Bill Payment Calendar

Who this is for

The month laid out week by week. Each row is one week of the month: the bills that fall in it, what they add up to, what income arrives, and the gap between.

Households paid weekly, fortnightly or on an awkward date, and anyone whose bills cluster at one end of the month while the money arrives at the other.

What this helps you track

• Which bills fall in each week of the month, by their due day
• What each week's bills add up to and what income lands in the same week
• The weeks where more goes out than comes in, so money can be held back for them
• Whether the whole month balances, and whether every week has been settled

How to use it

1. Write the month at the top. The five week rows are already filled in, from the 1st to the 7th through to the 29th onwards.
2. Against each week, write the bills due in it with their due day — 'Rent 1st, Phone 4th' — and add up what they come to in the bills column.
3. Write the income that arrives in each week in the income column; a monthly salary appears in one row, weekly pay in every row.
4. The gap column and the month totals are worked out in the browser and workbook; on paper, subtract across each row and add down.
5. Tick a week when all its bills have gone out. Where a week shows a negative gap, hold money back from the week before or ask the provider to move a due date.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Why weeks rather than a list of bills?

A list says what you owe; a calendar says when. Most bills are due on a fixed day, so grouping them by week shows whether they bunch up ahead of the money. The household bills tracker is the list version.

Can I change the day a bill is taken?

Often. Many providers will move a direct debit date if asked. The calendar shows which weeks would benefit; whether a particular provider agrees is up to them.

What about a bill that is quarterly or annual?

Write it in the week it falls in the months it applies, and leave it out otherwise. The annual budget spreadsheet is where those months are seen in advance.

Where do subscriptions go?

Treat them as bills and write them in the week they charge. If there are many, the subscription tracker sorts them out separately and gives one monthly figure to carry over.