at different times and not all are negotiable so for example, if I'm expecting £500 to come out of my account for bills and £480 has come out already, then I need to be able to see that £50 is still due to be taken for pet insurance.

It probably is too complicated - we have our own accounts and a joint account that all have direct debits set up: we did this to maximise rewards for account switching.

We do need to track our spending throughout the month as we are trying to save for something, so knowing at the end of the month that we overspent on food by £100 is too late: we want to be able to see at any point in the month, the budget vs actual spending, so we can rein it in if we need to.

My husband is paid monthly and I am paid 4 weekly. We have a bills account that the salaries are paid into and all direct debits come off. On my pay day, we transfer a set amount onto a Monzo card for spending and savings pots (holiday/ Xmas/ birthdays etc). Suits us.

Yes that's kind of how we do it. Work out what needs to be in our own accounts for DDs and misc spending then everything else gets sent to joint and savings. It's great for knowing you can't overspend because you do it at the start of the month so you only have the money in your account to cover what you agreed.

We got into a bit of a pickle a while ago so I'd originally set this up to micromanage our spending to get us out of trouble.

Thank you for all your comments. I'll look at how I can simplify things, based on how others have said they are doing it.