Budgeting

Challenge 1: Irregular Income

Not everyone has a predictable paycheck. Here’s a recommendation if you are in this situation: Base your budget on your minimum monthly income from the past year. Any extra income goes first to building your mini emergency fund, then to avalanching payments towards your debt. This prevents you from committing to expenses you might not be able to cover during slower months.

Solution:

- Budget based on minimum monthly income

- Create a "sinking fund" for excess months

- Prioritize expenses by importance

What is a sinking fund?

Have you had someone tell you "if you have an irregular income, budgeting won't work for you." This is absolutely false and where a sinking fund can help you navigate. SA sinking fund becomes especially powerful when dealing with irregular income because it helps create stability in an otherwise unpredictable financial situation. Here's how to leverage sinking funds effectively when your income fluctuates:

Think of sinking funds as your personal income-smoothing system. While your base hours might be consistent, those overtime opportunities can create significant income swings from month to month. Instead of treating overtime pay as extra spending money, you can use sinking funds to turn those extra hours into long-term financial stability.

For example, let's say you work at a manufacturing plant where your base monthly income is $3,000, but with overtime, you might earn anywhere from $3,500 to $4,500 in busier months. During those higher-paying months, you could distribute the extra money across several targeted sinking funds:

- $300 to car maintenance (oil changes, tire replacements, unexpected repairs)

- $200 to seasonal utility bills (summer AC costs, winter heating)

- $200 to home maintenance (appliance repairs, basic upkeep)

- $300 to annual insurance premiums

- $500 to holiday and gift expenses

This approach offers three key benefits when your income varies due to overtime:

1. Peace of Mind: When your car unexpectedly needs new brakes during a month with no overtime opportunities, you won't need to stress or rely on credit cards. The money is already there waiting.

2. Seasonal Expense Management: By planning ahead for those high summer electricity bills or winter heating costs, you can maintain a consistent monthly budget even when seasonal expenses spike. Those overtime hours in spring can help cover your summer cooling costs.

3. Lifestyle Stability: Rather than living paycheck to paycheck and riding the overtime roller coaster, you're creating a more stable financial foundation. You won't have to pick up extra shifts just because an expected expense comes due.

The key is to be proactive with your sinking funds during high-overtime months. For instance, if you know your electricity bill typically jumps by $150 during summer months, you might set aside $50 extra during each spring month when overtime is plentiful. This way, when those higher bills arrive, you've already built up your utility sinking fund to handle the increase.

Remember: The goal isn't just to save for expected expenses – it's to turn those variable overtime hours into a reliable financial cushion that helps you maintain a consistent lifestyle regardless of how much overtime is available in any given month.

Challenge 2: Unexpected Expenses/ The Motivation Factor

Maintaining enthusiasm for budgeting can be challenging. In these situations it helps to remind yourself of your whys and goals and then look back to see the progress you’ve made towards achieving what you set out to do. You can track this on a chart, or utilize digital apps that show your progress towards your goals. Seeing that visual reminder helps maintain our motivation, especially during tough months.

Solution:

- Build various sinking funds - Use sinking funds to handle irregular expenses. Under your savings category, include multiple buckets for home maintenance, home improvement, car maintenance, and holiday spending. Each month, put a little money into each fund. When expenses come up, the money is already there.

- Review past statements for annual expenses

- Strategic over-funding - Intentionally overestimate certain categories. For example, you can give your electricity budget a 10% buffer. While you may not use your full budget during the winter months, you may find the additional savings through winter support an increase in air conditioning usage through your summer months.

Challenge 3: Partner Disagreements

Budgeting with a partner brings its own challenges. There are often times your spouse wants to spend on things that just aren’t in your interest. We found it is best to provide each other with your own “Fun Money” spending category. This provides both of you a separate set allowance to spend however you wish without requiring financial approval.

Solution:

- Schedule regular money talks - weekly talks for 15-20 min while you review your shared budget together can go a long way in understanding your partner and aligning yourselves to a mission.

- Create shared goals - as you start to work weekly on a budget together, you can start having conversations around some of your shared goals. Do you both like to save money for the future, are you both more interested in living life more fully now? Whether it's saving up for vacations or retirement, find some shared goals to start working towards.

- Allow individual discretionary spending, meaning consider something like separate "fun money" accounts. My husband and I for instance are each allotted anywhere from $100 - $250/month (depending on our different income stages), to spend however we wish. No need to ask for permission - we just know we sometimes have different interests (where I may spend $10 on a Kindle Subscription, he might spend it on a video game or tech tool he's interested in), and this helps breeze through those small differences.

Challenge 4: Multiple Pay Schedules

Many households now deal with different payment frequencies - one person might get paid bi-weekly while another gets paid monthly, or you might have a mix of regular paychecks and side gig income.

Solution:

- Create a calendar marking all expected income dates

- Base core bills on the most reliable paycheck and/or your minimum income

- Use the irregular payments for sinking funds and savings goals

- Consider keeping one month's expenses as a buffer in your checking account, this just helps with dealing with the potential delays and ebb/flowing of the different timings without as much concern.

Challenge 5: Rising Costs / Inflation Pressure

With prices constantly changing, it can be frustrating to see your carefully planned budget thrown off by increasing costs. In the last few years, we've personally had to increase our grocery budget from 400, to 450, to 550, and we are currently at 650 for 2 people, it constantly felt like we were losing so much hard earned ground!

Solution:

- Review and adjust other budget categories/buckets to try and offset the difference, if necessary

- Build an "inflation buffer" into your sinking funds

- Most importantly, look for areas to reduce waste (unused subscriptions, energy efficiency). Don't be afraid to spend a little money here to invest in saving money in the long run!

- Price compare regularly on major recurring expenses (car insurance, phone, internet)

Challenge 6: Digital Spending Traps

Online shopping, subscription services, and digital entertainment make it easier than ever to overspend without realizing it.

Solution:

- Keep a subscription tracker, some budgeting apps now provide this service for you!

- Use separate digital spending accounts

- Set up purchase alerts on your cards

- Schedule quarterly subscription audits

- Enable waiting periods before major online purchases, it can be something as simple as 24 or 48 hours, just enough time to really consider if you really wanted those shoes, or that new game launch!

Challenge 7: Life Transitions

Major life changes like moving, changing jobs, or growing our families can disrupt even the best budget plans sometimes.

Solutions

- Create a "transition fund" separate from emergency savings

- Build a flexible "life changes" category into your budget

- Document your current budget thoroughly before changes

- Plan for a 3-month adjustment period with any major change. Just like when you first started budgeting, it probably took you 2-3 months to really start to get a handle on everything you had to work with. When a big life changing event happens, you have to give yourself the same grace to fine tune back into a new rhythm.

- Keep extra buffer money during transition periods, as always, Murphy's law knows when to strike, and often the things we couldn't have possibly planned for are the things that end up happening, so keep a little buffer to ease your mind.

Moving Forward

Remember, zero-based budgeting is a tool, not a restriction. It's not about saying no to everything, nor is it established and never changed. It's about making conscious choices about where your money goes. Its about being able to feel more freedom because you know exactly what you can spend without guilt or worry.

If you're interested in learning a little bit more about our zero-based budgeting app that provides you personalized support along with automation features that help make your budgeting journey easier, check us out at Peaceful Mindful Pocket!