How much is safe to spend before payday?
A free safe to spend calculator for Australian households. Answer a few quick questions and get an instant estimate.
Loans, insurance, childcare, school fees, subscriptions. Some may overlap with the everyday allowance.
Get your exact number
This is a quick estimate. Payday Buffer uses your real bills to show what to set aside and what is safe to spend.
- Track what to set aside. Bills, rego, insurance, school fees.
- See your Safe-to-Spend number. Plus the per day figure.
One-off $16.95. Not a subscription.
Email me this estimate
What is Payday Buffer?
A simple payday planner spreadsheet. Add your pay and your bills, and it shows what is safe to spend before you are paid again.
Payday Check is a quick estimate. Payday Buffer uses your real bills, so the number is yours.
- See what is already spoken for. Your bills and direct debits, in date order.
- Get your Safe-to-Spend number. Plus what it works out to per day.
- Be ready for the big costs. Rego, insurance and school fees get set aside a little each payday.
- Use it every payday. Weekly, fortnightly, 4-weekly or monthly pay.
One-off $16.95. Not a subscription. Works in Excel.
Learn more about Payday Buffer →
A planning tool, not financial advice. It only knows what you enter and does not connect to your bank.
The amounts you enter stay in your browser unless you choose to email yourself the estimate. No bank login, no sign-up. This is a planning estimate, not financial advice.
What is a safe-to-spend number?
A safe-to-spend number is an estimate of how much of your money may be free to spend before your next payday, once the costs you already know about are set aside.
This calculator starts with the money you have now, takes off rent or mortgage and any big bills you enter, then allows a typical amount for everyday costs like food, fuel, power and phone over about 4, 11, 21 or 28 days, depending on the payday option you pick. What is left is your estimated spending room.
It is a planning estimate based on the figures you enter and the calculator's assumptions, not a guaranteed amount you can safely spend. For a number built from your own bills, Payday Buffer sets aside rego, insurance and other big costs a little each payday, and our guide to sinking funds in Australia explains the idea behind it.
If you would rather plan each pay by category and compare it with what you actually spent, Fortnightly Budget Plus is an Excel fortnightly budget planner.
Explore all free money tools, including calculators and comparers for other household costs.
I thought we had enough money this fortnight.
It was payday.
I checked the balance and, for the first time in a while, it looked okay.
Not “everything is sorted” okay.
Just enough that I thought maybe this fortnight could feel a bit easier.
Maybe I could finally buy that item I had been looking at for weeks.
Maybe we could go out for dinner with friends and not spend the whole night wondering whether we should have stayed home.
Maybe I could say yes to something small for the family without immediately thinking, “We probably should not.”
For a moment, it felt like we could breathe.
Maybe this fortnight we can finally do something nice.
It was never about spending everything. It was about wanting to know whether there was room before saying yes.
Then the money started getting claimed by everything else.
A bill came out.
The groceries cost more than I expected.
Fuel needed topping up.
A direct debit hit the account.
And then there were the costs I knew were coming, but had not properly made room for yet. Rego. Insurance. School costs. Car servicing. A birthday. Something for the kids.
Wait. What was that money meant to cover?
None of it was a surprise.
But somehow, it still kept catching us out.
By the end of the pay cycle, the money that had looked like extra at the start was gone.
Again.
And that was the part I hated.
Not the bills themselves.
Bills are part of life.
It was the false hope at the start of each payday.
Thinking there might finally be room to enjoy something, then spending the rest of the fortnight wondering what needed to stay in the account.
It made every small decision feel heavier than it should have.
A dinner out.
A purchase I had been saving for.
Even something simple for the family.
Because I never knew whether I was spending money that was genuinely available, or money that had already been promised to something else.
I want to see what this payday needs to cover →
The bank balance was not the answer.
It showed me one number.
But that number was trying to do too many jobs at once.
It had to cover what was due now.
What we still needed for everyday life.
What was coming up later.
And the things we hoped to enjoy without creating a problem for ourselves next week.
What I could see
Bank balance
One number
What the money needed to do
Bills, essentials, future costs and money set aside
The full picture
So I stopped asking:
“How much money is in the account?”
And started asking:
“What does this money need to do before we are paid again?”
That was the question I had been missing.
Not a perfect answer.
Not a magic fix.
Just a clearer picture before deciding what we could spend.
I wanted payday to feel like a fresh start, not the beginning of another round of guesswork.
I built Payday Buffer because I wanted to stop guessing.
I wanted to see what needed to be covered before the next payday.
I wanted to stop forgetting the costs that were sitting in the background.
And I wanted to know when there really was room to enjoy something, without wondering what I might be taking money away from.
Payday Buffer helps you account for the bills, everyday essentials, upcoming expenses and savings contributions you choose to include.
Then it helps you see what may be left after the things you chose to include have been accounted for.
Takes only a few minutes. No bank connection. No sign-up needed to see your result.
Alex, founder of Money DetectiveYou do not need to rebuild your whole budget.
We are only looking at the money available between now and your next payday. In a few steps, you can see what needs protecting and what may be left.
- Step 1What is available?
- Step 2What already needs covering?
- Step 3What may be left?
No bank connection. No transaction history. Just the next payday.
Start my Payday CheckTakes only a few minutes. No bank connection. No sign-up needed to see your result.
Get the payday maths out of your head.
No more checking your balance, feeling relieved for a minute, then subtracting everything in your head again. The Payday Check lines it all up so you can see what this pay needs to cover first.
No bank login
You type rough totals. Nothing connects to your bank and nothing is pulled from your accounts.
Result first
You see your estimate straight away. Emailing yourself a copy is optional.
No judgement
Tight weeks happen. The check simply shows the numbers you entered, so you can decide what needs attention.
Questions about this calculator
What does safe to spend mean?
A safe-to-spend number is an estimate of how much of your money may be free to spend before your next payday, once the costs you know about are set aside. In this calculator it is shown as your estimated spending room, because it is a planning estimate and not a guaranteed amount.
Why is the result only an estimate?
It only knows the figures you enter, plus a typical allowance for everyday costs like food, fuel, power and phone. That allowance draws on historical Australian Bureau of Statistics household spending data and Money Detective's own assumptions, so it is not your actual spending. Your payday is assumed to be about 4, 11, 21 or 28 days away rather than an exact date, so the result can be too high if your payday is further away. Costs you do not enter may be missing, and some bills you do enter, such as power, phone or insurance, may overlap with the allowance.
Are my figures stored or shared?
The calculation runs in your browser, and the amounts you enter are not sent anywhere unless you choose to email yourself the estimate. If you do, your name, email address and figures are sent to our email service to build and deliver that one email, and we do not save your figures. If you tick the optional newsletter box, your name and email address are also added to our newsletter list. Like most websites, we record anonymous usage events, such as which payday option was picked, but never the dollar amounts you enter.
Do I need a bank login or account?
No. There is no bank connection, no bank login, no account and no sign-up. You type in a few rough figures and the estimate appears straight away. Emailing yourself a copy is optional.