Buckerymoney planner
Get started
ProductFeaturesPlansSupportContactGet started

buckery.app/bills-before-payday

What has to leave before payday?

Add the bills due before you’re paid. This is a calculator, not financial advice.

Needed before payday

£566.00

Bills of £986.00 are due, and £420.00 is already there.

Buckery is a calculator, not advice. It shows what could happen under scenarios you choose, using the figures you enter. It doesn't know your full situation and doesn't tell you what to do. Buckery isn't authorised by the FCA to give debt advice. For free, impartial debt advice, contact MoneyHelper or StepChange.

See this in the app

How it works

This page adds up what has to leave the account before the next time you’re paid.

Three boxes: how much is in the account today, rent due before payday, and other bills due before payday. It adds the rent and the other bills, then takes off what’s already there. The result is “Needed before payday”.

If the bills are larger than the balance, that figure is the gap. If the balance already covers them, the figure is £0.00, and the line under it says the bills you entered are covered.

The page does not look at a calendar. A direct debit on a fixed date, payday on the last working day, or Universal Credit landing on an assessment date can move a bill into this gap one month and out of it the next. Type the amounts that apply this time.

Food, travel, and card payments are left out unless they are added under “Other bills before payday”. Money that arrives on payday is left out too. The sum is only the bills in the form, against what’s there today.

How much is left to spend until payday is the other side of the same sum: what’s in the account after those bills. This page shows the shortfall. If the result is £0.00, the bills you typed are covered, and anything above them is still in the account. The page does not split that remainder.

A worked example

The form opens on £420.00 in the account, £900.00 rent, and £86.00 of other bills.

Bills due are £986.00. What’s already there is £420.00. Needed before payday is £566.00.

That £566.00 is £900.00 plus £86.00, minus £420.00. It is not a separate bill. Change any box and the gap changes with it.

If the account held £986.00 or more, the page would show £0.00. The bills in the form would be covered.

This is a calculator, not financial advice.

For how long one balance takes to clear, see the debt-free date calculator.

FAQs

What is the gap before payday?
Take what’s in the account and subtract the bills that leave before you’re paid. This page shows that subtraction when the bills are bigger: the amount still needed. If it shows £0.00, those bills are covered by what’s already there. Money left above the bills stays in the account. The page does not call that remainder safe to spend, and it does not include food or travel unless they are typed into other bills.
Which amounts go in before payday?
Rent, council tax, energy, water, phone, insurance, a subscription — any amount that leaves before the next pay. A direct debit dated after payday stays out of this sum. If payday is the last working day, the same debit can fall before pay in one month and after it in another. Type the ones due before this pay.
What if the money runs out before payday?
The gap is the bills in the form minus what’s in the account today. A larger gap means more of those bills are still uncovered. With the opening numbers — £420.00 in the account, £900.00 rent, £86.00 of other bills — the gap is £566.00. The page stops at that figure.
Does a last-working-day payday change the result?
Only when the bills you type change. There is no calendar in the calculator. In a short month the last working day can fall earlier, so a bill that cleared after payday last month may be due before it this month. Include bills due before this pay, and leave out bills due after it.
What about a Universal Credit assessment date?
If the payment arrives on an assessment date rather than the same calendar day each month, the gap is the time until that payment. Include bills that leave before it arrives. This page does not work out an assessment period.
Why might the gap look larger than the rent alone?
Rent and other bills are added first. £900.00 and £86.00 are £986.00, and only then is the £420.00 in the account taken off, leaving £566.00. Card payments, food, and travel are not in that £86.00 unless they were typed into other bills.