Money does not arrive on the 1st. It arrives on the day you are paid, and everything you spend after that comes out of it until the next payday. A calendar month cuts that stretch in two, so the totals you read from it describe something you never actually lived through.
Why the calendar month gets in the way
Say you are paid on the 25th. Your October total then holds the last week of one pay period and the first three weeks of the next. Compare it with September and you are comparing two odd slices of two different pay periods.
A month that starts on payday fixes that. Each one is a whole pay period, from one payday to the day before the next. The total answers the question you care about: how much did I spend out of this pay?
What it looks like
This example is paid on the 5th.
- With the month starting on the 5th, a month runs from the 5th to the 4th, for example 5 Oct to 4 Nov.
- The app labels it with those dates, because it crosses two calendar months.
- An expense logged on 2 November counts toward the month that began on 5 October. One logged on 6 November counts toward the next.
How to set it up in Outpaid
- Open Settings.
- Under Preferences, open Month starts on.
- Choose your payday. Any day from 1 to 31 works, and day 1 is the plain calendar month.
Your saved expenses do not change. Only the way the days are grouped does, so you can change the day whenever your payday changes.
What follows the setting, and what does not
The month start applies to:
- Home’s Month tab.
- Analytics’ Month tab, with its comparison and its trend.
- Year, which is the twelve months from January’s. With day 5, 2026 runs from 5 Jan 2026 to 4 Jan 2027.
It does not apply to Today, Week, Custom ranges or the Excel export. Those stay on the calendar, and your saved expenses never move.
Months that are too short
If you are paid on the 31st, some months have no 31st. A month without your chosen day starts on its last day instead. With day 31, February’s month starts on the 28th. No day is skipped or counted twice.
When your payday is not a fixed day
The month start is one fixed day. If your pay date moves from month to month, or you are paid weekly or twice a month, a single start day will not match it. The Custom tab in Analytics works for those: pick the From and To dates for each pay period yourself.
Where this fits in the series
Logging is the habit, and the payday month is the lens. Part 1 covers how to log and review, and part 2 covers whether you also need a budget.
The short version
Pick the day you are paid, set Month starts on to it, and every month in the app becomes one pay period. It takes a few seconds, and nothing you have saved changes.
Questions people ask
Can I start my budget month on the 25th?
Yes. In Outpaid, open Settings, then Preferences, then Month starts on, and choose any day from 1 to 31. Every month in Home and Analytics then runs from that day to the day before the next one.
What if I am paid on the 31st?
A month without your chosen day starts on its last day instead. With day 31, February's month starts on the 28th. No day is skipped or counted twice.
Does it change my saved expenses?
No. Your expenses keep their dates. Only the way the days are grouped into months changes, so you can change the day whenever your payday changes.
What if my pay date moves around or I am paid weekly?
The month start is one fixed day, so it will not match a pay date that moves. Use the Custom tab in Analytics and pick the From and To dates for each pay period.