What do you do??

[Helpsortshit]

Anyone else with variable incomes and expenditures?? How do you budget?

I have posted a similar(ish)thread but just need more opinions!

You need to work out your lowest monthly income and use that as your income figure to budget from. If you then earn more than that, you're quids in.

Why is expenditure variable?

Go from your lowest income and then budget x

I keep meaning to do this but hubby is very reluctant to admit what his basic is 🙄 and tbf rarely earns just his basic so I have used an average month and use that as a base line, anything above that goes into savings to help with poorer months which sods law normally coincide with big bill months

I’d get as much on monthly DD as possible so expenditure doesn’t fluctuate much.

So no quarterly bills etc.

The like PP says use lowest month income to budget from.

I suppose it depends why your income and expenditure is so variable?

@Merryoldgoat @WBWIFE

I work as a teacher (substitute at the moment so pay fluctuates) it works out 150 per day after tax.

DH pay somewhat fluctuates because of his expenses but is ballpark 3.4k per month

Childcare ALSO bloody fluctuates As DH is home for weeks at a time so no childcare needed when he is home. Also they don’t bill us weekly! In fact I’ve paid one bill of 240ish since January...because I asked for it 😂!

Electricity bill is every three months (not a set amount) just what we use so it can vary 180-250 ish

Rent (temporarily) and insurances add up to approx 1050 (fixed amounts)

Phone bills x2 are monthly and approx 70 so that’s fine.

I’m going to be honest I just want to have a set knowledge of incoming vs outgoing but I can’t seem to get a solid monthly figure!!

Now my mind has gone blank I can’t remember if theirs anything else I need to pay monthly or not!
Everything else is food/fuel etc

*theres

Write down your income ( as it comes in) and document all your outgoings for at least 3 months.
I seperate our outgoings into these headings:
Direct debits/ monthly bills
Car expenses/ fuel
Groceries
Kids/ social
Clothes/ miscellaneous
Track every penney ( coffee etc) and see where all the money is going .
I'm using " spending tracker" app , but also using pen and paper method.
I'm nearing the end of month 2, and can easily see where the money is going and where savings/ cutbacks need to happen.
Balance at the end of the month and see if it's a positive or negative balance
(If you're trying to work on a fluctuating income, make sure to budget with in the lowest possible income per month, ans anything else is a bonus, can be saved or used for extras like wants ie new shoes,/ bag/ meal out etc)
Best of luck

@Designerenvy thank you! the positive is I know we are not in negative numbers at all but I just don’t know how much we “have” as such and I want to increase or savings as much as possible right now.

What's more concerning is that you're a Teacher yet you're unable to compile a basic balance sheet. You must be educated but are unable to complete this simple task.

@chuttypicks I can compie a balance sheet no problem but as I have said my pay varies, as does the childcare, as do a lot of our bills!! A balance sheet is not what I asked for I asked for ideas on how to approach the variable numbers essentially!! And just because someone is a teacher doesn’t mean we are good at EVERYTHING, we are only people after all!! Bloody hell!!

They not we!

Oh god face palm for your errors! That’s made me laugh!

Do a direct debit for your utilities and have it at a set amount every month. Then depending on the season you’ll be a little bit in credit.

Your DH should be able to save 1/3 of his salary and then work the rest out of what you have left?

@Atalune it has been a long day and I’m too tired to type 😂😂🙈

My income mostly comes in twice a year so I understand this issue. However I don't think my solution will work for you.

I know my annual fixed costs fairly accurately.
So at the time of the first annual payment I:
put aside tax and big expenses based on the previous year
I pay outright as many of the large annual bills as possible ie insurance
I feed all the other accounts eg savings, farm, joint etc
I book and pay for 2 of our 3 holidays/trips and flights etc

Fortunately husband has a proper salary so ends up picking up end of year costs as it's far from cracked as a system goes but it's the best I can do to mitigate the times of famine.