Budgeting, answered plainly

The questions people actually type, answered in the first paragraph.

• How many paychecks are in a year?26 if you're paid biweekly, 24 if twice a month. Why the two-paycheck difference changes how you budget, and what to do with the extra ones.
• How to budget by paycheckPlanning around paydays instead of calendar months: how to split one paycheck into bills and envelopes, and why monthly budgets break on a biweekly cycle.
• What is envelope budgeting?The cash envelope system explained: how it works, why the empty-envelope rule is the whole point, and the difference between cash and digital envelopes.
• What is a sinking fund?Sinking funds explained: what they are, how they differ from an emergency fund, and how to work out the monthly amount for a known expense.
• What to do with a third paycheckBiweekly pay gives you two three-payday months a year. Why that only becomes free money if you budget per paycheck, and what to do with it.
• What categories should cash envelopes be?How to choose cash envelope categories: why fewer is better, which expenses don't need an envelope at all, and a starting split you can adjust.
• Emergency fund or sinking funds firstWhich to fund first and how big each should be, sized in paychecks instead of months — because 26 paydays do not divide evenly by 12.
• What to do when an envelope runs outStopping is the reading, not the punishment. Why borrowing between envelopes ends the system, and how to tell a bad estimate from a bad month.
• Should you budget weekly or per paycheck?The money comes out the same either way. What changes is whether the period opens with a deposit in it, and that is the part that decides whether a plan survives.