Question

Commission based budgeting is so difficult sometimes! I have a fluctuating passive income that runs between $7500 and $6000 before taxes. Does anyone else struggle to budget when your income isn’t predicable? What do you do?  

Answer 1

Budget for the lowest consistent amount.  

Answer 2

Could you budget your lowest commission and if you get more put it towards savings or debt?  

Answer 3

I budget for low. everything else is gravy! Saved as a “bonus”

Answer 4

I am commission based too. So what do you do if you budget your lowest and that doesn’t cover your week bills but you know the check is higher than what your lowest Was last year? How do you but that down on paper?  

Comments

@benefit same girl, same.  

Answer 5

I have a variable income. I do a monthly budget for our minimum ($5k) and then adjust when I get actual paycheck and extra income numbers and apply it to our extra goals in order of priority. It works pretty well.  

Answer 6

I wish my income was that high lol but I’m a freelancer. My income fluctuates week to week. I do my budget based off my lowest expected income then I adjust on Friday of that wk once all my clients have paid me for the week and I’m going to do my bills.  

Answer 7

Budget based on your lower average months. Anything more gets put towards extra debt payoff. Husband is construction so income varies by season and I own a small business that fluctuates too. You got this!  

Answer 8

I don’t use budget column for nothing. I only deal in actual. I will typically know what is deposited into my account 1-2 days before so I always do my paycheck budget the night before.  

Answer 9

I’m very similar. I budget based off of non commission income as it can be so variable and I can have months that have nothing or thousands. Anything extra is just that. extra

Answer 10

Same here I'm self employed. So each week is different. Winter is my slow time of year so my plan Is to put any extra I can toward next years pay. I really won't know until the end of the month if I'll be able to add any into savings.  

Answer 11

I’m in the same situation. I own my own business and my income is based on custom orders . I can get paid every day sometimes or every few weeks . As my money comes in I set aside payments according to most to least important bills. I averaged my income from previous years so I have an idea of what my monthly income could be.  

Answer 12

So the first place you need to start is figuring out what your max out of pocket Monthly is. Any income over that number should be placed into savings until you have 3X that number saved. Then once you do that you can start putting the extra after that number to debt. The 3X will save you if you have a slow month but you want to keep the amount replenished if you pull from it.  

Answer 13

Budget for the lowest income you have had in the last 12 months

Answer 14

Yes! I’m an independent contractor and didn’t really work the last week of December and first week Jan. So when I started this month I totally tanked. Because my pay check was half of what it usually is.  

Answer 15

I am struggling with this. Our income is so unpredictable. We make 75% of our yearly income nov-dec and feb-March. It’s frustrating and pretty much impossible.  

Answer 16

I’m so glad you asked this question! I appreciate the answers and insight. Mine fluctuates too and my“low” number needs to be higher!