A budget that runs on your paychecks — not on willpower.
Most budgets ask what you'll spend on groceries in a month. Ours asks something easier: a paycheck just landed — what does it need to cover before the next one? Five minutes on payday. One honest number the rest of the week.
One-time purchase · Google Sheets & Excel · No subscription, no bank linking, no app to abandon
| This paycheck | Bills it covers | Spending | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
why monthly budgets fail
You don't get paid monthly. Why budget monthly?
Rent is due the 1st. You're paid the 10th and 25th. The math that matters isn't “monthly average” — it's which check covers which bill. When a budget ignores that, you end up broke the last four days before payday and calling it a personal failure. It isn't. It's a timing problem, and timing problems have mechanical fixes.
Plan per paycheck
Every check gets a five-minute plan: the bills it covers, your spending money, what goes to savings or debt. Weekly, biweekly, irregular — any income pattern works.
One number to remember
The dashboard keeps a single Safe to Spend figure: this check's spending money minus what you've already spent. No forty categories. No guilt taxonomy.
No “behind”
Skipped two weeks? Start again at the next paycheck. The sheet doesn't keep score. Budgets fail at the restart — so we made restarting free.
the payday system
Here's the actual spreadsheet.
Not a stock-photo laptop — the real tabs, real formulas, real palette. Shaded cells are the only ones you touch; everything else fills itself in.
| # | Pay date | Amount | Bills | Spending | Savings | To debt | Left over |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 3 | $2,000 | $1,180 | $450 | $200 | $100 | $70 |
| 2 | Jul 17 | $2,000 | $740 | $450 | $200 | $100 | $510 |
| 3 | Jul 31 | $2,000 | $1,430 | $450 | $200 | $100 | −$180 |
the spreadsheets
Three ways in.
The Payday System
$29 · one-time
The 8-tab paycheck budget: bill calendar, safe-to-spend dashboard, savings, debt, net worth. Light + dark editions.
See what's inside →Debt Payoff Toolkit
$19 · one-time
Snowball vs avalanche with your real numbers — payoff dates, rollover math, and an honest comparison of the two.
See what's inside →The Complete Money Kit
$39 · one-time
Both spreadsheets plus two kit-only extras: the Couples Paycheck Planner and the Annual Money Reset. $48 of tools for $39.
See what's inside →why a spreadsheet
Apps charge rent. Spreadsheets are yours.
| Payday Sheets | Budget apps | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $29 once | $99–109 every year |
| Your data | In your own Google Drive | On their servers, linked to your bank |
| If the company disappears | Nothing changes — it's a file | Export and start over (ask Mint users) |
| Customizing | It's a spreadsheet. Change anything. | Feature request form |
| Auto-import of transactions | No — 30 seconds of honest logging | Yes |
That last row is real: apps auto-import and we don't. We'd argue the 30 seconds is the feature — money you type is money you noticed — but if auto-import is non-negotiable, an app will serve you better. Our honest comparison →
Start with the free one-pager.
The Payday One-Pager is the single-tab version of the system — one paycheck, one plan, one left-over number. Genuinely free, genuinely useful.
Download it free — no email needed
Free means free. If you do subscribe, it's one useful money email a month, unsubscribe anytime.
questions
Fair questions.
Google Sheets or Excel?
Both. Every purchase includes .xlsx files that open natively in Excel and import cleanly into Google Sheets (Drive → New → File upload → open → Save as Google Sheets). Most customers use Google Sheets.
Is this a subscription?
No. Pay once, keep it forever, including light and dark editions and any fixes we ship. There is nothing to cancel because there is nothing recurring.
I have ADHD / I abandon every budget. Is this different?
It was designed around abandonment. One main tab, one number to remember, five minutes on payday only, and a system with no concept of "behind" — restarting costs nothing. Many of our design choices came from what actually sticks for neurodivergent budgeters. It is still a tool, not magic.
What if my income is irregular?
The system is undated and paycheck-driven, so irregular income is a first-class citizen: enter each check as it lands, plan it, done. Our variable income guide covers the strategy side.
What am I actually buying?
Spreadsheet files (.xlsx) delivered instantly by download link, plus a short getting-started PDF. No physical goods, no software installation, no account required.
What if I don't like it?
30 days, full refund, one email, no questions. The risk is ours.