Finances & BudgetingFree budget tool
Put 60% of each paycheck toward needs, 20% toward savings and 20% toward wants. It's the middle ground when half your pay won't cover rent and bills. Add your bills to see which paycheck has to pay each one.
Highlights
This planner splits every paycheck (or monthly salary) into buckets, such as bills, savings and spending. Then it gives each bill to the payday that has to pay it.
If a later paycheck can't cover its bills, it tells you how much to keep back from an earlier one. It works with any pay schedule, more than one income, and every currency in use around the world.
The example below is already filled in. Change the income in Step 1, the buckets in Step 2 and the bills in Step 3. The results in Step 4 update as you type.
ExampleExample figures loaded. Change anything.
Add every income you get paid from.
Fixed amounts first, then percentages. "What's left" takes the rest.
Per paycheck $1,200.00
Per paycheck $400.00
Per paycheck $400.00
Monthly bills and the day they're due.
Paying ahead
A buffer for slow transfers. A bill due just after a payday is paid from the paycheck before it.
Your split
Salary: $2,000.00, every two weeks
Each bill goes to the latest payday before its pay-by date.
October 2026
Hold back $550.00
Salary $2,000.00
Bills $130.00 from $1,200.00 bills money
Keep $550.00 of this payday's bills money for the Oct 23 payday, which can't cover its bills alone. $520.00 is still free.
Short by $550.00
Salary $2,000.00
Bills $1,750.00 from $1,200.00 bills money
Covered by money held back from an earlier payday.
60/20/20 budgeting guide
The 50/30/20 rule asks your needs to fit in half your pay. With today's rents, often they don't. The 60/20/20 rule moves 10% from wants to needs and keeps saving 20%. This calculator applies it to each paycheck and checks the needs money arrives before each bill is due.
Want a different split or several incomes? The paycheck split calculator handles any split.
60/20/20 or 50/30/20?
Both save 20%. 60/20/20 gives needs the room that wants would have had.
Worked example
The example in the calculator: 2,000 every two weeks, split 60/20/20, with rent of 1,500.
Each paycheck puts 1,200 in needs. The bills are rent of 1,500 due on the 1st, a 250 car loan on the 28th, plus a phone and internet. They come to 1,880 a month. Under 50/30/20, needs would get about 2,167 a month, leaving under 300 for groceries and transport. At 60%, a typical month brings about 2,600.
Rent and the car loan both fall to the October 23 paycheck. That's 1,750 of bills for 1,200 of needs money: 550 short.
So the October 9 paycheck, which only has 130 of bills, holds back 550 for the 23rd. The other 520 is free for groceries and other needs.
| Payday | Needs money | Bills | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9 | 1,200 | 130 | Hold back 550 · 520 free |
| Oct 23 | 1,200 | 1,750 | Short by 550 |
Quick reference
How common take-home amounts divide under the rule.
| Take-home pay | Needs (60%) | Savings (20%) | Wants (20%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 600 | 200 | 200 |
| 1,500 | 900 | 300 | 300 |
| 2,000 | 1,200 | 400 | 400 |
| 3,000 | 1,800 | 600 | 600 |
| 4,000 | 2,400 | 800 | 800 |
Works for any currency, per paycheck or per month.
Popular splits
Not sure where to start? Load one of these into the planner, then adjust the percentages to fit your bills.
Half of each paycheck for needs such as rent, bills and food, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings and paying off debt. The most widely used starting point.
Needs 50% · Wants 30% · Savings & debt 20%
70% for living costs, 20% for savings and 10% for debt or giving. Suits higher-cost cities, where needs alone take more than half.
Living costs 70% · Savings 20% · Debt or giving 10%
60% for needs, 20% for savings and 20% for wants. A middle ground when 50% for needs is too tight.
Needs 60% · Savings 20% · Wants 20%
Move 20% to savings the day you're paid, then pay bills and live on the other 80%. The simplest split to stick to.
Savings 20% · Everything else 80%
The same for any currency: 2,000 dollars, pounds, euros or rand.
| Split | Each bucket gets |
|---|---|
| 50/30/20 | Needs 1,000 · Wants 600 · Savings & debt 400 |
| 70/20/10 | Living costs 1,400 · Savings 400 · Debt or giving 200 |
| 60/20/20 | Needs 1,200 · Savings 400 · Wants 400 |
| 80/20 (pay yourself first) | Savings 400 · Everything else 1,600 |
Method
The same rules apply to every plan, so you can check any result by hand.
This is a planning tool, not financial advice. It uses the take-home figures you enter and doesn't work out tax. Last reviewed .
Common questions
Common questions about the 60/20/20 rule and planning bills by paycheck.
A way to divide your take-home pay: 60% for needs, 20% for savings and paying off debt, and 20% for wants. It's a version of 50/30/20 that moves 10% from wants to needs, for when rent and bills take more than half your pay.
It's better if your needs don't fit in half your pay. Both save 20%, so your savings rate stays the same; 60/20/20 just takes the extra needs money from wants. If your needs fit comfortably in 50%, 50/30/20 leaves more room for spending.
The same as in 50/30/20: rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries, insurance, transport to work, childcare and minimum debt payments. Eating out, streaming and holidays are wants. Debt payments above the minimum belong in the 20% savings bucket.
Try 70/20/10, which gives living costs 70% and keeps saving 20%. Or lower savings for a while, for example to 65/15/20, and raise it again when your costs fall. Load 60/20/20 in the planner, change any percentage in Step 2, and check every payday still covers its bills.
Apply it to each paycheck. Each one puts 60% in needs, but big bills such as rent fall to one paycheck, so that paycheck's needs money can be short even when the month adds up. The planner shows which paycheck it is and how much to hold back from the one before.
Ready-made plans
The same planner with a different starting plan. Your saved plan comes with you to each one.
Related tools
Turn a photo of a bill list or payslip into rows or text. These tools also run in your browser, with nothing uploaded.