<prompt> Human: I live and have lived paycheck to paycheck my entire working life. I am a first responder and have been for ten years. 3 years ago I finally got hired by a career fire department and while I am still paycheck-to-paycheck P2P from here on out I am finally approaching both a level of commitment to budgeting and an income that can sustain me.That being said, what has worked extremely well for me is breaking down EACH and every check and allocating funds. However most budget templates I come across that have helped me do that are all month-to-month M2M budget templates. I am splitting my rentchild supportbills etc 50-50 from each check just so I know I can make the difference. How do I transition out of the P2P model and into the M2M model. I feel like Ill need to build up a surplus of money to get ahead of each payment if that makes sense. Im very new to this but any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.  <response>: Having a surplus will certainly help, because if you have at least one months income in your checking account at all times, you dont have to time your bill payments to your paychecks. The other piece that will help is fully funding your emergency fund so that you dont have to panic if your income is reduced for whatever reason. Make building up your surplus and your emergency fund part of your budget. Each check, allocate what you can to those categories, and look through your expenses to find places to reduce so you can build them faster. 