How to budget when you're paid weekly

Many important bills and expenses follow a monthly payment schedule. But when you’re paid weekly or every four weeks, you’ll often need to set a weekly budget to make sure you can cover everything – as well as save for long-term goals and emergencies.

Read on as we explore tips and strategies to help break down your monthly outgoings and spending into a weekly budget. We’ll cover everything from tracking your expenses and prioritising bills if you’re paid every week, to how to work out your weekly pay. Follow our simple weekly budget template with our guide.

In this guide:

• How does weekly pay work?

• Advantages of a weekly pay budget

• Considerations for a weekly pay budget

• How to work out your weekly pay for a monthly budget

• How to calculate 4-weekly pay into a monthly budget

• How to work out your weekly pay when you’re paid monthly

• Moneyboat is here to help

How does weekly pay work?

Weekly pay is where you’re paid every week rather than on the same day each month. It’s a common pay structure for:

• Part-time contracts

• Temporary contracts

• Hourly workers

• Shift work

• Freelancers

Being paid weekly means you’ll receive smaller payslips more frequently, which can be less predictable than having a monthly income pattern.

It also means that during five-week months, you’ll receive an extra payslip compared to months where there are only four weeks – taking home five payslips instead of four. This can make creating a weekly budget more complicated than budgeting for a monthly income, but there are plenty of ways to prepare for this.

If you’re wondering how to work out your weekly pay to understand how much money you should get for redundancy, holiday or your potential income while serving a notice period, the UK Government website can help. Head to their guide on understanding your pay.

Advantages of a weekly pay budget

There are various potential advantages to being paid weekly and setting a weekly budget:

• Steady, frequent income: Being paid weekly can give you more regular access to cash. This can be helpful when managing your everyday expenses, and you won’t have to wait very long for your next payslip.

• Regular budgeting schedule:Weekly payslips can help boost your financial awareness, making it easier to review and budget your money, which can be ideal for those who struggle to budget monthly.

Considerations for a weekly pay budget

However, there are some potential considerations when it comes to having a weekly income too:

• Weekly pay can vary: Depending on your job, your weekly pay may vary due to factors such as time off, varying shift patterns, overtime and longer, five-week months.

• Can be more challenging to build long-term savings: While it’s entirely possible to save money when you’re being paid weekly, it can be more challenging as you don’t have access to your entire monthly salary. Once you create a budget, saving a percentage of your weekly salary using automatic bank transfers can help ensure you always put money aside for future goals and rainy-day funds.

How to work out your weekly pay for a monthly budget

Creating a weekly budget when you’re paid every week is similar to setting a monthly budget. One of the quickest ways to find out how much you need to put aside each week to cover your expenses is to multiply your monthly bills by 12 (months), then divide this by 52 (weeks).

From adding up your essential outgoings to creating a budget, follow on for more step-by-step tips on how to manage your finances when you’re paid weekly.

1. Work out your income

If you find it easier to budget for a monthly income, you can calculate this quite easily. The key step here is to find your net monthly income, which is your actual take-home pay.

• Total monthly income: Your monthly wages before any tax and financial deductions.

• Net monthly income: Your monthly wages after any tax and financial deductions.

If you’re paid weekly, you can find your net monthly income by:

• Multiplying your weekly take-home pay by 52

• Then dividing it by 12

For example, if you are paid £550 per week, you would work out the following:

• 550 x 52 = 28,600

• 28,600 ÷ 12

• This equals £2,383 per month

By finding your monthly income, you can start to budget against your monthly bills and outgoings.

However, if you have an irregular income each month, it’s a good idea to budget for your lowest monthly income to cover your most essential outgoings.

2. Work out your important bills

Take a look at your recent bank statements over the last three to six months, and note down all of your essential bills. This is everything that you must be able to cover each month, such as:

• Rent or mortgage payments

• Council tax

• Gas, electricity and water bills

• Mobile phone contracts

• Wi-Fi and broadband contracts

• Insurance

• Credit repayments (such as credit card bills or car finance)

• TV licence

• Monthly subscriptions (such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+)

If you’re self-employed, you might also need to consider other tax and National Insurance payments.

3. Break down your living costs

Then, calculate how much you typically spend on regular living expenses, such as:

• Food

• Travel costs (such as fuel and commuting costs)

• Clothing

• Toiletries

Be realistic about what you need to spend on these costs, rounding up to the nearest figure if necessary. To help break this down, it can be useful to look at the average costs over a month.

When planning your budget, it’s a good idea to prioritise your needs and wants by separating necessities and lifestyle expenses. This might include having a set amount for TV subscriptions or setting aside a little extra for eating out.

For more helpful tips on fine-tuning your budget, read our guide on how to find and cancel subscriptions you don't use.

4. Include your savings pots, goals and emergency funds

Next, look at your bank statements and standing orders and consider what you might need to set aside for savings, future goals and irregular expenses. This might include:

• Savings accounts and ISAs

• Emergency funds

• Holiday funds

• Christmas and birthday funds

• Car and large appliance repairs

• Vet bills

Setting aside emergency savings is an important part of creating any budget, helping you to prepare for unexpected expenses that can often crop up out of nowhere. Whether it’s for a new washing machine or a surprise dentist bill, one of the best ways to build an emergency fund is to save small, regular amounts consistently. That way, it becomes a concrete part of your budget and a healthy savings habit.

As a rule of thumb, it’s recommended to save enough to cover your essential outgoings for at least three months in an emergency savings pot. However, you can make a start by saving one month’s income to help prepare for any potential financial shocks or surprises.

For more guidance on how to prepare for irregular expenses and high-cost months like Christmas time, explore our guide on how to do Christmas on a budget.

5. Calculate your bills for a weekly budget

Once you have a complete list of all your outgoings, you’ll need to make sure you can cover your regular monthly bills with your weekly budget. Otherwise, you might risk entering your overdraft and fronting the cost of added fees and interest.

There are a couple of methods to set a weekly budget for your monthly outgoings. You could break down the weekly cost by:

• Multiplying the average total monthly cost of outgoings by 12 (months), then divide this by 52 (weeks).

• Or you can divide the average total monthly cost of outgoings by the number of weeks in the month. However, the number of weeks in a month can vary, so you’ll need to be mindful of this as you plan your budget.

Finding out how much each bill is going to cost per week can help you plan how much you need to set aside each payday to pay them off. That way, you can avoid spending a large portion of your weekly budget on just one large bill, such as council tax or your rent or mortgage payments.

For example, if your rent or mortgage is £650 per month:

• 650 x 12 = 7,800

• 7,800 ÷ 52

• This works out as £150 per week

Therefore, you’ll need to set aside £150 per week to pay your rent or mortgage when it’s due.

6. Create separate accounts

Some people find it useful to open dedicated bank accounts to help separate their funds. If you’re sharing financial responsibilities with a partner, this might include opening a joint account to pay your household bills, mortgage and food shopping.

Meanwhile, you might use additional bank accounts to help budget for a rainy-day fund, future holidays, or unexpected or irregular costs such as car repairs and vet bills. Separating these from your regular outgoings can help you stick to your budget and maintain your savings.

As part of your budget routine, you can arrange automated transfers and standing orders between your accounts to make sure you have enough funds ahead of bill payments. It’s important to monitor your bills and recurring payments – also known as continuous payment authorities (CPAs) – so you know exactly when they’re due and how much.

Some budgeting apps will show you what you’ve got coming up and when, which can be helpful for weekly budget planning.

How to calculate four-weekly pay into a monthly budget

If you’re paid every four weeks, this means you’ll often receive 13 payslips every year. To convert this into a monthly budget, just follow these steps:

1. Work out your annual salary: Multiply your four-weekly pay by 13 to find your net annual salary.

2. Divide by 12 months: Divide your net annual salary by 12 months to get your net monthly income.

For example, if you’re paid £2,000 every four weeks:

• 2,000 x 13 = £26,000 per year

• 26,000 ÷ 12

• This equals £2,166.66 per month

Remember, this will be your take-home pay, rather than your total income before tax and financial deductions.

Some people find it better to stick to a four-week payslip budget if they’re paid weekly or in a four-weekly pay pattern. Then, the fifth payslip from any five-week months can go into your savings. This follows a similar economical approach to budgeting for your lowest monthly income when you have an irregular income. However, whether this method suits you and your budget may depend on your circumstances.

Learn more about how to set an effective monthly budget with our helpful guide.

How to work out your weekly pay when you’re paid monthly

Even if you get paid at the same time every month, you might prefer to budget according to your weekly pay average. To find out your weekly pay from a monthly salary, multiply your net monthly income by 12 (months) and divide it by 52 (weeks).

Moneyboat is here to help

If you find yourself facing an urgent cost that your emergency funds can’t cover, or you’d rather not dip into your savings pot to resolve it, we might be able to help. Whether your car won’t start or your boiler is broken, we can offer fair and flexible short-term loans between £200 to £1,500 to help tide you over until your next paycheck comes in.

Our application process is straightforward and includes thorough eligibility and credit checks to ensure that we’re an affordable solution for your situation. And if you have any questions or concerns, our experienced advisors are always on hand to help.

Discover more budgeting tips and strategies with our guide on the 50/30/20 budgeting rule. And if you’re looking for guidance about money or credit, you can always get in touch with National Debtline or StepChange for free and independent support.