You Can Still Successfully Budget Even If You Have An Irregular Monthly Income: Here’s How
As we get older, we’re often taught just how important budgeting is.
It’s no lie that budgeting tends to be easier for people with one job that gives them a consistent income stream. But it can be a bit more difficult if you work several jobs or have an irregular income.
But have no fear. There are ways to budget successfully, even if it feels like your monthly income is all over the place. Here are a few tips on how to do it!
Create a basic budget.
When you have a consistent stream of income, you can make your budgets more elaborate and save up for several kinds of things aside from your basic living expenses. But if that’s not the case, sticking to the basics is key to not getting overwhelmed or losing track of your money.
Create a basic budget for everyday living expenses like rent or mortgage, utilities, car payments, and groceries. Don’t try and create extra categories like dinners out or entertainment costs just yet. You must ensure you have enough money for your living necessities first and foremost.
Figure out what’s most important.
Once you lay out your basic living expenses, try and prioritize them as to what bills need to be paid first and on time. This way, you can get your most urgent bills out of the way before allocating your money elsewhere.
For instance, if you don’t make your rent payments on time, you’ll be at risk of losing your home, so list ‘rent’ as the most important item on your budget or as priority #1. Then, you can move on to something like utilities and so on.
SHOTPRIME STUDIO – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Be prepared to make sacrifices.
Once you’ve gotten comfortable and are used to budgeting your basic living expenses, you can start budgeting for non-essential expenses like nights out, salon trips, vacations, etc. However, you should revisit this budget often and be willing to sacrifice certain things during months or seasons when you make less money.
Like your basic budget, you can number each item or experience according to how important it is and go from there. For instance, if you’re dying to go on vacation next year, put that above eating out and shopping.
Create an emergency fund.
While spending all of your excess money on fun things like shopping and dinners out is tempting, prioritize putting a bit of it towards an emergency fund. After you’ve budgeted and paid all your basic living expenses, allocate a certain percentage of your monthly or bi-weekly paychecks to an emergency fund, which you can keep safely at home in cash or savings.
This way, if you’re ever short on money during a certain month and need a little extra to go towards your basic expenses, you can dip into your emergency fund and be all set. It’s also, of course, good to have for other kinds of emergencies.
Write down your goals.
Sometimes, when budgeting, we focus so much on getting through one month or week that we lose sight of the big picture. Budgeting is all about saving up for your future self and doing yourself a favor in the future. So, don’t be afraid to plan for the future.
If you want to stay motivated in budgeting and earning money, write down your goals, especially those that will require a little more moolah.
For instance, if you really want to save up to go back to school, write it down and make some plans. If you want to become more financially stable because you want to start a family one day, write it down.
Like anything in life, we need to set goals. So remember, staying within your budget each year and staying financially organized is one way to achieve all kinds of goals. Good luck!
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