How far in advance do you plan your budget?

arj14 · January 2014

I work two part time jobs currently. One is steady, I work the same amount of hours each pay period. The other is not, as I am scheduled differently each week (and frankly haven't been getting many hours, like not even 15 a week) and can get either called in if they need help or sent home early if too many people are there. I earn a little over $400 / month at my steady job, and obviously my monthly income at the other varies (this week's take home was $145).

What's the best way to plan for this? Does anyone else have a job with varying hours? How do you budget?

smbenevides1989 · January 2014

I have a steady paycheck every week, but DH works mandatory overtime each week. Each paycheck varies depending on how many hours he works. I take an average of his checks and use that to budget. If he goes over, we use it to pay down some debt/go into savings/play money. He averages between 700-900 every week. They mostly range in the 800 area, so I base the checks on that.

I actually have my budget managed until the end of this year based on that $800 figure.

cbee817 · January 2014

I almost wouldn't count the unsteady part time job as income at all- can you plan a yearly budget without it? Maybe take whatever you make from it and use it to help pay off any debt faster or start a savings fund for something?

We plan out the upcoming year using an excel spreadsheet from the prior year. I use the average of income, credit cards, utilities, etc to help create the budget. If there is a particular payment that's gone (car, SL, etc) or one that I know is coming up or changing (day care), I modify. As each month goes by, the true payments are updated and I get a difference in true monthly income vs true monthly payments. The bulk of the difference is accounted for in a joint savings account with a small remainder in our separate checking accounts rolling over for next month. July and August are always a little tight- DH is a teacher and only withholds $2,000 to get 2 small paychecks over the summer. By early June, we make sure his checking account is beefed up a little bit so he'll have enough until September.

brij2006 · January 2014

In your case I would budget with the lowest amount of income in your monthly budget, and anything above that gets put toward debt. That way you aren't overbudgeting yourself if it's a slow month at your 2nd job.

My check is steady, but I also receive commissions, bonuses, and gas reimbursement. H also receives overtime on a weekly basis unless it's a holiday week.
We budget on our base incomes only, and the overtime/commisions goes directly into a separate account until the end of the month and then we apply it toward the debt in one lump sum. We set up our budget around the 25th of the month for the next month, and around the 15th I calculate and share with H where we're at in each budgeted category for the month. This way we know whether or not we're on track for the month, and at that point we know about how much all of our "extra income" will be.

hoffse · January 2014

My paycheck is steady so I plan pretty much a whole year in advance... it helps me account for things like car insurance and wedding gifts.

If you can, try to live off the steady income. The fluctuating income goes to savings or debt or RETIREMENT (since I'm the retirement crusader around here).

irishfemme · January 2014

I receive a salary increase once per year in August (at least for the next 3 years) and DH usually receives a small COLA increase in January, so we typically recalibrate our budget twice per year. If a set expense changes, we will adjust accordingly, but realistically, we plan about 6 months in advance.

As others have mentioned, our plan, once DH finishes school in a couple of years, is to continue to live off of my salary and his current income and then save his new salary.

MrsDcamacho · January 2014

H and I are new to budgeting so right now we budget 2 months ahead. We also save all our recipets and seperate them into categories so we can track how much we spend each month. i found that tracking were every penny comes from and goes helps the most.

CleverThought · January 2014

H and I currently budget each month and use the software YNAB (totally worth it!)

Before we committed to YNAB and were doing it on paper, we used Dave Ramsey's income sheets and because H works on commission - the income is irregular - so we used the Irregular Income Sheet - found it very helpful. But with that it's best to have a budget meeting before the next month starts - probably sometime this week.

dragonstarjk · January 2014

I have a pretty steady 40 hours a week, but I plan my budget based on the minimum that I know my check will be. For example, I know my check is always AT LEAST $950. So I set that as my budget. Sometimes it might be $953, or $987, or $962. Whatever is over that $950 budget goes directly into savings, even if it is only two dollars. This is what I would do in your case as well. I would base my budget off of the lowest minimum you've ever gotten from the two jobs--$500? I would budget off of that and any extra goes towards your savings goals.

I also budget by paycheck, not by month, and I do this for the whole year. I actually keep a notebook with each paycheck written down and each bill that will come out of that paycheck for the entire year. I update it monthly. This way, I can be prepared for stuff that only happens occasionally, such as birthday gifts, car insurance, etc.

mrsseguin · January 2014

I do our budget a month in advance. It is pretty much the same, with maybe 3-4 bills that vary in amounts. Our bills come out automatically on payday.

LeahMI · February 2014

I'm salaried, H is hourly in retail. I budget 2-3 months in advance and calculate his income based on the low-end of his range. He also auto-deposits into our savings from each paycheck, so I calculate that too. It's my opinion that I'd rather err on the side of caution rather than an average.

KatieCutie05 · February 2014

Budgets always vary month to month with monthly expenses changing like valentines day this month so I make it a few weeks in advance and we finalize it together a few days before the month starts.

How far in advance do you plan your budget?

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