Weekday counts

How we count weekdays

Counts start tomorrow and stop the day before the holiday. If Christmas is a Friday, that Friday is not in "Fridays until Christmas".

A weekend is one Saturday and Sunday pair. Work days mean Monday to Friday, with public holidays left in.

Every page uses the same rule, so the counts always agree with each other.

Why count weekdays?

Days are abstract. Saturdays are shopping trips, Fridays are paydays and weekends are chances to travel.

Counting the weekdays you care about turns a countdown into a plan. Each page lists every date, so you can put them in your calendar.

Weekday counts also help with rotas, school terms and weekly classes. A class on Tuesdays has a fixed number of sessions before a given date.

Why one weekday sometimes has one more

A year has 52 weeks and one extra day, or two in a leap year. That extra day is the weekday the year starts on, so that weekday appears 53 times.

The same idea works for a month. A month with 31 days has three extra days, so three weekdays appear five times.

2027 is not a leap year, so one weekday gets an extra turn. The cards above name them.

Checking the numbers

Every figure comes from counting real dates, not from dividing days by seven. That is why the columns can differ by one for the same holiday.

If a count looks wrong, open the page for it. It lists each date, so you can tick them off against your own calendar.

Weekdays across a whole year

Some years give one weekday an extra turn. The year cards above name which one, and the page for that weekday lists every date.

The pages for a whole year show the months with five of a weekday. They also list the holidays that land on that day.

Biweekly payers can find a payday calendar there too. It shows which months carry three paydays instead of two.

The Friday the 13th list is a favourite. A year can have between one and three of them, and the page shows which months they fall in.

Counting to your own date

The table covers the holidays people ask about, but your own date matters more. A wedding, a due date or a trip each have a count of their own.

The weekday counter takes two dates and a choice of weekdays. It returns the count and every date in the range, ready to copy.

Reading the table

Each row is a holiday, and each column is a weekday. The number is how many of that weekday fall between tomorrow and the day before the holiday.

The weekends column counts Saturday and Sunday pairs. The work days column counts Monday to Friday and leaves public holidays in.

A row where every weekday shows the same number means the span is an exact number of weeks. When one column is higher, the span ends on or just after that weekday.

Paydays and schedules

Counts of Fridays are the quickest way to estimate weekly paydays before a date. Biweekly staff can halve the number and round up or down depending on their cycle.

Gyms, classes and clubs that meet on one weekday can use the same table. Pick the column for the meeting day and read off the sessions left.

Schools and sports leagues use it too. A season that ends on a holiday has a fixed number of Saturdays to fill.