You are now ready to establish a Payday Spending Plan(PDF).

Begin by listing all of your unique monthly expenses (which now should be adjusted based on your adjusted expenses on your Monthly Expense Form) on the Payday Spending Plan. Some categories typical for most consumers are already listed on this form to show you how this works.

Take your own Monthly Expense Form and your Debt Listing and complete the Payday Spending Plan with all of your own expenses and debts listed down the second left hand column. In the far left hand column, list the dates or timeframes that relate to that particular expense or debt payment (i.e.: 1st, 15th, 25th, weekly, monthly, etc).

Across the top of the form, list all of your payday dates for one month only. Under the payday dates in the "Received" line(s) enter your anticipated net income for those paydays. Now you can cross-reference the dates/timeframes that expenses and debts are due with your paydays as they come up. So, as you approach the 15th payday, for instance, you will look to the far left, select all expense/debt payments that will be made between the 15th and the next payday, and write the amount due to be paid in that space under the payday column.

Using the Payday Spending Plan, you can project out for a period of time and begin to see how you can make progress on debts, adjust for periodic expenses or expenses you were not anticipating at all, and also have a comprehensive quick look at your finances at any point in time.

Over the months, you will begin to build a great form of documentation for all of your financial activities that relate to personal spending and planning. Add one more step and you will virtually always feel very in control of YOUR MONEY.

When a bill arrives, write the amount of the payment due on your Payday Spending Plan and then place it in your Money Management file. You will have a quick and ready reference for amounts and dates due for bills rather than continually rummaging through a pile of envelopes and papers.

For expenses and bills for which you do not actually receive a bill, list or estimate those amounts approximately one month ahead of time and you will begin to know what to anticipate as you become intimately involved in the real flow of YOUR MONEY.

What if a totally unexpected expense comes up? Often a car repair or doctor bill can seem to throw you off completely. Never fear... you are now able to look ahead and anticipate the effect that paying for that expense by cash or credit will have on your Payday Spending Plan. As you become more accustomed to relying on this form, you will learn what risks you can and cannot take and still maintain the money flow that works effectively for you.

Good luck with this final step in YOUR MONEY planning! Reaching this step successfully and gaining confidence in using the Payday Spending Plan will make a huge difference in how you feel about YOUR MONEY!