How do you form a budget when you don’t get paid at a certain time or a certain amount?
My husband owns a very small pest control company. We do not get paid on a regular basis and the amount always varies depending on how many jobs he has that week. We are trying to get on a budget and I am not sure what to do. We’ve been on a budget before back when he worked for a company and got paid a certain amount each week. I do not know how to account for the variations.
Take out a sheet of paper and write down each and every expense that you have. Next, put them in order of importance. I recommend starting with food, shelter, utilities, and clothing. From there move into debts and finally at the end of the list, unfortunately, should be entertainment.
As money comes in pay the items in the order you listed them. For instance, at the beginning of the month you will need to pay the rent/mortgage. Once that is paid for use whatever money is left over to pay the next item on the list.
Each time you are paid just start where your last income left off and go down your list. It is a great idea to set aside a little money each time you are paid to build an emergency fund of one to two thousand dollars to help you through any slow times you may see in the future.
Should you want more information regarding budgeting or emergency funds you can check out cash-in-full.com. It is a blog focused on personal finance.
I hope this helps. Best of luck!
your #1 problem is: you are living pay check to pay check.
What you MUST do is build up a reserve/savings acct.
You can still have a regular budget, but now you have a savings acct to pull from when income is lower then expenses. HOWEVER!!!! when income is higher then expenses for the month, you MUST put the difference back into savings.
References :
If you have income records from today back one year, determine your total gross income for that entire year. Then, you should be able to divide that total income by 12. That will give you your rough monthly income. It’s not the most accurate method, but it should work reasonably well based on your situation.
Each year, you can increase your income (or decrease) based on economic conditions/weather conditions in your area. Of course, that’s unpredictable, but it may be the best based on your situation.
Then, just use a basic spreadsheet template for budgets (Microsoft has a wonderful collection with a variety of templates–all formatting and formulas are set, you just need to enter in your personal data).
References :
Take out a sheet of paper and write down each and every expense that you have. Next, put them in order of importance. I recommend starting with food, shelter, utilities, and clothing. From there move into debts and finally at the end of the list, unfortunately, should be entertainment.
As money comes in pay the items in the order you listed them. For instance, at the beginning of the month you will need to pay the rent/mortgage. Once that is paid for use whatever money is left over to pay the next item on the list.
Each time you are paid just start where your last income left off and go down your list. It is a great idea to set aside a little money each time you are paid to build an emergency fund of one to two thousand dollars to help you through any slow times you may see in the future.
Should you want more information regarding budgeting or emergency funds you can check out cash-in-full.com. It is a blog focused on personal finance.
I hope this helps. Best of luck!
References :
cash-in-full.com