The Paycheck Plan

Dollars Plus Sense — decide where it goes before it lands.

What lands, and when

Put in what each paycheck actually is. Leave the ones you do not use at zero.

Paid every two weeks? 14. Weekly? 7. Once a month? 30.

Add a bill

Everything you pay

Tap the pink chip to move a bill to a different paycheck. The Plan updates as you tap — that is the whole method.

    Add a savings goal

    What you are putting away

    A sinking fund is not extra. It is a bill you have not been billed for yet.

      Why a paycheck and not a month

      Most budgets are built around a month. You do not get paid a month — you get paid a paycheck. So the rent being due on the 1st and the car insurance being due on the 20th are two different problems, and a monthly total hides both of them.

      This plan asks one question per bill: which paycheck pays it? That single choice is the whole method. Once every bill has a paycheck, the money left over is real spending money, not a guess.

      If a paycheck comes up short

      Do not start over. Go to My Bills and tap one bill onto the other paycheck, then look again. You are not finding new money — you are moving the same money to a week that can carry it.

      If it is still short after two or three moves, the plan is not the problem. The bills are bigger than the pay, and that is worth knowing plainly on a Sunday instead of discovering it at the register on a Thursday.

      The third paycheck

      Paid every two weeks? Twice a year you get a third paycheck in one month. Use Paycheck 3 for it and give it a job before it arrives. An unplanned extra paycheck is the easiest money in the world to lose.

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