LUrker here with budgeting ???'ion

[canuckgal]

Hi! I have loved looking at this board and just found it today. I am desparate for help in budgeting. Not sticking to it...we do that pretty good, but what to do when your income varies wildly paycheck to paycheck.

We use the Budgetmap book, it is a checkbook but also unfolds to have columns (up to 12) that you can allocate parts of your paychecks to...essentially it is the "envelope system" of budgeting but on paper instead of actual envelopes. They have a worksheet in the front to figure out your actual budget and to designate how much of each paycheck goes to what category. Problem is, dh has a pretty consistent income every pay until he starts a casual job at the end of the month, I am part time and can work anywhere from 24-60 hours per pay.

Any advice as to how to designate funds? I am thinking maybe trying to designate to the crucial categories of savings, vehicle, utilities, food, and rent, the same amount, and then have to play alot with the rest, short some months and doing better in the "extra" categories the other months. Sucks though when you need to set aside money to buy clothes or something.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Tina, dh James , dd Stephanie and Ds Jonathan :

[Allie2]

My dh works on commision so some month we're rolling in dough and some we arent'. We've recently starting budgeting to ignore any commision dollars dh may or may not make. We plan for my salary and his and anything extra is some mad money and some savings (or we'll pay a extra chunk on a debt over and above the payment owed). It has really , really helped us not overspend because we were counting on commision dollars. Just an idea for you. You could budget according to your lowest income that could come in in a month.

[root*children]

THe original Envelope System was made by Larry Burkett, which is based on percentages,not on actual dollar amounts. So you would take your average income and break it down into what percentage needs to go into certain envelopes, then if your paycheck varies, you'd still just use the same percentages. We did that system for a couple years with great success while DH's paycheck was very unpredictable.