You do not need to start on payday. The planner can work from today’s remaining balance, even halfway through a pay period. It answers a narrow question: after the bills and money you want to keep aside, how much remains for each day until your next income?
1. Choose your starting figures
Money available now means the money you are including in this plan today. If you were paid £1,500 but have already spent £900, entering the full salary would overstate what remains. Use the relevant current balance, checking pending purchases first. Do not include an overdraft limit as if it were money already yours.
Bills still to pay covers payments that will come out before your chosen end date and have not already reduced that starting figure. A paid bill belongs outside this total. Check dates as well as amounts: a bill after the next payday normally belongs in the next plan.
Set aside keeps part of the available balance out of the spending estimate. It can represent a buffer or money reserved for a particular purpose. Enter it once: if £50 is already in your bills total, do not put the same £50 in Set aside.
2. Follow a complete example
Imagine there are 21 days to cover. You have £620 available, £200 of unpaid bills, and want to leave £63 untouched. These are illustrative figures, not recommended spending amounts.
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Money available now | £620 |
| Subtract unpaid bills | − £200 |
| Subtract money set aside | − £63 |
| Money left for the period | £357 |
| Divide by 21 days | £17 per day |
| Next seven days at that rate | £119 |
The daily figure is an average across the remaining period. It is not a fresh deposit each morning and unused amounts are not stored in separate daily pots. A £30 shop today can still fit a £119 seven-day estimate if other spending over those seven days leaves enough for the rest of the period.
Amounts are displayed to two decimal places. Rounding a daily amount can create a few pennies’ difference when you multiply it back by the number of days; use the total remaining money as the limit.
You can also replace the manual bills total with an itemised list of one-off and monthly payments. The bills calendar guide explains which due dates are reserved and how to record payments.
3. Keep the plan current without counting twice
After a £34 everyday purchase in the example, use + Spending once. Available money becomes £586. The £200 bills and £63 reserve are still protected, leaving £323. With 21 days still selected, that is about £15.38 a day. The next day, the automatic period becomes shorter, so check the new estimate.
Alternatively, replace Money available now with a fresh balance from your records. A purchase already reflected in that balance must not also be logged as new spending. Replacing the balance disables undo for older spending entries, because restoring them would change the new figure you supplied.
When a reserved bill is actually paid, update both figures. For example, paying a £100 bill from the original £620 balance leaves £520 available and £100 in remaining bills. After the £63 reserve, £357 is still available for everyday spending. Reducing only the balance would count the bill twice. This example uses the manual bills total. With the dated bills list enabled, use its Paid? control to update payment status and optionally deduct the amount in one step.
What if? lets you preview a purchase before changing the plan. Cancel leaves your saved balance alone. Apply spending deducts the amount and records it in recent spending. The app keeps only the latest 20 entries, so it is a quick check-in tool, not a complete account ledger.
4. Check the end date and any shortfall
The automatic period covers today up to the day before the next scheduled payday. If today is payday, the app uses one day; update your balance when the income actually arrives. The countdown reaching zero does not confirm a bank payment.
Use End date for a student instalment, irregular income or another confirmed date. The + and − controls adjust a period based on your pay schedule; Until payday restores the automatic period. A custom end date uses the same rule: include today, exclude the end date, and use a minimum of one day.
If available money is below bills plus the reserve, the planner shows a shortfall and a £0 spending allowance. Changing the number of days cannot remove that gap. Check for duplicated bills or an outdated balance; if the figures are correct, the calculator cannot create money to cover them.
For a fuller picture across income, household costs and longer-term expenses, use the MoneyHelper budget planner. This page explains our calculator; it is not personalised financial advice.