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Paycheck Planning FAQ

David
Updated

The Paycheck Planning tool allows you to set specific dates for your paychecks and expenses so you can visually see how money will flow in and out of your budget throughout the month. In EveryDollar, your paycheck plan includes the dates you intend to have money available to spend for items in your budget.

 

Table of Contents

 

How Does Paycheck Planning Work with Your Regular Budget?

Unless you get paid once a month, you have to spread out your expenses throughout the month so you don’t bust your budget. Paycheck Planning works with the planned amounts from your budget. And based on the dates you enter, the plan shows you when money is available to spend.

You’ll still track all of your income and expenses in your budget. Paycheck Planning is a way to make sure you don’t overspend throughout the month by showing you when it’s safe to spend.

If you adjust your planned amounts in your monthly budget, they will also be reflected in your paycheck plan.

 

What Does “Risk of Overspending” Mean?

The point of Paycheck Planning is to keep you from overspending throughout the month. After you make your first plan, EveryDollar will tell you if you’ve spread things out well or if you need to go make some adjustments.

For example: If you enter all your dates and see you are short $20 a few days before you get paid, Paycheck Planning will tell you you’re at high risk of overspending and you need to move some of your spending around. If you’ve got healthy buffers built into your budget, then you'll see that your overspend risk is low (and that’s where you want to be).

 

Why Do You See a Negative Balance in Paycheck Planning at the Beginning of the Month?

Set a Buffer. A buffer is a great idea for any budget. If you don’t get paid on the first of the month, then you probably have a little left over from last month. Set the amount you anticipate having as a buffer until your first paycheck gets here.

 

What Month Does Paycheck Planning Help You Plan For?

Paycheck Planning helps you plan for the current month.

 

Will My Plan Roll Over to the Next Month?

Yes. After you set up your initial paycheck plan and create a new budget for the next month, all your numbers will copy over into the next month’s plan.

 

How Do You Reset Paycheck Planning?

Open Paycheck Planning, scroll to the bottom, and select Reset Dates. This will reset everything in your paycheck plan back to the first of the month. Then, you can start from scratch and build a new plan.

 

What if You Don’t Want to Use Paycheck Planning?

Totally okay! Open up Paycheck Planning and click Reset Dates. That will set everything back to the way EveryDollar previously worked.

 

What if You Don’t Want to Use the Paycheck Planning tool in EveryDollar Mobile?

You can remove the Paycheck Planning tile from showing on the budget in the mobile app by tapping on the Today tab at the bottom of the screen and then tapping the menu icon in the right corner of the screen. Next, tap on Settings and turn off the toggle next to the Paycheck Planning option.

 

Can You Set a Specific Amount to be Available on a Specific Date?

That's a great question! This feature is not available at this time. Dollar amounts will be evenly distributed by the number of days the line item is scheduled for. If the amount is $100 and scheduled for the 1st and 15th, the split will be $50 on each date. You may consider creating separate line items so you can enter the exact amounts you want to see in Paycheck Planning under the Planned column. 

 

How Do You Delete an Item from Paycheck Planning?

Line items appear in Paycheck Planning based on the line items on the Budget page that have a Planned amount. If you don't want to see a line item in Paycheck Planning, change the Planned amount to $0.00 or delete it from the budget. 

 

Next Steps

Just getting started with Paycheck Planning and want to learn how to set it up? Check out this guide for more details: Paycheck Planning.