Irregular Income Budget Planner

Who this is for

A budget for income that does not arrive in one piece on one day. Payments are logged as they land, outgoings are listed in the order you want them covered, and the sheet shows the running total each one needs and whether the money in so far reaches it.

Freelancers, people on variable hours or commission, seasonal workers, and households where the income is part regular and part not.

What this helps you track

• Every payment received in the period, with its date and source
• The outgoings for the period listed in the order you want them met
• The cumulative amount needed to reach each item down the list
• How far the income received so far gets down that list
• What is still to find before the period ends

How to use it

1. Write the period, the name and the lowest income you have actually had in a comparable period — your own figure, from your own records.
2. Log each payment as it arrives: the date, where it came from and the amount. Tick it when the money has cleared.
3. List the outgoings in the order you want them covered, most essential first, numbering the order column.
4. The needed-by-here column adds each item to the ones above it, so you can see how far down the list the money in so far reaches.
5. The totals and the summary are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, add down the amount column as you go.
6. At the end of the period, note what the income actually came to and use it when you set the next period's list.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How do I budget when I do not know what is coming in?

By putting the outgoings in order and funding them from the top as money arrives, which is what this sheet is shaped around. It asks you for your own past figures rather than supplying an estimate of its own.

What should go at the top of the priority list?

That is your call and it depends on what happens if each one is missed. Most people put housing, food, power and minimum debt payments above everything else; the sheet leaves the order entirely to you.

What does the needed-by-here column mean?

It is the running total of the amount column: the money required to cover that item and everything above it. When the income received passes that figure, the list is funded down to that line.

What if the income never reaches the bottom of the list?

Then the items below the line are the ones to move, delay or discuss with whoever is owed. The sheet shows the gap; what to do about it depends on who the creditors are and what help exists where you live.