Speaker 1: Episode eight eight, Budgeting on an irregular income. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity rights, and live with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Jen, my name is Jill. I'm the
Speaker 1: one that's grunting. Yeah, and we are so excited to
Speaker 1: bring you this last episode of the year. This is
Speaker 1: the last one of two thousand nineteen. Y'all. Wow, what
Speaker 1: a good year. It's been an amazing year. I'll probably
Speaker 1: talk about it in the after after show. I how
Speaker 1: great of a year this has been. So for our
Speaker 1: last episode of last year, we did an episode on
Speaker 1: budgeting and it was super popular. It's called Minimalist budget.
Speaker 1: This was episode thirty six, and so I wanted to
Speaker 1: do another one this year. But budgeting on and a
Speaker 1: regular income. So if you are a freelancer or you
Speaker 1: work hourly and your income goes up and down every month,
Speaker 1: we want you to head into being really confident in
Speaker 1: how you should be budgeting and the lifestyle to lead
Speaker 1: to uh, to make that budget work. So near and
Speaker 1: dear to my heart, yes, of course, because I think
Speaker 1: we so we all we both have a regular budget,
Speaker 1: so this is something that we deal with on a
Speaker 1: week to week to months on the basis, yes, if
Speaker 1: we're being honest week, day to day, hour and hourling on.
Speaker 1: So let's get into our sponsors and then we'll get
Speaker 1: into budgeting. Also brought to you by not knowing, that
Speaker 1: feeling of being on edge and lacking control that everyone loves.
Speaker 1: Not knowing paves the way for all those anxious feelings,
Speaker 1: question marks, and catastrophic thinking, and is especially fun when
Speaker 1: you're not knowing is linked to your income and monthly earnings.
Speaker 1: You entrepreneurs and subcontractors do know what I'm talking about here,
Speaker 1: and this sponsor is for you not knowing getting comfortable
Speaker 1: with being uncomfortable. Yeah, it's like when people choose to
Speaker 1: not find out the gender of their baby and borne
Speaker 1: it's not anymore. Um, there is the technology, but you know,
Speaker 1: some people want extra surprise the day that their body
Speaker 1: is ripped apart. More power to you, But we're talking
Speaker 1: about our income today, which is almost almost as sad
Speaker 1: as not finding out the gender of your baby until
Speaker 1: its birthday. We're having some hate mail about that, but
Speaker 1: that's all right for sure. Having an a regular income
Speaker 1: is really difficult, and I have been experiencing that since
Speaker 1: March when I became a full time freelancer. So and
Speaker 1: then Travis has always had a slightly fluctuating income because
Speaker 1: he has a like a base hourly, but sometimes he'll
Speaker 1: get over time, sometimes he'll leave early and get less.
Speaker 1: It's just it depends on what the work is like.
Speaker 1: So we are always budgeting UM in a different amount
Speaker 1: every month. Yeah, and I've had the lovely situation of
Speaker 1: irregular and low income. You've heard me talk about this before,
Speaker 1: so you know I bring an extra set of empathy
Speaker 1: and compassion for those circumstances. But I'm here to give
Speaker 1: hope today, so let's talk about it. So our first
Speaker 1: article is from every dollar dot com and that is
Speaker 1: one of my favorite budgeting apps. So I thought it
Speaker 1: was perfect that that was the first Google result for
Speaker 1: how to budget on a regular income because it is
Speaker 1: a great app to use if your income changes from
Speaker 1: month to month. And so obviously the name of the
Speaker 1: article is how to budget on an irregular income, And
Speaker 1: we've got five steps from Dave Ramsey's team on how
Speaker 1: to do that, and the first one is to start
Speaker 1: with your lowest monthly estimate. If you have ever listened
Speaker 1: to the Dave Ramsey Show, then every single day somebody
Speaker 1: asks about budgeting on an irregular income. So this will
Speaker 1: be nothing new to you. But to look at your
Speaker 1: pay stubs from the last ninety days, six months year
Speaker 1: and I out what your lowest monthly income was. So
Speaker 1: if you are in a seasonal income like job, then
Speaker 1: look at what your downtime is those months and budget
Speaker 1: off of that and then create your budget based on
Speaker 1: that number. So instead of taking an average, which is
Speaker 1: what some people suggest, create a budget based on your lowest.
Speaker 1: That way, even in tough times, if your seasonal income
Speaker 1: is not what you expect it to be, then you're
Speaker 1: still safe. So the point is too to be safe,
Speaker 1: and we'll we'll talk about how you can live on
Speaker 1: a little bit more than your lowest monthly estimate, but
Speaker 1: you should be budgeting on your baseline. Yeah, and that
Speaker 1: includes prioritizing the numbers that go into that lowest monthly
Speaker 1: based income. And you've heard us talk about the four
Speaker 1: pillars or the four biggest aspects of our budgeting, which
Speaker 1: is food, shelter, clothing, transportation. I mean, certainly bills would
Speaker 1: fall into here too, But figure out the essentials and
Speaker 1: then build from there um and make sure that that
Speaker 1: those pieces fit into your lowest Yeah. And when we
Speaker 1: say clothing, we mostly mean clothing for like your kids
Speaker 1: if they're growing out of it, um, not necessarily for you.
Speaker 1: I think most people nowadays could go a full year
Speaker 1: without buying any clothing. Like that's how much clothing we have. UM.
Speaker 1: So I honestly don't include clothing in in there. I
Speaker 1: just I switched that out for for bills. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: include that in shelter, but I switched it out for
Speaker 1: bills because sometimes those aren't associated with shelter. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And then from there you can adjust number three A
Speaker 1: just over the course of the month. So once you've
Speaker 1: created the lowest monthly income and you've budgeted to that,
Speaker 1: keep an eye on it as you work your way
Speaker 1: through the month and identify am I making more and
Speaker 1: be able to adjust the budget accordingly. Do I have
Speaker 1: some added unexpected expenses that I'm able to allocate some
Speaker 1: of that extra money to that bill or to that
Speaker 1: line item. And so there is flexibility in this, but
Speaker 1: there's also a requirement for probably paying greater attention to
Speaker 1: your budget. If you have an irregular income, I would
Speaker 1: say that you are probably going to be interacting or
Speaker 1: should be interacting with your budget a whole lot more
Speaker 1: than the person on a regular income. Yeah, definitely weakly
Speaker 1: and be tracking your transactions daily, and that's hard to do.
Speaker 1: It's still hard for me to do, and I don't
Speaker 1: do it regularly, but I do recommend it, So take
Speaker 1: that as you will. Um. But if you are looking
Speaker 1: for a way to make it easier to track your
Speaker 1: transactions every day, I say, stack the habit onto another
Speaker 1: habit you already have. So my go to is brushing
Speaker 1: your teeth. When you are brushing your teeth with one hand,
Speaker 1: have your phone in the other hand, and you are
Speaker 1: tracking what you spent that day. It also helps you
Speaker 1: brush your teeth a little bit longer, so it's like
Speaker 1: a dual benefit. But yeah, so that's my favorite one
Speaker 1: to do. But yeah, you definitely need to be interacting
Speaker 1: with your budget more often than people on salary. My
Speaker 1: toothbrush gets more worn out than Eric's because I do
Speaker 1: try to multitask. So then sometimes I'll hold it in
Speaker 1: my mouth while I'm use both hands and then it
Speaker 1: pushes down the bristles. I always see that my toothbrush
Speaker 1: wears out so quickly, Like what am I doing? Like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm always doing multiple things and biting down on the bristles.
Speaker 1: Best to choose a multitask that only takes one hand,
Speaker 1: or budget in extra toothbrushes. You can do that Bioman
Speaker 1: bulk you and your gum and your toothbrushes. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: Number four is create a hill and valley fund. So
Speaker 1: this is where you can get more flexible with the
Speaker 1: average of your income. So there are hills and valleys
Speaker 1: in every business. Sometimes you bring in more than average,
Speaker 1: and that's great, but sometimes you're in a slow season
Speaker 1: and you need to pull from savings to make ends meet,
Speaker 1: and that's where the hill and valley fund comes in.
Speaker 1: You don't want to be pulling from your emergency fund
Speaker 1: during slow seasons. That is not what an emergency fund
Speaker 1: is for. So you could also refer to this as
Speaker 1: like a sinking fund if you wanted to. But you
Speaker 1: want to have a separate fund in a separate bank
Speaker 1: account that you can pull from in months where you
Speaker 1: have a little more grace to your you need a
Speaker 1: little bit more money. You're making less but you are
Speaker 1: confident that you can make more of it later. So
Speaker 1: it doesn't assure that you will, but if you're confident
Speaker 1: in that, then there's no shame in having that Hill
Speaker 1: and Valley fund and pulling from it in a slow season. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So to be clear, this is separate from the emergency fund.
Speaker 1: So for those of you who have your regular income,
Speaker 1: we are saying that you would have another account with
Speaker 1: this money in it, specifically to supplement when you have
Speaker 1: those slow seasons. It's a great idea. Yeah, and keep
Speaker 1: it in another high yield savings account. You can never
Speaker 1: have too many of those. And yeah, and there great Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I would encourage to label it something like this
Speaker 1: Hill and Valley or whatever you want to call it,
Speaker 1: but that it is separate from emergency fund. But it's
Speaker 1: also separate from savings, so that it's it's not connected
Speaker 1: to the guilt of I keep dipping into savings, but
Speaker 1: so that it's also not a replacement for savings either,
Speaker 1: if you do have to wipe it clean, and now
Speaker 1: you've wiped your savings clean. So all of these things
Speaker 1: need to be happening. Building an emergency fund, building the
Speaker 1: hill and valley, building the savings. Yeah, okay, number five,
Speaker 1: copy your planned amount over to the next month. This
Speaker 1: isn't too much different from what you would do if
Speaker 1: you were on a regular income. You can use your
Speaker 1: budget as a template month to month. That doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that you shouldn't be changing it or looking at what's
Speaker 1: to come in the next month, or planning for as
Speaker 1: minimal expenses as possible, but it is a lot of effort,
Speaker 1: I think, specifically for irregular income folks to figure out
Speaker 1: a budget, and so having done the legwork can help
Speaker 1: to carry it over into the next month and the
Speaker 1: next month. So once you have that list of monthly
Speaker 1: expenses your Hill and Valley fund, utilize what you have
Speaker 1: done already as a guide for how to carry out
Speaker 1: the following months. Yeah, and every Dollar does this really well.
Speaker 1: You can literally just click on a month and it
Speaker 1: will copy it to the next month. I think you
Speaker 1: need a budget might do this. I'm not completely sure,
Speaker 1: but people love winnap, so I assume it does something similar.
Speaker 1: And these budgeting softwares do not pay us. I just
Speaker 1: really like every dollar. We should get paid for it
Speaker 1: by them some day. I know, maybe one day they
Speaker 1: did invite us. They did invite us to their headquarters
Speaker 1: and give us food. So maybe that was it. Yes,
Speaker 1: Oh they're connected. Okay girl, Okay, I'm where I'm tracking here.
Speaker 1: We we're good. We'll get there one day, We'll get there.
Speaker 1: So that is what every Dollar or Dave Ramsey has
Speaker 1: to say about budgeting on an irregular income. And definitely
Speaker 1: check out the every dollar app because you can you
Speaker 1: all of these things in that app and it's free
Speaker 1: if you're manually tracking your transactions, which is the version
Speaker 1: I use, the free one. For our next article, we
Speaker 1: want to dive into the months where business is slower
Speaker 1: and you may not have enough money to make ends meet.
Speaker 1: So this one is from Lauren Groupman, and it's how
Speaker 1: to budget when you don't make enough money. These are
Speaker 1: the valleys when you have already spent your Hill and
Speaker 1: Valley fund in previous months and you did not replenish
Speaker 1: it the way you thought you would in other hill
Speaker 1: type months, and this is how you can get through
Speaker 1: those months if you need to. Yeah, and I do
Speaker 1: think that this is worth highlighting. I think this is
Speaker 1: the biggest part where people struggle with irregular income. It's
Speaker 1: no problem to have irregular income if some months I'm
Speaker 1: making a million, another months I'm making five hundred thousands.
Speaker 1: The issue is feeling as though I don't have enough
Speaker 1: money to pay my bills. That's the problem people have
Speaker 1: with irregular incomes, and I think what makes it so difficult.
Speaker 1: So I think we have to address this because otherwise,
Speaker 1: if you've got enough to pay your bills, yeah, you
Speaker 1: can figure it out. Definitely, there's things you have to
Speaker 1: do differently, But I think this is probably people's biggest
Speaker 1: sticking points, is when it feels as though, well, it's
Speaker 1: irregular and I don't know if I'm going to be
Speaker 1: able to make ends meet. So we really want to
Speaker 1: talk to you listeners who are in that situation and
Speaker 1: to say, at least for me, I've been there, so
Speaker 1: I can definitely commiserate with you. But I do like
Speaker 1: the tips in here, and I think we can even
Speaker 1: add some things to this as well, because there's so
Speaker 1: much to be said about it of yeah, cutting expenses,
Speaker 1: learning how to make more money, there's a whole lot
Speaker 1: that goes into that. Yeah, And especially I resonate like
Speaker 1: with people trying to pay off debt with a lower
Speaker 1: to moderately low income, is that you are making all
Speaker 1: of your bills, but you are finding it really hard
Speaker 1: to find extra money to put towards debt. These are
Speaker 1: also tips that you can take and use. So the
Speaker 1: first one is keep a positive mindset, and she says
Speaker 1: this is the hardest one but also the most important,
Speaker 1: because negativity can really attack you from every direction. You
Speaker 1: can be working through thoughts like I'll never get out
Speaker 1: of this mess, I'll never find a job, I'll lose
Speaker 1: my home, I'll never get out of debt, all of
Speaker 1: all of these things, and they become self fulfilling prophecies
Speaker 1: if you give into them and if you stay in
Speaker 1: this mindset. But I would also add, you don't have
Speaker 1: to be like super positive and upbeat during this season,
Speaker 1: Like you don't have to fake it. Like when I
Speaker 1: was paying off debt and we were struggling to find money,
Speaker 1: Like I was pissed, and I was okay with letting
Speaker 1: people know that I was not having a good time.
Speaker 1: I was really bummed, I was lonely, I was bored,
Speaker 1: and and so that was just I was honest with
Speaker 1: my feelings. And I think the big difference is to
Speaker 1: not have a victim mindset. I think keeping the positive
Speaker 1: mindset is Lauren's combatant to the victim mindset, and mine
Speaker 1: was just like, like, screw it. I'm the only one
Speaker 1: in charge of my finances and I'm not happy, But
Speaker 1: I'm also not a victim. And I want to pair
Speaker 1: this with number two, which is remember that this is
Speaker 1: only temporary. So this is a tool that can help
Speaker 1: with number one of staying positive or not playing the victim.
Speaker 1: And I love her quote. She says, the action, you know,
Speaker 1: the the actionable items that we will get into won't
Speaker 1: stick if you don't keep your head in the game.
Speaker 1: That it can seem like, okay, well, what we're just
Speaker 1: talking about fluffy stuff here of these theoretical ideas, but
Speaker 1: actually putting your feet to it is not going to
Speaker 1: work if you're not in the headspace to make it work.
Speaker 1: So I do think that again, this is an important
Speaker 1: foundational thing to lay out, is where am I going
Speaker 1: to choose to be in my thought life? Because that
Speaker 1: affects our behaviors. I won't get into too much therapy here,
Speaker 1: but thoughts affect our feelings, which affect our behaviors, and
Speaker 1: if we can capture it at the thought level, we
Speaker 1: can then shift our emotions and behaviors that flow out
Speaker 1: of those things. So these are important. It might seem
Speaker 1: like it's not actionable, but it actually is to what
Speaker 1: are the thoughts that I'm thinking? What is it that
Speaker 1: I'm telling myself? And I'm not saying, look at yourself
Speaker 1: in the mirror and repeat I am betifully and beautiful. Actually,
Speaker 1: research shows that doesn't actually do much because it's just
Speaker 1: flattery and it doesn't stick. What does stick is the
Speaker 1: actual truth. So if you are repeating to yourself, I
Speaker 1: am never going to get out of this, I suck
Speaker 1: at this and replacing it with I'm in a rut
Speaker 1: right now, but this is only temporary, and here's some
Speaker 1: things I can do to get out of this certain
Speaker 1: position that does work, not the frilly flattery stuff. Yes,
Speaker 1: good word number three is one that we are particularly
Speaker 1: passionate about, and it is cut cut. So yes, before
Speaker 1: you try and make more money, before you spend any
Speaker 1: effort anywhere else, work on cutting your expenses because you
Speaker 1: get the most bang for your quote unquote book when
Speaker 1: you were cutting expenses verse trying to make extra money
Speaker 1: in this time, in this time of high stress. So
Speaker 1: if you're an entrepreneur and you can easily just go
Speaker 1: into your business and do something to make it a
Speaker 1: little more money. That's different then if you're trying to
Speaker 1: start something initially to make more money. So the first
Speaker 1: step is always to cut so and it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to be forever. So maybe you are cutting Netflix or
Speaker 1: cable or data on your phone, cutting it temporarily until
Speaker 1: you can get back into it using like simple meal
Speaker 1: plans and simple recipes and just going going is as
Speaker 1: small as possible with your spending. I like to think
Speaker 1: about the a lot of our listeners like the tight
Speaker 1: Wad Gazette and has it's like the Bible on being
Speaker 1: like super like extreme frugal. That's definitely not us, but
Speaker 1: you may want to get that book from the Barry
Speaker 1: if this is something you're going through. I have had
Speaker 1: a super passion for this right now because I have
Speaker 1: been writing a course on how to pay off more
Speaker 1: debt and save more money in without getting a second job.
Speaker 1: A lot of our listeners and a lot of my
Speaker 1: readers over at Modern Frugality have been wanting to pay
Speaker 1: off more debt but don't have time to get a
Speaker 1: side hustle, or don't have the physical capabilities to do it.
Speaker 1: So I have written a course and it opens on Monday,
Speaker 1: and it's only open for a week. So I will
Speaker 1: talk more about that later, but I'm like eyes deep
Speaker 1: in this right now. This cut cut cut, It's exciting,
Speaker 1: and I would say to partner this with what we
Speaker 1: talked about in the first article, of utilizing the lowest
Speaker 1: monthly income that you've had to set your budget. I
Speaker 1: would partner it with cut cut cut, So it's not
Speaker 1: just about what's the littlest amount I made. It's also
Speaker 1: about what's the smallest amount I can live off of?
Speaker 1: And depending on where you're at financially, it might be
Speaker 1: more advantageous to approach it from a what's the lowest
Speaker 1: amount I can live off of first and budget from there,
Speaker 1: So you could approach it either way. I will say,
Speaker 1: in really tight financial times, that's the way I've done it,
Speaker 1: of what is the lowest amount I can live off of?
Speaker 1: Because I'm not actually sure how little I'm gonna bring
Speaker 1: in next month, it probably is going to be a
Speaker 1: low amount, So where can I slash as much as possible? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's definitely ongoing. Yeah, Okay, number four love this one,
Speaker 1: and I think it is what you should be aimed
Speaker 1: at if you are constantly living paycheck to paycheck or
Speaker 1: or being unsure is get more money? Just just do it.
Speaker 1: I mean certainly sometimes it's a whole lot easier set
Speaker 1: than done. And certainly listen to other episodes of our
Speaker 1: podcast where we talk about ways to do this, um
Speaker 1: consider other employment avenues, consider side hustles. Depending on your
Speaker 1: level of emotional resource, just finding ways to increase your
Speaker 1: income is going to lighten the load immensely. And I
Speaker 1: will say that when when I talk about okay, I
Speaker 1: want to encourage you all. This is the this is
Speaker 1: the one that's helped me the most. It's not realistic
Speaker 1: to live in this place forever of irregular and low income.
Speaker 1: I would encourage you to do as much as possible.
Speaker 1: It still could be that you've got to have a
Speaker 1: long term approach for it. For me, it was get
Speaker 1: my master's degree so that I can have a higher
Speaker 1: earning potential. That took time. I wasn't able to snap
Speaker 1: my fingers and make more money, but having site set
Speaker 1: on how do I get out of this place, which
Speaker 1: again starts with mindset and believing that you can that
Speaker 1: there are things that could be implemented to put yourself
Speaker 1: in a different financial position. I'm not talking suddenly making
Speaker 1: six figures. I don't do that now, but I am
Speaker 1: doing a lot better than I was five years ago.
Speaker 1: That took effort, that took correct mindset um. But identifying
Speaker 1: ways to make more money is certainly there's there's no alternative. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the order here is intentional because cutting cutting your
Speaker 1: expenses is an immediate way to get more money, to
Speaker 1: free up more of the money you already have is immediate,
Speaker 1: but it does take a little time to make more money.
Speaker 1: So that is an intentional order. And we love side hustles,
Speaker 1: we have several side hustle episodes, but yeah, so this
Speaker 1: isn't an intentional order. And the very last one is
Speaker 1: to prioritize your bills. So when there's not enough money
Speaker 1: to go around and you have to decide who gets
Speaker 1: paid and who doesn't, it's it's the bills. It's keeping
Speaker 1: the light on, like we were talking about in the
Speaker 1: last headline. It's the food, it's the utilities, it's the mortgage,
Speaker 1: it's the transportation. So those are the things that are
Speaker 1: going to allow you to get to work. So it's
Speaker 1: like clothing that may be required as a uniform or something.
Speaker 1: And it's the transportation that gets you to and from work,
Speaker 1: not on road trips on the weekend, but so the
Speaker 1: bare minimum that gets you making money. Get those bills prioritized. Yeah, uh,
Speaker 1: speaking of priorities, something that's my priority every week. It's
Speaker 1: the bill of the weed. That's right, it's time for
Speaker 1: the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby
Speaker 1: was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid
Speaker 1: off your mortgage, maybe your car died, and you're happy
Speaker 1: to not have to pay that bill anymore. That bill
Speaker 1: buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week. Hello,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not married from Hungary and my bill of
Speaker 1: the week is a fifty year a bill I found
Speaker 1: at work. I work in hospitality and I often find
Speaker 1: clothes left behind. I usually wash and donate them if
Speaker 1: they don't fit me. I recently listened to your episode
Speaker 1: Poker Sales It and I remember the tip about checking buckets,
Speaker 1: and there it was a bill. I would probably have
Speaker 1: worshed with that pair of trousers. So thanks for the tip.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Yeah, I always kicked myself for not
Speaker 1: checking pockets before I wash. Not usually for great things
Speaker 1: like finding money, like usually try have sleeves pens. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's always like nails and screws and pieces of chipped wood,
Speaker 1: and why are nuts that I find in it? Or
Speaker 1: for guitar picks find in Eric's pockets. I'd love to
Speaker 1: find a bill right and then at the habit at
Speaker 1: the thrift storeman or at work, whatever, I don't know
Speaker 1: anywhere that you find clothes that also contain money. That's great.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Anna Maria for that awesome, awesome
Speaker 1: bill of the week. Yeah, it's so grateful. If any
Speaker 1: of you want to share your bill of the week,
Speaker 1: whether it's money or a bill you've paid, or a
Speaker 1: bill you got out of paying, or just a person
Speaker 1: named Bill, or somehow a way that you can talk
Speaker 1: about Bill, visit us at Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash Bill leave us one well, probably will probably feature
Speaker 1: it on our show We will d and now for
Speaker 1: the Lightning. So on today's Lightning Round, because Jill and
Speaker 1: I have lived on variable incomes for so long, we
Speaker 1: wanted to give you our top tips for living when
Speaker 1: your income is variable and these will help you stick
Speaker 1: to the budget. And there are a little a reiteration
Speaker 1: of some of the things we talked about earlier, but
Speaker 1: they are important life mantras if you will give it
Speaker 1: to us. The first one is keep track of your time,
Speaker 1: So not just writing a time blocking schedule and pretending
Speaker 1: you stuck with it, but act truly looking at the
Speaker 1: ways you spend your time. So how long are you
Speaker 1: working on certain projects for work? How long are you
Speaker 1: at work? How long are you watching TV or on
Speaker 1: social media? Because you can find a lot of time
Speaker 1: to research ways to cut your expenses or to make
Speaker 1: more money, then assume that you have no time and
Speaker 1: don't do any of it. So keep track of the
Speaker 1: time you're spending. And you may be freelancing and spending
Speaker 1: way more time than you thought on certain projects and realize, hey,
Speaker 1: I can tighten this ship up and get more freelance
Speaker 1: projects done and make more money. So being aware of
Speaker 1: your time by tracking it first is going to help
Speaker 1: you make more and save more and maintain a monthly budget.
Speaker 1: You've heard us say this already, but I'm going to
Speaker 1: drive it home with some support of arguments. So this
Speaker 1: needs to be your little extra baby, much more so
Speaker 1: than people who have regular incomes. You have to know
Speaker 1: what you're making and remain within those boundaries because boundaries
Speaker 1: do provide freedom, but this also provides a level of
Speaker 1: control where are not knowing sponsor tries to kind of
Speaker 1: creep in here. This does provide a level of knowledge
Speaker 1: and authority over where your money goes and knowing what's
Speaker 1: happening with it. So this has to be your buddy
Speaker 1: and you need to be interacting with it on a
Speaker 1: regular basis, definitely. So the next one is to build
Speaker 1: a bigger emergency fund. So you hear a lot of
Speaker 1: places to build a three to six month emergency fund,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people are like, well, how do
Speaker 1: I know? Is it three? Is it six? Is four? Five?
Speaker 1: If your income as a regular then it's six. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's the people that have steady, dependable incomes with
Speaker 1: lots of job security they can afford to do three months.
Speaker 1: But as an entrepreneur, freelancer, hourly rate worker um whose
Speaker 1: job is maybe not as secure than it's six months.
Speaker 1: And that may suck for some people because you want
Speaker 1: to get towards investing or saving for a house faster.
Speaker 1: But you are the person with a variable income, you
Speaker 1: need a bigger emergency fund. You don't need it bigger
Speaker 1: than six months unless you are like really paranoid, um,
Speaker 1: But yeah, you definitely need six and safer retirement in
Speaker 1: a roth I R A. You might be like, what
Speaker 1: we're talking about, how difficult it is to live off
Speaker 1: this money? Why are we talking about saving for retirement? Um?
Speaker 1: All the more, if you live on an irregular income,
Speaker 1: particularly in a situation where you're not considered an employee somewhere,
Speaker 1: you're not being given these benefits. You have to do
Speaker 1: this for yourself. You don't have a four oh one K,
Speaker 1: you still have to be Saving for retirements is another
Speaker 1: area where you can gain some control over this life
Speaker 1: that can feel a little chaotic at times. So again,
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be massive amounts of money, but
Speaker 1: start somewhere and with rough i RA s. Funds can
Speaker 1: be invested uh and then withdrawn tax and penalty free.
Speaker 1: Only the dividends are taxed and penalized when you do
Speaker 1: withdraw the money. So it's a great place to be
Speaker 1: able to invest and save some money while maybe not
Speaker 1: being an employee and getting the benefits of that kind
Speaker 1: of income situation. Yeah, even if you are an employee, somewhere,
Speaker 1: and you do have a four oh one k, Definitely,
Speaker 1: after you get the match, go to a roth and
Speaker 1: and save there, and then once you max out a
Speaker 1: rath go back to your four oh one K. That's
Speaker 1: the smartest way to do it because you can control
Speaker 1: where your roth ira a is. And again, whatever you
Speaker 1: put into a roth ira a can be withdrawn if
Speaker 1: you need it for some reason, tax and penalty free.
Speaker 1: It's just that growth. This is obviously before fifty nine
Speaker 1: and a half, only the growth would be taxed, and
Speaker 1: everything you put into a four oh one K would
Speaker 1: be taxed and penalized before fifty nine and a half.
Speaker 1: So definitely, if you foresee yourself, you have the potential
Speaker 1: to be an emergency where you need savings beyond your
Speaker 1: emergency fund, your hill and valley fund. A roth ira
Speaker 1: a is a safe place to have on the back burner.
Speaker 1: It's obviously a last resort um, but it's there. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: and that's what we have on budgeting for a regular
Speaker 1: variable incomes. And of course give us all your tips.
Speaker 1: Uh we obviously did not cover it all here, so
Speaker 1: join us over own Frugal Friends podcast community, Facebook community group,
Speaker 1: My Goodness Friends community. Thank you, we're there. We don't
Speaker 1: know the title of it anymore. It's a tongue twister.
Speaker 1: But give us your tips over there, what you've learned,
Speaker 1: what's worked, Um, and let's encourage each other. Yes, and
Speaker 1: if you have any ideas that you want to hear
Speaker 1: in on anything on any frugal living concepts that you
Speaker 1: want to hear, you can visit us in the group
Speaker 1: and let us know. And you may see your idea
Speaker 1: in a episode in the new year. Yes. So yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, we're also continuing the book club. We are
Speaker 1: still reading my book pay Off Your Debt for Good
Speaker 1: that just came out last month. Super partial. But this
Speaker 1: is probably the most excited I've been for any book
Speaker 1: club book. Yes, and we know it's not available in libraries,
Speaker 1: so if you want to get a free copy, leave
Speaker 1: us a review on iTunes, screenshot the review, send that
Speaker 1: screenshot at review to Frugal Friends Podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: We pick one winner for every five reviews that are emailed. Yes,
Speaker 1: and if you want an example of a helpful review,
Speaker 1: this one is from debt Free CC and she says
Speaker 1: highly motivating, giving us five stars. We didn't ask for that,
Speaker 1: but we appreciate it. CC. She says, I've just started
Speaker 1: my debt payoff journey and this podcast has been motivating
Speaker 1: and inspiring. I just finished episode eighty two, why you
Speaker 1: Can't Finish paying off your Debt. I took notes and
Speaker 1: I'll be implementing various tips mentioned Thank you frugal friends,
Speaker 1: and that that episode was all about what the what's
Speaker 1: in the book pay off your debt for good? So
Speaker 1: I highly recommend it again, completely partial and um for
Speaker 1: this week only. I just decided just right now to
Speaker 1: do this. So the course that I've just written on
Speaker 1: it's called five Weeks to five hundred Dollars, and it
Speaker 1: helps you find expenses to cut so that you can
Speaker 1: find five hundred extra dollars every week to put towards
Speaker 1: your debt. And it is essentially an accompaniment to the book.
Speaker 1: And I am going to give away one copy of
Speaker 1: the course to someone who reviews the podcast this week's
Speaker 1: and this weeknd emails their review and they'll still be
Speaker 1: entered for the drawing for the actual book, but just
Speaker 1: for this week only, I'm gonna draw a winner next
Speaker 1: Friday for somebody to win a copy of the course.
Speaker 1: So if you would like if you want to take
Speaker 1: the course and cut your expenses more in leave us
Speaker 1: a review this week. So generous Jen, All, I'm giving
Speaker 1: you all for free, is my opinion. I love that
Speaker 1: Jen's giving you books courses, always smokes and you know,
Speaker 1: and then give him away. I love it because I
Speaker 1: send We'll be giving you another episode next week. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syria.
Speaker 1: Oh so, speaking of making money, a friend, my good
Speaker 1: friend Jenna, she told me the story of her little
Speaker 1: girl and she was about three years old. Um, her
Speaker 1: dad went in to wake her up for the day.
Speaker 1: It was like a Saturday morning and was like, hey, sweetheart,
Speaker 1: what do you want to do today? And this little
Speaker 1: three year old girl popped up out of ben and
Speaker 1: was like, make that money. I was like, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: Where she heard this, That is amazing. I can only
Speaker 1: hope that Pi is that cute. And you know that
Speaker 1: Travis would be like, yeah, let's go, let's let's go
Speaker 1: flip some stuff, let's go buy and sella Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: make that make that money. If all of us could
Speaker 1: wake up with that attitude, we'd, I mean, we'd be
Speaker 1: debt free, living, living life with the splendors of our
Speaker 1: our efforts. If only we had a dad waking us
Speaker 1: up to help us money. That's true in our thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties,
Speaker 1: and nineties. I don't know whoever's listening to this podcast.
Speaker 1: We all need good dad's. That's it. Yeah, okay, well,
Speaker 1: let's go make that money.