Question

Is anyone self employed?  I struggle with not having a consistent plan for my income.Is anyone self employed? I struggle with not having a consistent plan for my income. For example when I need to pay a bill I just move money from my business checking to my personal checking. There has to be a better way. I feel so disorganized with my money. Anyone have any suggestions. I want so bad to get going with budget but not really sure how to handle payday?  

Answer 1

I am self employed and find it hard to apply much of what is here. Like you I pay myself when needed but cash flow is inconsistent. I try to always save no matter what and pay more than minimums

Comments

@donny my husband is self employed and does the same where he pays himself as needed. I'm not sure how he could pay himself a set amount when each job is different and some clients take 30 days to pay while others on the spot. He's a contractor.  

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@mammon8 my husband is also a contractor! I pay him a set amount each month but like most he doesn’t always get paid right away from clients so what I have done to ease my stress is I have a line of credit connected to my personal checking account. Each month if I need to I just transfer his income from that to my bill account and at the end of the month once all payments have come in the business I write us a check and pay the line of credit back. It’s been so amazing to know that I have a back up plan. U just have to be very very strict with paying it back and not be tempted to spend it elsewhere ☺️ Also a little suggestion. I require 50% of my bid as a down payment and final payment is due the day the jobs complete. If my clients are okay with that then their not my clients but I’ve never had a problem from anyone and have always got payment.  

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@photophore904 that is a great idea! Never thought of a line of credit. For jobs over a certain amount he'll ask for a deposit. Thankfully never an issue with people paying. He sub contracted to a company once and they took almost 6 weeks to pay. Don't subcontractor with them anymore. Lol my husband started his company about 2 years ago and so far going well. Best to you! Thanks for tips. :)

Answer 2

It’s so hard. I’m sorry I don’t have suggestions just empathy! I struggle never knowing what my paycheck is going to be and they vary so much. Being self employed is awesome, and such a financial challenge!  

Answer 3

I’m a nail tech, I’m by appointment only. They first 2-3 months it was hard to budget because I didn’t know what would be coming in, so I made sure that my clients booked ahead so I can estimate my monthly income and work it out that way. I made charts and used the paycheck worksheet for both my personal and my business on how I would spend my money and give myself a paycheck.