amalone1013
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2016
I'm wondering how people budget their income when they make a significant amount of it off commission or overtime pay?
Last year was easy as we just threw everything extra at our student loans, and we had almost non-existent living expenses. But as we look at moving out and budgeting for rent/morgage, utilities, etc I'm not sure how to plan. A third of our take home last year was from OT and commission. I don't really like the idea of budgeting off that, as what if we have less OT/commission in a month? But going off our base pay asa monthly budget makes things look a little tight for extra goals like savings or vacation. When commission checks come they're random and larger, and my OT is all over the place - for 2018 I'll start off with 40-55 OT hrs a paycheck, but at some point should settle to 16 OT hrs or less a paycheck.
So I was wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation, and how they handle that?
I'm wondering about basing other goals on a percentage basis, so when extra money comes in it is allotted like X% goes to Emergency fund, X% to debt payoff, X% to vacation... etc.
Last year was easy as we just threw everything extra at our student loans, and we had almost non-existent living expenses. But as we look at moving out and budgeting for rent/morgage, utilities, etc I'm not sure how to plan. A third of our take home last year was from OT and commission. I don't really like the idea of budgeting off that, as what if we have less OT/commission in a month? But going off our base pay asa monthly budget makes things look a little tight for extra goals like savings or vacation. When commission checks come they're random and larger, and my OT is all over the place - for 2018 I'll start off with 40-55 OT hrs a paycheck, but at some point should settle to 16 OT hrs or less a paycheck.
So I was wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation, and how they handle that?
I'm wondering about basing other goals on a percentage basis, so when extra money comes in it is allotted like X% goes to Emergency fund, X% to debt payoff, X% to vacation... etc.