Lesson 4 of 5

Mapping bills to paychecks

Once you can budget a single paycheck, the next step is mapping a full month -- or, if you're paid biweekly, a full pay cycle -- so every bill has a specific paycheck assigned to pay it, not just a due date on a calendar. List every recurring bill with its due date, then go through your paychecks for the month in order and assign each bill to the paycheck that arrives before it's due, with room to spare. This is where biweekly pay gets tricky: most months have two paychecks, but two months a year have three, and that extra paycheck is either a windfall for savings or a trap if you've already mentally spent it on regular bills. When a bill doesn't line up cleanly -- due three days before payday, say -- you have three real options: ask the biller to move the due date (many will), pay it a cycle early once to shift it permanently, or flag that paycheck as tight every cycle and plan around it instead of being surprised by it.