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Do you have a payday routine?

February 20th, 2015 at 03:09 am

I'm curious how other people manage their paychecks on payday. I have a routine which seems simple and straightforward to me, but other people might find overly complicated.

DH and I get paid on the same day, twice a month. Retirement contributions are already taken out of our checks pre-tax, so we never "see" that money. With the money that is direct deposited into our checking account I do the following:

(1) Transfer a set amount into our online checking account with is designated for fixed expenses. All regularly occurring bills get paid out of this account, such as the mortgage, utilities, memberships, insurance, childcare, etc. The amount that gets transferred is roughly 1/24 of what we spent on all these things in the previous year.

(2) Transfer a set amount into an educational account for the kids.

(3) Transfer set amounts into separate "short-term" savings accounts for car repairs, vacation, charitable donations, home repair/improvements, and health care. I pull from these accounts whenever we spend money on one of these things, but they all get something added each payday.

(4) Pay off the current balances on the credit cards (DH's, mine, Target), which contain all of our variable spending.

(5) If there's anything left over, it gets swept to one of our savings goals.

I have it set up so I can do this all in 15 minutes from my smartphone while laying in bed on payday morning.

Anyone else care to share their payday routine?

8 Responses to “Do you have a payday routine?”

  1. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1424405674

    My payday routine ...

    Open up YNAB and enter it as a transaction for the following month. If it's the first paycheck of the month - allocate to giving, rent, car insurance, 10% EF, 1/2 ROTH contribution. If it's the second paycheck of the month - 10% EF, 1/2 ROTH. The remainder stays unallocated until I get the various bills or spend money in various categories. Whatever is left at the end of the month goes to my EF. (all of the allocations are done for the following month - for example, I got paid today. Today's paycheck goes to March's budget. It was my second paycheck, so I allocated 10$ EF for March and the second half of the ROTH amount for March.)

    This isn't the traditional way to use YNAB, but it is something I've started doing since January, and so far, I really like it. Smile (traditional method has you pre-allocating every dollar for the following month)

  2. DecisiveParadox Says:
    1424411677

    My payday routine is as follows.
    I immediately call a board meeting. All the powerful mover and shakers are in attendance.
    Then a beautiful woman dressed in a sassy pencil skirt saunters in and delivers suitcases of cash while I dine on goose pate and smoked Italian spiced sausage.
    As I listen, my chief financial officer discusses the latest acquisition figures. The beautiful lady leans in close and says "Wake up dear"
    Then I am immediately transported into my child polluted bed while a cat pushes my face off the pillow. The only positive is the beautiful cash lady seems to be my wife.
    After we eat fruitoops we head to the bank as I have an island account (No non-branch access).
    We withdrawal the expenses for the month and then put what's left into savings.
    For just a brief moment in the morning I feel like a billionaire commanding his empire before I make Nutella sandwiches for lunch.

  3. VS_ozgirl Says:
    1424415004

    Decisive Paradox your payday sounds more interesting than ours! My payday is monthly and is responsible for paying mortgage & bills, which mostly are direct debited except for utilities & car insurance. I try to pay bills weekly (if any required) and save any differences on lower bills. B's pay pays for business expenses and spending money. I transfer a set amount each week (determined by his last year's taxable income divided by 52 weeks) to our savings account, where the 52 week challenge savings are debited from each week. I then transfer the remainder to our eftpos account and it generally disappears by Sunday night!

  4. CB in the City Says:
    1424440265

    Love your rendition, DP! My routine is to check the bank account to verify that the paycheck has been deposited. Then I sweep everything in checking to my slush fund or emergency fund (unless I need it for a particularly demanding month ahead). I pay off my credit cards in full online. I transfer my mortgage payment from my credit union savings account to the mortgage account. All my other bills come out of the checking account automatically, so at that point, I'm done.

  5. MonkeyMama Says:
    1424443412

    I receive a paper check and don't like automating anything. So after I get my check deposited... Around the first of the month I pay off all the credit card balances (prior month spending) and make the mortgage payment. I will pay the small handful of bills I Can't charge if I hadn't set them up to pay already. If I have enough float in the checking account until payday I will set them up a couple of weeks before they are due. If not, I wait until the money is in my account. (I run my checking account to -0- but there is always some float). Mid-month I do savings/retirement/investment transfers. I don't necessarily direct every penny on payday but on a monthly basis my account zeroes out. With the credit card spending (versus cash spending) I always know exactly what my bills for the month will be around the first.

  6. MonkeyMama Says:
    1424443500

    I was going to say, using Quicken and online bill pay, it's not anything I spend more than a few minutes a month on.

  7. doingitallwrong Says:
    1424447557

    My routine is to be sure the deposit happened. Smile That's about it -- almost everything else is automatic. (I do have three bills that I can't auto-pay; I generally set up the payments around the first of the month, but it's not really related to payday.) If I have a lot extra in my checking account, I'll move some over to savings, but again, that's not really tied to payday, it's just whenever I happen to do it. I look at my accounts and "balance my checkbook" (kinda sorta, in Excel) almost daily, so payday isn't really that much different from any other day.

  8. LittleMissSplendid Says:
    1424542698

    A routine? Umm does constantly refreshing the online site to confirm that the balance is indeed bigger count? After that I usually pay bills and buy any household things and gas. Whatever is left I put toward my financial goals or entertainment.

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