Non-fixed income support thread..

[Stayseeliz]

DH is an indepedent insurance agent. He's been doing this for 4 1/2 years. We make a living wage most of the time but his income is all over the place. We never know what his paycheck will be this week. It can literally be anything. He does get some residual income but he relies mostly on sales.

 

His broker has gone to direct deposit but he doesn't tell us what the check is going to be before it goes in. So I literally get up one morning a week and check our online bank to see what we have to pay bills with. It is so exhausting. This week not much paid so his boss said he'd just put in on next week's check. And we're already playing catch up from the last few weeks. I'm so discouraged.

 

We've looked into other jobs but DH is literally qualified to do nothing. He has a liberal arts degree and spent most of the years after graduation driving a forklift. MIL thinks he should go back to that but we just can't live on $10 with 4 kids. It just doesn't work. It was nice to know how much we were getting paid every week but it was never enough.

 

I'm just getting worn out never knowing when the money is coming in and how much it will be. Overall he makes more income doing this than driving a forklift and he is happier but the job has more expenses and stress. If we push through for a few more years it should be easier and I should be able to help more as the kids get older. But right now it's just hard.

[tabinfl]

Time to do some serious budget work and establish a savings buffer.

 

Figure out what his average income has been over the past 6-12 months. When paychecks come in below the target, borrow from the buffer. When they come in above -- and this is the key piece -- put money into the buffer account.

 

To start out with, you may have to cut back on spending everywhere you can to establish the savings acocunt, but it will be worthwhile when you don't have to panic every time a short check comes in.

 

We have our own business, and both the business and our personal finances run this way. We have to pay employees even when the people who owe us don't pay their bills on time. So we have a savings (or, if absolutely necessary a credit) buffer that we use to carry us over u til the money comes in.

Edited October 18, 2012 by tabinfl

[AmyontheFarm]

:grouphug:

[Stayseeliz]

Time to do some serious budget work and establish a savings buffer.

 

Figure out what his average income has been over the past 6-12 months. When paychecks come in below the target, borrow from the buffer. When they come in above -- and this is the key piece -- put money into the buffer account.

 

To start out with, you may have to cut back on spending everywhere you can to establish the savings acocunt, but it will be worthwhile when you don't have to panic every time a short check comes in.

 

We have our own business, and both the business and our personal finances run this way. We have to pay employees even when the people who owe us don't pay their bills on time. So we have a savings (or, if absolutely necessary a credit) buffer that we use to carry us over u til the money comes in.

 

We do have a budget and we stick to it for the most part. The problem is the extras or emergencies that come up. Vet bills, a van repair, two tires, extra job expenses, etc are what has been hitting us hard lately. I'm reworking the budget though. There really isn't anything to cut other than gas for me. I'm just not going to go anywhere unless I abosolutely have to.

 

We do normally pay things ahead, etc instead of spending the "extra". The problem is that his job took a down turn the last couple of months and the buffer is gone.

[tabinfl]

We do normally pay things ahead, etc instead of spending the "extra". The problem is that his job took a down turn the last couple of months and the buffer is gone.

 

That's the tough part. We've seen the same at the office, with clients who used to pay in 30 days now taking 60-90 days and a couple trying to weasel out of paying altogether (to the tune of tens of thousands of $). Credit is helpful short term, if you're certain you will be able to pay it back. Also, instead of paying ahead, you might put the money in savings instead, so you can use it for the unexpected stuff instead of having it tied up in next month's car payment (does that make sense?)

 

It certainly is nerve-wracking, not knowing if the money is coming next week, next month, or not at all. :grouphug:

[SKL]

I understand the feeling of a non-fixed income, though for me, it's not normally that tight on a week-to-week basis. However, there's something about the stress of knowing you'll get $nK when you've finished X big project, but only if you pull all-nighters to get it done by Y date. :glare: And if you don't, you lose your reputation and your partners' wrath will rain upon you and you might even get sued. :001_huh: Who needs sleep, anyway? Of course you can't say no to X project because you never know if there will be another one.

[Random]

We've looked into other jobs but DH is literally qualified to do nothing. He has a liberal arts degree and spent most of the years after graduation driving a forklift. MIL thinks he should go back to that but we just can't live on $10 with 4 kids. It just doesn't work. It was nice to know how much we were getting paid every week but it was never enough.

 

I'm just getting worn out never knowing when the money is coming in and how much it will be. Overall he makes more income doing this than driving a forklift and he is happier but the job has more expenses and stress. If we push through for a few more years it should be easier and I should be able to help more as the kids get older. But right now it's just hard.

 

 

We are in the same spot as you are. It's really hard to never know how much the paycheck will be...or even if there will be a paycheck! I am burned out on it, just like you are (it sounds like you are). My husband isn't really qualified for anything other than what he's doing (construction)...no college degree, barely made it out of high school, almost zero computer skills, etc.

 

Here is what I do:

We save like crazy when dh does get paid (instead of paying things ahead). Sometimes, we are okay, sometimes we are not. Sometimes, we get behind, but we've always been able to catch up at some point. You have to keep a level head when the chips are down. We've had times when our buffer was gone, too. It was during those times when our church family helped us. We've also had times when we've been doing great financially and have been able to help others in return.

 

We don't have any payments, except a tiny mortgage. We don't even have cell phone contracts b/c I just don't know what the income situation will be. We aren't on 'auto-pay' for anything. We don't have a TV or any sort of satellite or cable subscriptions. Basically, anything that requires a monthly payment is out for us. (Except electricity and internet...we do have that!)

 

 

:grouphug: I know it's hard to be self-employed or commission-only. There are a lot of rewards and freedoms that come with it, too, though.

 

I hope things turn around for you quickly!