Your monthly budget says there is enough money. Your current account says the direct debits arrive three days before payday. A payday-to-payday budget in Excel solves that timing problem by showing the lowest balance between income dates.
Use BankSync to supply posted transactions from supported UK accounts, then keep future bills in a separate calendar. You can see what has happened, what is still due, and which payday must cover it. Start with one household bills account and one currency.
Three numbers to put at the top
| Number | Meaning | Do not confuse it with |
|---|---|---|
| Balance at the review cutoff | Money actually in the selected account | The sum of a partial transaction history |
| Bills before next payday | Expected outflows still to happen | Bills already paid |
| Lowest projected balance | The tightest point in the calendar | A guarantee that no other spending will occur |
Bring your current account into Excel
Save a workbook in OneDrive and create separate Transactions, Bills and Calendar sheets. Connect your UK bank in BankSync, choose the exact personal or joint-account route offered by the institution, and authorise the accounts you need. Joint-account access depends on the bank's consent process; verify the account is actually returned.
Connect Microsoft Excel from Integrations, then create a Transactions feed pointing at the Transactions sheet. Map date, description, amount, account and currency. Use posted-only data for your settled-spending view. Run the feed and inspect a few known purchases before selecting a schedule available on your plan.
Keep planning formulas away from the columns the feed writes. A bank feed supplies records; it does not know your household's future salary, a changed direct debit or an upcoming annual bill.
Build the calendar from the next decision backwards
Write down the next confirmed payday and every essential payment expected before it. Include the expected payment date, amount, account, category and status. Add a source note for uncertain amounts: a bill notice is stronger evidence than last month's estimate.
For variable direct debits, replace the estimate when the provider announces the actual collection. Do not assume a weekend or bank-holiday payment moves in a particular direction; use the date given by the payer or biller. A small shift can matter when the balance is tight.
Set up a daily running balance
Anchor the first day
Enter the bank balance at a specific cutoff, and note whether your planned spending already reflects pending card purchases.
List incoming pay
Enter each household income separately on its expected receipt date. Keep uncertain income clearly marked.
List remaining outflows
Add bills and a realistic variable-spending allowance. Exclude payments already included in the opening balance.
Carry cash forward
For each day: yesterday’s closing cash plus today's expected inflows minus today's expected outflows.
Find the minimum
Use MIN over the daily closing-balance range. Inspect the day it identifies rather than relying only on the end-of-month balance.
Illustrative household timing, GBP
| Event | Movement | Projected balance |
|---|---|---|
| Opening balance | — | £600 |
| Broadband and energy | −£150 | £450 |
| Food and travel allowance | −£100 | £350 |
| Rent before payday | −£700 | −£350 |
| Salary arrives | ＋£2,000 | £1,650 |
Use the example to change the question
The month ends above zero, but the household has a projected £350 gap before salary. That is the useful finding. Review the timing and assumptions early: check whether a due date is wrong, whether an agreed payment-date change is available, or whether money already held in another account needs to be included in the plan. The spreadsheet itself does not authorise or make payments.
If the household also has a savings account, decide whether its balance is available for bills or reserved for another purpose. Showing all savings as spendable can make the calendar look comfortable while concealing a commitment such as an annual insurance renewal.
Reconcile expectations with the feed
At each review, match paid bills to posted records using account, date, amount and description. Mark the calendar item Paid and replace the forecast amount if it changed. Keep the original expected amount in a separate column if you want to understand why the month differed.
Two transactions with the same amount are not automatically the same bill. A standing order and a card purchase can share a value; use context before matching. Likewise, a transfer from one household account to another is not new household income, although it changes which account can pay the next bill.
Make it a short household conversation
Review the tightest day, the next large bill and any unconfirmed income. Agree who will update each uncertain item. Then check the feed's latest successful run and the newest posted transaction date; an old workbook can give a reassuring but outdated answer.
For a business with customers and suppliers, use the 13-week cash-flow forecast instead. It separates longer-term commitments from bank actuals using the same principle.
Reviewed: 1 November 2026. Setup references: UK bank connections, Excel, and pending transaction handling.