Irregular Income Budget Calculator
Turn uneven monthly income into a steady baseline salary and a buffer target sized to your essentials.
Free · No sign-up · Your inputs stay in your browser
Your numbers
Budget from the lean months
Your projection
Pay yourself $3,100 a month
Average month
$4,283
Baseline salary
$3,100
$100 short of essentials in a lean month.
Buffer to hold
$9,600
3 months of essentials.
Surplus in an average month
$1,183
The baseline is the average of your two lowest months. Deposit every payment into a holding account, pay yourself the baseline, and let the good months fill the buffer rather than the lifestyle.
About this tool
Method, assumptions, practical next steps, and limits.
Budget from the lean months
Freelancers, commission earners and gig workers cannot budget from an average, because the average arrives only in hindsight. Budgeting from a low month means the plan holds in the months that would otherwise break it.
How the calculation works
Baseline salary = (lowest month + second-lowest month) ÷ 2
With six months of $3,800, $5,200, $2,900, $6,100, $4,400 and $3,300, the two lowest are $2,900 and $3,300, so the baseline is $3,100. The average month is $4,283, which leaves $1,183 of surplus in an ordinary month to send to the buffer. With $3,200 of essentials, a lean month is $100 short, and a three-month buffer is $9,600.
The system behind the number
Deposit every payment into a holding account. Pay yourself the baseline on the same day each month. Surplus fills the buffer first, then goes to goals. The self-employment tax calculator sizes the tax share to set aside before any of this.
This does not apply if one large annual payment dominates your income, such as a seasonal business. Plan that year as a sinking fund rather than a monthly baseline.
