They get paid bi-weekly (once every 2 weeks) rather than semi-monthly (twice a month, usually the 15th and either the 1st or 31st), so occasionally the offset lines up and gives you three checks in a month (e.g. your payday falls on the 1st, second payday on the 15th, third on the 29th).

2 checks x 12 months = 24 checks.

But you actually get paid every 2 weeks, so that’s 52 weeks per year / 2 weeks per check = 26 checks.

26 checks received - 24 checks budgeted = 2 extra.

For bonus points, there are occasionally years with 3 extra checks because 52 weeks x 7 = 364 days, not 365.

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There are 2 months during the year that have 3 pay perioda if you get paid bi weekly. I think it's October and May . One is on the first, one in the middle, and the third on the last day . I budget for two pay checks per month ( between the first and last day of each month) so the months with three checks between the first and last day seems like a bonus

There are 12 months in a year and you get paid every 2 weeks. So you might think “Oh that means I get paid 24 times a year”, since 2 weeks is about 1 month”. But that’s wrong because 2 weeks is not 1 month, it’s only 28 days. And biweekly pay actually results in 26 pays per month, not 24.

So you should be getting paid twice a month for about 10 months, and for 2 months in the year you’ll get 3 payments. For example, if you got paid January first, you’d also get paid on January 15th and January 29th. That’s 3 payments in a single month. That should happen twice a year.

It's not that weird when you consider that they get paid bi-weekly.

Every month is guaranteed 2 paychecks for them, so budgeting around 2 paychecks is an easy way to make sure expenses stay lower than income every month. But every once in a while they'll get 3 paychecks in a month because that's just how the bi-weekly schedule lined up.

Since weeks and months have nothing to do with each other, the paychecks (delivered bi-weekly) and expenses (charged monthly) will never have a nice consistent match. So working like you seem to be suggesting would mean budgeting every month based on how many paychecks will arrive that month. While their system allows a consistent budget that can be reused month to month with minimal need for change.

Every month is guaranteed 2 paychecks. So if the budget assumes 2 paychecks worth of income, and one month's worth of expenses, then as long as the budget balances they never have to worry about overspending because they thought they were getting 3 checks when they only got 2. And for bonus points the times when they do get 3 paychecks in a month, that 3rd paycheck is loose money. It isn't assigned to a specific use so it can be given to wherever it'll give the best value. Maybe it all goes to savings, maybe it helps pay of an emergency expense, maybe some of it gets used for a fun treat for themselves.

The important point is that they never need to think about how many paychecks they'll be receiving in a given month. So the budget only needs to be adjusted for large-scale changes like rate of income or cost of living, which are much less predictable at an individual level.

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Yeah it's not a weird way to live at all, because almost everyone's expenses are monthly (mortgage/rent, utilities, cell phone, etc). Most people that get biweekly, or weekly, pay, budget their 2 cheques (or 4) to cover these expenses and leave extra for savings/whatever. So, when that extra cheque in that month comes in, it does feel good and does feel like extra money.

Maybe you're lucky enough not to live pay cheque to pay cheque, but not everyone is, and to make a comment like this shows what type of person you truly are. Why make a comment basically making fun of someone's financial situation?