How to Make a Bill Payment Calendar (Example Month)

By Cedar & Ledger

A list of bills tells you what you owe. A bill calendar tells you when. Putting each bill on the day it's due shows the busy weeks before they sneak up on you, and it makes it much easier to see whether a paycheck can cover what's coming. Here's how to build one in about 20 minutes, with a made-up example month.

The bills, amounts and due days below are made-up examples to show the steps, not typical costs. This is general information, not financial advice.

Quick checklist

• ☐ Gather every bill and its due day
• ☐ Write each bill on its due day
• ☐ Mark which ones are autopay and which you pay by hand
• ☐ Use a high estimate for bills that change
• ☐ Add up each week
• ☐ Compare the weeks to your paydays
• ☐ Check off each bill when it's paid

The steps below walk through each one.

Step 1: Gather every bill and its due day

Go through last month's bank and card statements and write down every bill: rent, utilities, phone, insurance, loan payments, card minimums and subscriptions. For each one, note the due day of the month. If a bill is yearly or quarterly, add it too, on the month it's due; How to Track Yearly Subscriptions and Renewals helps find those.

Step 2: Write each bill on its due day

Use a paper calendar, a calendar app or a spreadsheet with days 1 to 31 down one side. Put each bill on its due day with the amount.

Example month (made-up numbers):

Step 3: Mark autopay vs. paid by hand

Bills you pay by hand are the ones that get missed. Mark them clearly (a star, a color, "by hand"). In the example, 3 bills worth $1,335 are paid by hand, and rent alone is most of that. Those are the days to set a phone reminder a few days ahead.

Step 4: Use a high estimate for bills that change

For power, water or gas, use a high month from the last year rather than the average, so the calendar doesn't come up short in summer or winter. The $140 electric line in the example is an estimate like that.

Step 5: Add up each week

Total the bills in each week of the month. In the example:

• Days 1-7: $1,268 (rent and car insurance)
• Days 8-14: $81
• Days 15-21: $349
• Days 22-31: $215

That adds back to $1,913. The first week carries about two thirds of the month's bills, which is easy to miss when you only look at the monthly total.

Step 6: Compare the weeks to your paydays

Now line the weeks up with when money comes in. If you're paid twice a month, the bills due on days 1-14 ($1,349 in the example) need to come out of one check, and days 15-31 ($564) from the other. If one half is much heavier, you can set money aside from the lighter check, or ask a company to move a due date. How to Set Up Autopay Without Overdrafting walks through moving due dates, and How to Budget by Paycheck shows how to plan each check.

Step 7: Check off each bill when it's paid

Each time a bill is paid, check it off on the calendar, even the autopay ones once you see them go through. At the end of the month, carry the calendar forward and update any amounts that changed. How to Track Your Bills So Nothing Is Late has more ways to make a missed bill less likely.

Common snags

• Leaving out yearly bills. Put them on the month they're due.
• Using the average for a bill that swings. Use a high month.
• Only looking at the monthly total. Weekly totals show the crunch.
• Not checking autopay. Glance at each one when it posts.

A spreadsheet to plan it in

A paper calendar works fine. If you'd like a sheet that builds the calendar for you, the Monthly Bill Tracker ($5, Excel and Google Sheets) lets you list up to 40 bills with amount, due day, category and autopay notes. Its due-date calendar shows which bills hit on each day with a running total, a 12-month paid checklist turns unpaid bills past their due day red for the current month, and a summary shows paid vs. planned by category and month (details). It's a spreadsheet, not an app: no bank syncing and no reminders, so you'd still set phone reminders for bills you pay by hand.

Honest note: I make these templates and sell them under Cedar & Ledger, so I'd earn from a purchase. General information only, not financial advice.

For the busiest month, see the December bills calendar.

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Related template: read about the bill tracker template

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