How To Budget, No Matter When You Get Paid

There's something so cruel about the fact we don't learn budgeting at school. For something so essential to a sense of stability and in our daily lives, it seems unfair that we have to teach ourselves through trial and error. Unless you're blessed with the kind of financial security that means you never have to think about bills, you can't avoid the fact that you have to plan your money.

The trouble is that a lot of budgeting advice assumes we're all paid on the same schedule – that of workers on payroll who are paid monthly and therefore run in line with monthly rent or mortgage payments, bills and general expenses. For many of us, that isn't the case, which means you need different strategies to keep on top of your finances.

With this in mind, we asked our Money Diaries Facebook group for their budgeting tips – so whether you're freelance, paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly, you can master your money.