Reader Q&A: Splitting Payments

We pay our rent ($1000 out of a $1200 paycheck) the first paycheck of the month and with our second paycheck we pay bills. The rent is due on the 1st so how would I go about spreading out the other bills? I can’t really cut the rent in half and pay half each paycheck (I’d love to do but when we tried one month we got a nasty letter from the landlord.) Any suggestions would be appreciated! 🙂

Thanks for your question! You actually CAN split your payment! You can simply allocate $500 from each of your paychecks, even when that means you don’t send your payment off to the landlord.

This is another great example of why writing your budget down each month is important! All you have to do to have the peace of mind when you go to write your rent check is to look at your previous paycheck’s budget! Is there $500 allocated to it? Then you know you have the money! Take a look at those Google Docs templates I linked to in my Budgeting lesson. Those will help you keep it all straight!

This *may* put a strain on you for the first month you do it, because you’ll have $500 less in that other paycheck, but you’ll find the relief the following month.

I hope I answered your question! Of you (or anyone for that matter) need clarification, just let me know!