Plan from payday to payday.

Your paydays. Your plan.

This planner helps you decide where your money needs to go, record what you spend, and keep one chosen category in view. You do not need an app or a bank connection to use it.

Weekly edition: plan four paydays together, then work through one payday window at a time. Six blocks give you 24 weekly windows.

Twice-monthly edition: plan two paydays together, then work through their actual windows. Six blocks give you 12 payday windows. Twice monthly is not the same as every two weeks. Write your actual dates; the windows may have different lengths.

A payday window starts on one actual payday and ends the day before the next. The calendar changing to a new month does not reset your balances.

Start with money you already have

Choose a starting date and time. Write the money already available for this plan at that moment. Leave out credit limits, expected pay and money you are not including in this planner. If you use more than one account or cash, count each included amount once.

Give already-held money a category: it may already be waiting for rent, groceries or another purpose. Put those amounts in Opening on your first category plan. Put any amount not yet assigned in Unassigned opening B.

Check: category Openings + Unassigned opening B = your starting money. An amount belongs in one place, not both.

Money you receive after your starting snapshot belongs on the receipt list. If a paycheck is already included in your starting money, do not enter it again as a receipt. Keep the snapshot date/time with your opening record so this boundary stays clear.

Use one currency throughout this book. Pick short category names or codes and use them consistently. All categories are yours to choose; examples are not a required list. Mark categories reserved for bills PROTECTED.

Plan the whole block

Write the actual expected pay dates and the next payday after the block. Add expected income and your bills' due dates. Decide how much each payday must contribute to each category. These are forecasts until the money arrives.

Fund a bill by the payday before it must be paid. A later paycheck cannot fund an earlier due date. If a bill leaves before pay arrives on the same day, use an earlier payday. Show any funding gap instead of marking an unfunded bill covered.

The bill schedule checks the category plan; it does not allocate extra money. Giving a bill money is not spending. Paying it is spending, recorded once in the transaction register.

When a bill repeats

Use one row and a distinct bill ID for each due date, even if the category stays the same. Assign each opening dollar and payday contribution to only one occurrence. Add the occurrence contributions together once when planning that category's payday funding.

For example, Service bill B01 is 60 due October 14 and has 20 already reserved plus 40 from October 9. Bill B02 is 60 due October 28 and receives a different 60 from October 23. Starting 20+new 100−payments 120=0. The first 20 cannot fund both bills.

Keep an unpaid occurrence open. Note each payment's date and register reference beside that occurrence. If one payment does not finish the bill, show amount due − payments made = still due. Reduce its protected balance by the same payment. Do not count a paid amount as money still reserved.

Example: a 100 bill has 100 reserved. Pay 40 once in the register; note the reference on the bill row. It now has 60 still due and 60 still reserved. Paying the final 60 clears both. Total expense is 100, not 140 or 200. If references fill the cell, use the bill continuation and link both pages.

On each payday: assign received money

1. Copy each signed category balance from the previous close into this window's Opening. Copy unassigned money only into B. For your first window, use your starting snapshot instead.
2. Record money actually received. Add received total A + unassigned opening B to find the new funds you can assign.
3. Write new category allocations. Their total cannot exceed A+B. Keep any remainder in the unassigned box. Already-assigned Opening is not also new money.
4. Initialize the category-balances page: copy Opening and New; start Moves, Refunds and Purchases at zero. Its current balance is Opening+New. This is the page you use to check any category before spending.
5. Choose one primary category. Copy its Opening+New to the first row on the Spending Dial front. This is that category's remaining money, not total household cash or a promise that a purchase is affordable.

If more money arrives during the window, record its receipt and date, then update the new-allocation totals and unassigned remainder. Update the affected category balances. If the primary category receives new funding, append the increase once to its front with a dated reference. Keep its earlier rows; do not rewrite the old starting balance.

Before and after a purchase

Check the category's current balance before spending, including categories that are not primary. On the primary front, the last completed row is current. For other categories, use the category-balances page, updated through the latest recorded entry.

Record each actual purchase once in the register. Give it a date, entry ID and category. Update that category's cumulative Purchases and current balance. Record a refund in Refunds instead; it restores the original category and is not wages or a category move.

If the primary category changes, append the signed change and resulting balance on its front, then tick the register's update box. Purchases reduce it; refunds restore it. These copied summaries are not additional transactions.

Category balance = Opening + New + Moves + Refunds − Purchases. Use pencil for working totals. Keep the dated register and move log as the history; check the totals against them whenever needed. Mark the latest entry included so an old total does not look current.

Planned bills belong on the plan, not in actual spending until paid. Moving money between your own included accounts is not category spending. Do not count a recorded purchase and its card repayment as two expenses. This planner's category method does not replace a separate plan for existing debt or an account reconciliation record.

Change a plan without creating money

To move funding between categories, record the date, source, destination, amount and reason once in the move log. Subtract it from the source's cumulative Moves and add it to the destination's. Total Moves across categories must be zero. Update both current balances; if primary is affected, append its change once on the front. A funding move is not income, a refund or a purchase.

To assign previously unassigned money, increase New for its destination and reduce the unassigned remainder by the same amount. Do not also create a category move from money that was never in a category.

Keep an overspent balance negative. If 150 is available and you spend 165, show −15. Moving 20 from an adequately funded Buffer gives 5 and reduces Buffer by 20. It does not change total money. If no category can provide that money, keep −15; it carries into the next window and reduces the effect of the next allocation.

If you put a purchase in the wrong category, cross-reference the original entry and move its purchase amount from the wrong category's Purchases total to the correct one. Do not record another payment. Update both balances and the primary trail if affected. Keep the correction visible beside the original entry.

When pay is smaller or later

Compare actual pay with the forecast before assigning money. Reduce planned allocations or show the remaining funding gap. Do not use the next paycheck on paper before it arrives.

Separate illustration: forecast 800, received 700. Reduce a planned Buffer allocation 230 to 130; new allocations then total 700. With 340 of actual purchases, the remaining total is 360. This change to an unposted plan is not a 100 expense.

If money is still expected, leave it in the forecast. Check which bills become due before it can arrive, record the gap and your next action, and revise the plan. Do not mark those bills fully funded until their money is actually available.

Close the window and carry forward

Check receipts, purchases, refunds and moves against their logs. The category-balances page already holds working totals; verify them, do not add the same entries again. Check that all category Moves sum to zero and that refunds have not also entered Moves or income.

Money check: opening categories + opening unassigned + receipts + refunds − purchases = closing categories + closing unassigned.

Copy every signed category closing into the next window's Opening once. Carry unassigned only to the next B. Tick the handoff when copied. Money already present is not a new receipt.

At block end, carry the same balances into the next block or record a funded change of category. The calendar month changing does not alter the money. At the end of the book, write the next book or record's name/date and copy the same signed balances there.

When a form fills

Use the matching continuation page at the back. Write block and window IDs, dates, category where relevant, and where the previous page is. On the original page, write where the record continues. Keep transaction IDs unique within the block.

Bring a running balance forward once; it is not another receipt, refund or expense. Category extensions follow the same rule: one category belongs to one row, and the combined page totals are counted once. If all printed continuation space is used, continue on a clearly labelled ruled sheet and keep it with the book. No subscription or extra purchase is required to complete the record.