Keeping your budget under control when your expenses stay approximately the same but your monthly income varies widely can be quite difficult. Several strategies may help you budget for these variations. One of the most critical things you can do if your income shifts and changes is maintain good records of money owed. This may be commissions on sales at work or contract work. It can even be client billings for self-employed individuals. Keeping up on money owed to you will help you both be aware of what funds to expect and also make certain that you are paid in an accurate and timely fashion.

Living with a changing income requires some amount of self control. While it may be tempting to splurge on months where there is extra cash on hand, you may well need to bank these funds for leaner months down the line. If the variations in your income are minor, your budgeting challenges will be less significant than if variations are more extreme. While everyone needs a few months' worth of expenses in an accessible short term savings account, this is more critical if your income varies and you may need to tap into your savings in tighter months. You may even want to simply designate a savings account for anything that comes in above and beyond your monthly expenses, with the expectation that those funds will serve to pay bills on a tighter month in the future.

One tactic that may be helpful, assuming you can cover your budget for a month, is to budget for the following month with the funds paid in a given month. Thus, money that comes in in October will pay November's bills and expenses and so on. This allows you to more accurately budget for variable expenses, and to know if you will need to cover additional expenses with saved funds. By doing this, you know exactly how much you have to spend in a given month, and are not relying on funds that may or may not be present. This can be particularly helpful for self employed individuals who may find themselves waiting for a contracted job to pay out or a check to come in the mail.

Living with irregular paychecks can be challenging, but the rewards to these jobs, whether self employed or commission based, can be high. Often the risk comes alongside good paychecks, even if they come less frequently than you might like. Good budgeting skills can help make sure that you have the money you need when you need it and reduce the stresses of life without a regular payday.