Budgeting Spreadsheet - Advice Needed Please

UKNeil

Hi, I've modified a budgeting spreadsheet I found online so it matches my needs. I have a different column for each month. As I get paid on the last Friday of each month I'm wondering if i should include that as 'wages' for the following month as it seems more relevant that way. Thoughts please? What do most people do?

Desmond_Hume

That’s what I do. I get paid on the 24th but my personal budget runs by the calendar.  So when I get paid on the 24th Sept, that money covers 1st October to 31st October. This has worked for me for years but, may not work for others. 

dreaming

As a oensioner I receive 3 private pension payments at different times of the month, then the state pension every 4 weeks (resulting in 1 month per year having 2 payment dates). I just count it all as the following month's budget. Where I have been able to choose direct debit dates they are always set up for the 3rd of the month - there are one or two that come out mid-month but on my spreadsheet I just deduct them as if they are paid with the rest of them. I always keep a "float" in my current account for anything unexpected but generally move the rest to allocated savings or "pots". I do use credit cards so I am not depleting the bank account randomly but I am very disciplined to how much I spend and always pay it off each month, apart from one which is a 0% card and has been used for some larger payments for work being carried out on the house and for which I always pay more than the minimum amount and is set to be paid by the end of the 0%.

ZeroSum

I do mine the other way. I account for it in the month received. Just depends on how tight your cashflow is, as i pretty much do accruals based monitoring. Even though that money does physically pay for the following months bills

stuartp2000

I guess it is personal preference but for me I get paid on the 25th of the month so in the transactions sheet I have a formula that if the date of a transaction is the 25th or greater it posts to the next month.

So when I get paid on the 25th September, I post that transaction in the log and it will put it into October. You can do this for just income so spends are noted as September or for all transactions.

I do for all and effectively run my budget 25th September to 24th October as the October calendar month.

Probably not quite the norm but allows my to budget pay cycle to pay cycle.