How to Budget on a Bimonthly Pay Cycle

You've had it. You're done. How in the world are you supposed to make a monthly budget work when you're paid every 14 days, no matter how many Mondays are in a month?! With YNAB, it's not quite as impossible as you think. Learn how to pace your bimonthly or biweekly pay to not only guarantee your bills are paid right on schedule, but also ensure that beachside vacation gets funded by next June.

- TIMESTAMPS -
0:00 How to Budget on a Bimonthly or Biweekly Pay Cycle
0:40 The Secret + Why We Don't Forecast
1:50 Budgeting the First Paycheck of the Month
5:43 Budgeting the Following Paycheck(s)

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[dta]

This girl is impressive. Her ability to be funny and engaging while teaching a somewhat daunting subject for some, needs to be applauded.

[carrjar]

I jumped into YNAB without reading the directions. Just did the forecasting thing like all the others. Got frustrated, confused and walked away. When I tried again and it finally clicked, I was all in! Watch this video and don’t skip the directions!

[melissaespinosa]

“Complicated things are hard.” 👏🏼 You couldn’t have said it better.

[JenGrice]

We need to call you Hilarious Hannah!! As a self-employed person I pay myself twice a month but I fund for several months in the future. That's how I was able to survive when COVID hit and the world stopped buying anything but toilet paper.

[_samuraiblack]

I honestly was about to delete my YNAB account until I saw these Heard It From Hannah videos. I have been applying lot of what I learned from this series to my budget and life. The tips are relatable and she is funny af. She def makes YNAB less intimidating for sure. I feel way more in control of my finances. Thanks Hannah!!

[FeliciaWilliams]

I spent my Friday night, using all of your tips. And yes you know you are way into budgeting when you get excited about adding emojis to the categories cause I was a happy girl. Arranging the monthly bills by due date was such an aha moment for me. I also used your category headings. BTW thanks for making learning about budgeting entertaining and informative.

[FeliciaWilliams]

Oh my gosh, I love the idea of organizing the bills under the category of monthly and then adding the due dates. I know how I am spending my Friday night.

[mrachel]

I think it’s important that you put rent with a due date of the 30th, meaning it’s a rent payment most likely due on the first of the next month.

[sarahhenken]

I get paid every other Friday (seeking to be clear while avoiding the debates over terminology!) and in one of the YNAB videos I got the idea to add a note to each month that reminds me the dates of the paydays for the month, that way in October I can see clearly that I expect new money coming in on the 2nd, 16th, and 30th so I know how far ahead that money needs to go, including into the following month. And I've learned that it just so happens that most of my big bills are due toward the end of the month, so I make sure to budget ahead to those with my first check so I'm not left struggling to cover everything with paycheck #2.

[ThatGuyRonnie]

at first, i was watching to learn how to budget but happened to laugh. now, i'm watching to laugh but happen to learn how to budget. thanks for the content Hannah :)

[lauriethomas]

I struggled so hard at first because I didn't understand that the goal is where I can sort of future budget. I kept budgeting what I knew I would need and then I was always over spent. Once I started using goals, everything fell into place.

[cuestareese]

I would love a video on how to budget bi-weekly expenses. Here in Canada a lot of bills are bi-weekly. Car payments, mortgage, etc. Wish there was a bi-weekly target.

[HarlandDWhite]

I needed this video, I was trying to understand why I would use goals; so the feature to automatically add dollars on the second pay check was great 👌🏾

[conureron]

First try with ynab, I forecasted for the whole month. Had to quickly pivot and re-do. And set goals for the month. It’s easy now.

[tomchittock]

I get paid weekly, but thanks to previous videos, and some extra tips in this video, I'm on top of things!
Things can be tricky at times, like when an unexpected, larger expense comes up, but that's nothing a little bit of Rule 3 can't fix!

[superslacker]

Well, this is technically semimonthly. But I see why you put biweekly. I have been lucky enough to be in jobs (including my current one) where I'm paid semimonthly. But the times I was biweekly, those two magic months of the year with a third paycheck were great for budgeting things I wouldn't normally do or tossing a little extra at a debt. Those were the catalysts which got me get a month ahead, actually. I've been there ever since and haven't looked back. Happy YNAB user since 2012, happy Hannah crusher since 2019.

[Apollo]

One thing I've been stressing to people I work with who've started using YNAB (and we're paid bi-weekly BTW) is that you should plan ahead your bills with the second paycheck the exact same way as the first. For example, some of my bills are paid within the first few days of a month, and some months my first paycheck isn't until the 10th or later. Sometimes those early bills need to be funded from last month's paycheck! This really makes mass funding the budget tricky until you get that 1 month ahead.

[ljs]

I figured out a solution just last week to my monthly budget/fortnightly pay. I have a category group called Fortnightly and then I split my income to those fortnightly bills, it goes straight to the category and doesn’t all go into To Be Budgeted. I always have to pay mortgage, another loan and food (weekly) out of EVERY pay cheque regardless of month. The leftover is then budgeted to the main budget

[TheMan]

My goodness! I've never found a more fun budgeting channel anywhere!

[gavink]

"per yooge"...LOL love that I get a real laugh while learning to budget! SNL for you next girl