This may seem weird to some of you, but the fact that my husband gets paid on the 15th and 30th really messes with the budget. Our budgeting software (Money) tracks the money from the 1st to the 30th…as one would imagine. However, because of this it looks like we have a negative balance for most of the month. Then on the last day of the month we get paid and interest is credited and *whoosh* we have a positive balance (ideally…there were times when that didn’t happen).
It just makes keeping track of where we are and where we should be more difficult. It also creates a different sentiment. When I look at our budget I see, “oh, we’re only $900 in the hole this month” instead of “yay, we are saving an additional $200 this month.” Not a good feeling or motivator. You wouldn’t think that one day would make a difference, but it does. I also want my budget to match our actual accounts, so pretending he got paid on the first would probably be an even bigger hassle.
We put most everything we can on credit cards, and pay it off each month, so we don’t have to worry if we actually have the money in our checking account at the time or not, especially since we have bills due throughout the month.
Anyhow, I’ll make due. It really just involves an added step of subtraction, but it’s still a hassle.
Thanks for letting me rant. 
Rant on pay dates
April 23rd, 2007 at 06:49 pm
April 23rd, 2007 at 08:17 pm 1177359475
For me I get paid first and 16th and I like because I only spend the money I have in there. & I like to divide the bills just so - the check on the first pays for so and so and the 2nd check pays the mortgage and health insurance, and some other things. So anything that screws up my system annoys me. For example, the bad thing is getting paid on the first is that it is for the month before. I love my annual budget, but it gets messes up by the fact that my check on Jan. 1 does not reflect my usual raise, because tehcnically it is a check for the year before, but I use it to pay current year bills.
Of course just be glad you don't get paid every 2 weeks. I think it would drive me batty! I know it is workable, but blah. I like having every month the same!
April 23rd, 2007 at 09:53 pm 1177365189
It worked really well and was an awesome bonus when we switched mortgages and ended up with an 'extra' payment!
April 24th, 2007 at 03:16 pm 1177427799
April 26th, 2007 at 12:39 am 1177547942
I don't use anything fancy to budget with just a spreadsheet with everything marked in it that I need to pay for out of that check. Seems to work pretty well for me though I know everyone else is different.