Semi-Monthly Paycheck Budget Spreadsheet

About this template

This semi monthly budget spreadsheet is made for pay that lands twice a month, on the 1st and the 15th. You plan each of your 24 paychecks separately, and a single dashboard shows one pay period or the full year: income, spending, where it went, what you saved and what rolls forward.

Please read: This is a tracker tool only, not financial, tax, legal, medical or any other professional advice or advisory service. It records and calculates what you enter; you are solely responsible for checking all figures, rates, dates and results and for every decision you make. By purchasing, downloading or using it, you accept these terms (your statutory consumer rights are not affected).

The dashboard

Pick any paycheck, or the whole year, and every chart on the page follows. It fills itself from your transactions.

• Five live cards: money in, money out, saved, savings rate and the amount rolling over
• The change against the last paycheck on every card, shown with an up or down arrow
• A 24-paycheck mini chart inside each card, with the paycheck you picked highlighted
• Paycheck flow: income against spending for all 24 paychecks, plus what rolls over
• Where it went: spending by group with the total in the center and each share as a percentage
• Budget against actual for every group, with any overspending called out
• Your top categories, subscriptions, debts, savings goals and the 50/30/20 split

Nineteen connected tabs

As a paycheck budget, the tabs are grouped by the job they do around each payday.

Every pay period

• Paychecks: all 24, each with income, brought forward, available, spent and left over
• Budget by Paycheck: choose a period and see planned, spent and left for every category
• Income: weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly pay cycles
• Transactions: 2,000 rows, the single source every other tab reads

Bills and subscriptions

• Recurring: the bills that repeat and the day each one lands
• Bill Calendar: all twelve months, showing what is due on which day, so it doubles as a bill tracker
• Subscriptions: a subscription tracker with monthly and annual cost that flags anything over 300 dollars a year
• Accounts: checking, savings, cards, cash and investments

Get ahead

• 50/30/20: needs, wants and savings against the rule of thumb
• Debt Payoff: choose snowball or avalanche and the payoff order works itself out
• Sinking Funds: once-a-year bills, saved for a little every payday
• Savings Goals: the target, what you have saved and the month you reach it
• Net Worth: what you own less what you owe
• Annual Summary, Expense Breakdown and No-Spend Challenge

Light and dark editions

Every download includes a light edition and a dark mode budget edition. Every tab is restyled, not only the dashboard, and the formulas are identical. Both come filled with a worked example and blank, in Excel and in Google Sheets, so you can see a budget by paycheck working before you start your own.

Works with

• Microsoft Excel 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365, on Windows and Mac, and LibreOffice
• Google Sheets with a free Google account. The Google Sheets version is a real workbook, not a PDF with a link in it.
• Built with no dynamic arrays, no macros and no add-ins, so it behaves the same everywhere
• No subscription and no bank connection

What you download

• Light edition: the Excel workbook filled with a worked example, and a blank one
• Dark edition: the same two files in the dark design
• The instruction guide, with one-click links to the Google Sheets versions (light and dark, filled and blank)
• The terms of use as a PDF

Your files are ready as soon as payment clears. The template is for your personal use on your own devices; please do not share or resell the files. Questions before or after you buy? Use our contact page and we will help.

Frequently asked questions

Is this an Excel file or a Google Sheets file?

Both. You download Excel workbooks for Excel 2016 or later on Windows and Mac, and the instruction guide links to the Google Sheets versions so you can make your own copy with a free Google account.

How does it handle two paychecks a month?

It treats each payday as its own budget period, 24 in the year. Each one shows income, money brought forward, what is available, what you spent and what is left over.

Can I add income that is paid on another schedule?

Yes. The Income tab supports weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly and monthly pay cycles.

Does it connect to my bank?

No. You log each transaction yourself, once, and every tab and chart updates from that list. There is no bank connection and no subscription.

Are the light and dark editions different?

Only in how they look. Both have the same tabs and formulas, and both are in every download.