What to do with "extra" paychecks?

[Chicago526]

I get paid every other Friday. This means that most months I get 2 paychecks. But 2 months out of each year, I get three paychecks because there are 5 Fridays that month.

I've always treated that as "found" money and, depending on when I get these "extra" paychecks, either use it to pay extra on bills, save for vacations, or in the case of this year, buy Christmas presents since next month is my three paycheck month.

I'm wondering though, if I'd be better off trying to budget this money instead of leaving it out. But I'm not quite sure how to go about doing it. I've based everything on my monthly take home pay, which 10 out of 12 months is two paychecks.

Does anyone here that gets paid the same way budget this money? Or do you just consider it "found" money and use it for whatever you need at the time you get it?

 

[LynnTH]

Until this summer my DH and I both got paid on the 15th and last day of the month. He got a new boss who didn't like that plan so now he gets paid every other Friday as well. I was very mad for a while as I had all our bills planned out with us getting paid twice a month. Now of course, his checks are smaller each pay period but he gets 2 extra a year. I do like you do. The first extra check (which was in September) I put half away for our Disney Trip and half for Christmas Shopping. Our next one is in February the week before we go to Disney. I'm hoping we will have all of our spending money saved up by then so I don't have to use any of this. I would like to put it away for our next vacation the following year or maybe put it towards my student loan. Since, I have reworked our monthly bills to fit what we get that month I just use it as extra money.

 

[cinamin27]

I get paid bi weekly also. The way I budget my bills is rent & auto/renters insurance come from my paycheck closest to the beginning of the month, the 2nd paycheck is used for all other bills (elect, water, cell, phone, cable, credit card).

Doing this gives me 2 "extra" paychecks a year. The one twards summer/middle of the year goes completely into savings. The one closer to the end of the year (which for me happens to be TOMORROW, YEA!) is my Christmas present money + the rest goes into savings. This is wonderful as all of my Christmas presents are purchased in cash & the check usually falls for me before black Friday so I can get my Christmas shopping out of the way before stores & malls get overcrowded.

 

[poober25]

Until about 6 mos. ago, my DH got paid montly, which we LOVED!! I know most people don't like that, but it worked very well for us. He now gets paid biweekly. It took me awhile to figure it out, but as it turned out, those two extra checks are currently almost perfect amounts for paying our auto and homeowner's ins. (plus the tithe on those checks). In the past we've always put the money aside and pd. auto bi-annually and homeowner's annually. So, now I'm just paying them both bi-annually.

 

[tjmouse]

I love my 2 "extra" paychecks. I budget the same as always and use those to either pay on my credit card or save for Disney or Christmas. It works out great!

 

[mickeyfan2]

I would invest the extra paychecks for you retirement.

 

[tjmouse]

I would invest the extra paychecks for you retirement.

I do that with my raises. When I get a raise, I figure out how much it is and up my contributions to my retirement.

 

[Crankyshank]

I use ours for home repairs or something that comes up that wasn't budgeted funds. There's always something that comes up right about that time

 

[suezpqt]

My husband and I each get paid everyother week but they are opposite of each other. So we really get 4 "extra checks" each year. I have our bills set specific ones to each week and the left over pays for gas, groceries, etc. Before we bought our house I treated them as FOUND money and used it for whatever we needed or wanted-probably not the best choice. Now that we own a house we are going to use them to benefit the house and all of our "dreams".

 

[Jsme]

We use my husbands extra 2 check for summer money and to pay bills. One falls right before I am off for the summer and it helps to have a little extra during this time of the year. Then the other one goes to bills.

 

[dizagain]

We most definitely call them "extra" paychecks and do not "save" them AT ALL!! Especially now that I'm not working part-time anymore, the December one will really help with Christmas. The early summer one we usually put towards vacation or any big items that need replacing such as a washer or something. Gotta love those paychecks!!

 

[punkin]

send them to me?

 

[malibuconlee]

Remember you'll still have food costs and things. Save some spending money out of them, otherwise, you'll go 4 weeks between paydays.

We used the extra to pay off credit cards in the past. We dont' keep balances anymore. I'd keep some out to cover expenses, and save the rest. Or use it for something you'd have to save up for.

 

[ziggystardust]

I must be an idiot. I've never considered them as extra. But now that an impromtu, super cheap (like $150 cheap) trip is in the works I'm going to consider it EXTRA. And the rest will go right towards bills. Woohooo!

Thanks Dis'boards!

 

[pearlieq]

We used to treat is as "bonus" money. I had our budget worked out for 24 checks (twice a month) so the extra money was used to pay down debt, then to invest and spend on vacations/holidays/extras. DH is paid semi-monthly now, so there's no more "extra" money!

 

[Skatermom23]

We get one in July and one Dec. The July ones goes towards new clothing for everyone...I have two teens... and the Dec ones is for Christmas. I love the way it works out.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

I used to use the "extra" checks to pay down my credit card or buy some needed items (like clothes ... YES they are needed ) But I just bought a house so I'm going to start using a portion of those 2 extra checks to made 2 extra mortgage payments a year. Well actually, I'm going to pay just the P&I (principal and interest) not the escrow part for taxes/insurance. They say that if you pay at least one extra P&I payment a year, you can cut a substantial amount of time off your mortgage (I think it works out to be 8 years for a 30 year mortgage). So that is my new plan. But, as another poster said, things tend to "happen" when you have "extra" money. I guess it's better when you have it than when you don't!

 

[siouxsieQ]

I get paid once a month and absolutely love that! My husband gets paid every-other-week. We use the extra paychecks for Christmas and Birthdays throughout the year. I think he takes out for gas, groceries, spending money before that money goes toward Christmas and Birthdays.

 

[tor]

Lets not forget that every 11 years it is 3 extra checks because you end up with 27 payperiods instead of 26

 

[cali99boy]

i dunno about you guys but I just use it to pay bills