+14 votes
by (230 points)
Hi TBM community.  I'm still new and need some advice from you all.Hi TBM community. I'm still new and need some advice from you all. My husband makes money and I'm currently unemployed with my baby. He gets paid every 2wks so most of the times it's twice a month. The problem is our rent*. The rent is due at the beginning of each month and our first paycheck would be almost completely gone after paying rent. The rent is about 26% of our monthly income, so considering our monthly income it's still totally duable. But we are trying to "budget by paycheck" and if I strictly follow it, it's not really feasible for the first 2wks of month with my situation. My husband mentioned about having a money pool in the checking account all the time so we can live the first two weeks, but I feel like it would defeat the purpose of doing "budget by paycheck" method and I fear that I might fail and not save as much. Is there anybody who has had the similar situation and successfully still carried out the method? Any input will help. Below is more details about our house as it's not really a normal "rent": - it's a house that is relatively recently purchased by our family member. We call it "rent" right now, but we are basically paying them their mortgage every month as we have a plan to buy it back in a few years. So moving out isn't our option. - we can't make separate payments on rent unlike Ryen does (I really wish I could do it), so that's not our option either. ☹️ Thank you so much in advance for your help!  
Hi TBM community.  I'm still new and need some advice from you all.

10 Answers

0 votes
by (200 points)
I rearranged our payments by calling the companies and asking to change our due dates so that almost every other bill comes out of the second paycheck and only rent comes out of the first one. The first of the months paycheck is always pretty tight. We get paid about $2300 each check and our rent is $1600. So we definitely feel it on the first.  
by (230 points)
Thank you for your input! I'll call and see if I can do that too that will help so much.  
by (200 points)
@pierpont32738 You’re welcome! I hope it helps some
0 votes
by (150 points)
I split mine up into two payments, so mine gets autopaid every 2 weeks for half the amount so that by the first when mine is due it is paid. then I just track this in my paychecks as an individual payment so I can still budget by paycheck! Depending on how you pay your rent you can look at paying online with each check or pulling money out?  
0 votes
by (1.7k points)
Do you have more money available later in the month that you could roll over as income for the rent at the beginning of the next month? For example, if you know that your first paycheck of the month is $400 short of your expenses, could you allocate $400 from the end of the month before to use for the next months rent? I agree with your husband that accumulating a checking account cushion is probably going to be a big benefit to you. I also think rearranging other payment dates could help a ton. We have a really payment-heavy first week or two of the month as well and it takes some creativity at first to figure out how to make it work best for your family. Good luck! You got this!  
0 votes
by (490 points)
Miko has a checking acct cushion so what your husband suggested would 100 be where to start to help that timing each month
0 votes
by (150 points)
You can either do half every paycheck
0 votes
by (150 points)
I roll over a portion of my 1st paycheck towards my rent each month. I get paid the 5th and 20th, rent due on 1st. So part comes out 5th then when I get the rest on the 20th I pay the rent in full for the next month.  
0 votes
by (150 points)
We are paid weekly so I take 1/4 of rent out each pay so it doesn't take 1 entire check.  
0 votes
by (150 points)
We do budget by paycheck method. Our mortgage is due beginning of the month. I mark on our bill calendar what checks I need to budget for the house. (Check on 29th - $___ was budged and the check on 7th $_____ remainder budgeted) it’s still budget by paycheck, the money just sits there (it has a job, it has a name and we know we can’t touch it)
0 votes
by (860 points)
My husband is paid every two weeks too and I take 1/2 of the rent from each check and transfer it to another account until we are ready to pay rent for the next month.  
0 votes
by (200 points)
We are always money poor the first week or so of the month depending on how our paychecks fall. We also just started following the TBM method. From our last January paycheck, I managed to keep enough from our last paycheck to help with our February grocery/gas/etc funds and pay the bills due before my husband gets paid again. It did help that we got an overpayment refund but my goal is to do the same this month, even without that extra.  
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