Question

Hi everyone.  I hope this makes sense.Hi everyone. I hope this makes sense. Ive been here for a while but Ive decided that its now time to actually start with my next paycheck that is on the 6th of March. I get paid biweekly. When counting your income, do you count your actual paycheck or your bank account balance? I’m asking because I use my debit card for everything right now, so when my paycheck hits my bank is already deducting other purchases. I unfortunately do not have a cushion left in my account so it’s basically at $0 when my check hits the account so with all the deductions it makes it look like I have less money to work with. By the time I pay my bills I don’t have much left. I’m also looking into splitting my bills so I have a little more to work with but that will take some time to set up. Sorry for rambling. make sense?  

Answer 1

I only count my paycheck as my income.  

Answer 2

On the paycheck bill tracker put that one paycheck as your income and then track from it. You should be able to print quite a few of the printouts for free if you take the free email getting started class. Sign up on the website

Answer 3

Start keeping an expense tracker right away. By the time the 6th rolls around, you should know how much money you have in the back, even if all of the transactions haven't processed yet. At that time, you'll track how much you have in your account and then add in your income and you'll budget for all of it together. The easiest thing for many is to create a zero based budget, so at the end of the time period, you don't have money leftover and you start fresh with the new paycheck. Of course, there might still be some extra leftover and you might want to move things around, but it's definitely the easiest way to track and budget.