Budgeting for an Irregular Income

Budgeting for an Irregular Income

By Keith Bunn Jr.

February 26, 2012

One of the things I hear the most is, “I don’t know what I’m going to be bringing in month to month, how do I budget for that?” If this is you, you need a budget more than anyone else.

If you just have an irregular income coming in and nothing else, what you need to do is sit down and write up a list of what you would spend your money on in any given month. Once that’s done, figure out what is the most important on your list and place a 1 next to it. Then think if you just had one more dollar to put somewhere what would you spend it on, and then place a 2 next to that and so on down your list.

Now before you get started, there really is a priority for at least the first 5 items on your list and that would be what we like to call the Four Walls and the Roof. And those are…

1.    Food.

2.    Shelter.

3.    Utilities.

4.    Transportation.

5.    Clothing.

Most people make enough money to where they can afford those 5 categories. From there you finish up your list from most important to least important, but you HAVE to start with those 5 categories each and every time you re-write your list each month.

Now if you have any amount of regular income coming in from your spouse or second job mixed in with irregular income, you always start by budgeting with the regular income first and then move into the irregular portion once your regular income is spent as described above. By doing and sticking to these simple lists of yours, you’ll be well on your way of controlling your irregular income.

As with all my blog posts, and social media posts, I welcome any comments and feedback on the topics I write about. It is the only way you and I will learn more about ourselves and each other, so ask away!

 “If you define yourself by your stuff, you'll feel good when you have a lot and bad when you don't.”  -Max Lucado-

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