Dave Says: How Do You Make a Budget With an Irregular Income?

Dear Dave,

My husband is in the military, and he has a regular income. I work, but my income is based on sales and is different every month. How can we make a budget that works when we don’t know how much is coming in each month?

-- Tabitha

Dear Tabitha,

Start with the income that you know is predictable. In this case, begin setting up your written monthly budget based on what your husband makes. Then, you need to determine YOUR absolute minimum income for a given month.

Once this is in place, you can prioritize the remaining expenses, savings and investing based on your income instead of seeing it all slip away because you didn’t have a plan.

-- Dave