Payday Gap Calculator

To work out whether your money lasts until payday, add up every bill leaving your account before then and subtract it from what you have now. Divide what is left by the number of days remaining. That is your daily spending limit. If the bills come to more than your balance, you are short by the difference, and cutting daily spending will not close it on its own.

How to do it yourself

1. 1

   Count what you can actually spend

   Total the money available across the accounts you spend from. Leave out anything already committed, such as money held back for tax.

2. 2

   Count the days until payday

   Use the next date you are confident money arrives. If your employer pays on the last working day, count to that day rather than the end of the month.

3. 3

   List the bills due before then

   Every direct debit, standing order, subscription and minimum payment leaving before payday, with the day each one goes out.

4. 4

   Read the daily figure, or the shortfall

   What is left after bills, divided by the days remaining, is what you can spend per day. If the bills exceed your balance, the calculator names the one that tips you over.

A worked example

You have 320 and payday is twelve days away. Rent of 150 goes out on day three and a phone bill of 40 on day eight. That is 190 of bills, leaving 130 for everything else. Across twelve days, that is about 10.83 a day for food, transport and anything unexpected.

Tight, but it works. Now change one thing: a 200 card payment also lands on day five. Bills now come to 390 against a balance of 320, so you are 70 short. No amount of careful spending fixes that, because the money leaves whether you spend it or not.

The calculator names the payment that tips you over, which is the one worth a phone call. Moving a single 200 payment by a week is usually far more achievable than finding 70 you do not have.

If the answer is that you are short

Deal with the specific payment rather than the whole figure. Look at which one takes you past your balance and ask whether it can move, be split, or be paid a few days late by arrangement.

Speak to the provider before the payment fails rather than after. A rescheduled payment usually costs less than a failed direct debit once fees are counted, and the conversation is a great deal easier before the event than after it.

If you are short every month rather than this month, that is a different problem and this calculator will not fix it. Free debt advice charities exist in most countries and they deal with this specific situation constantly. There is no cost and no judgement in contacting one.

Why an average monthly budget hides this

Budgeting by month tells you whether the totals work over thirty days. It says nothing about the order things happen in. Rent leaving on the 1st and wages arriving on the 28th balance out perfectly on a monthly view while leaving you short for most of the time in between.

The gap between those two dates is where overdraft fees, failed payments and expensive short-term borrowing happen. It is a timing problem, and it needs a calculation that knows about dates.

Common questions

How do I work out if my money will last until payday?

Add up every bill leaving your account before payday and subtract that from what you have now. Divide whatever is left by the number of days until you get paid. That figure is what you can spend per day on everything else. If the bills come to more than your balance, you are short by the difference, and no amount of daily restraint closes that gap on its own.

What should I do if I am short before payday?

Work out which single bill tips you over rather than trying to cut everything. Moving one payment date, splitting a bill, or asking for a few days is usually more achievable than finding the whole shortfall. Contact the provider before the payment fails, since a missed direct debit often costs more in fees than a rescheduled one. This is a general observation, not advice about your circumstances.

Does this count as a budget?

No. A budget divides your money into categories over a month or longer. This answers a narrower and more urgent question: whether the money in your account covers what is leaving before you next get paid. It is the calculation you want when payday is a fortnight away and you are not sure you will make it.

Do I need to enter my bank details?

No. It runs entirely on figures you type in. There is no account, no signup, no bank connection and no Plaid link. The numbers stay in the page address, so you can bookmark a result or send it to yourself.

What if I get paid weekly or irregularly?

Enter the number of days until the next payment you are reasonably confident about. If a client habitually pays late, use the late date rather than the invoice date. For income that arrives at unpredictable intervals, the cash runway calculator is the better fit, because it does not assume a fixed payday.

Last reviewed 5 September 2026. Something wrong on this page? How we handle corrections.