How Do I Manage Money When My Income Isn't Predictable?

If your paycheck changes from week to week—or even disappears for a stretch—you know how hard it can be to plan ahead with confidence. In this episode of Financially Confident Christian, Ralph addresses the real challenges of living with income variability, whether you’re self-employed, working on commission, or navigating the gig economy. More than just a budgeting issue, inconsistent income affects mental health, relationships, and your ability to feel financially secure. Ralph offers hope and strategy to help you regain peace and clarity as you learn how to manage unpredictable income.

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Check out the full podcast episode here

You’ll hear practical, faith-based tips like building a buffer fund, basing your budget on your lowest expected income, and how to create flexible systems that adapt to the ups and downs. Ralph also dives into the spiritual side of provision, encouraging listeners to trust God—not the number on their paycheck—for peace and direction. If your financial life feels like a rollercoaster, this episode gives you both the mindset and tools to steward what you have wisely and calmly, no matter what season you're in.

Chapters:

• 00:24 - Managing Unpredictable Income
• 01:15 - Managing Irregular Income
• 04:48 - Managing Irregular Income: Strategies for Stability
• 09:14 - Managing Irregular Income: Strategies for Stability
• 10:25 - Managing Financial Challenges: Lifestyle Creep

Takeaways:

• Managing irregular income can feel like a rollercoaster ride between feast and famine, and it's stressful.
• Creating a budget tailored for unpredictable income helps bring some peace and stability to your finances.
• Building a buffer fund during good months is key to weathering the slow ones without panic.
• Focusing on essential expenses and having a plan helps you avoid the debt trap during dry spells.
• It's all about proactive management instead of just reacting to your income situation each month.
• Trust in God's provision and be diligent in saving when you have the chance to prepare for leaner times.

Links referenced:

• financiallyconfidentchristian.com/master

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Truth is some months the money flowsin, then other months hits a trickle.
At best.
If your income is unpredictable,maybe because you're a freelancer or
maybe you run a small business, oryou work on commission, you know the
stress of that feast or famine cycle.
You're asking yourself, how do you budget?
How do you pay bills, and how do youreally find peace when you don't know

(00:21):
exactly how much you'll make next month?
Stick with me today 'cause I'm gonna tellyou just how to do that on today's show.

(00:42):
Hey there.
Welcome back to your Daily,financially Confident Christian.
I'm Ralph and I'm gladyou're with me today.
This show is all about helping youanswer that question, how can I become
a financially confident Christian?
And we continue on our series today,dealing with the stress of money
worries, stress and money worriesare two things that go hand in hand.
Yesterday we started talking about income.

(01:04):
We, We made a decision to assessjust where we were, and then we
started talking about some potentialopportunities to grow our income.
And this is a big areaof focus for many people.
Well, today we're gonna move into aspecific income challenge, and this
is one that's faced by a great dealof people in our audience, especially
those people who find themselves beingsmall business owners and those who

(01:27):
have those variable income roles.
Things like freelancers and people whomaybe who are doing sales professionals or
gig workers or side hustle entrepreneurs.
And you ask yourself thisvery difficult question.
How can I effectively manage money whenmy income isn't the same every month?
And the truth is, this doesbring a unique set of stresses.

(01:49):
Now listen, you know the drill, if youhave irregular income, one month is great.
Maybe you landed a big client, oryou had this great month for sales
and you feel this sense of relief.
Maybe you even feel alittle flush, if you will.
maybe you tend to spend a bit more thanyou really should that month, but then
all of a sudden the next month is slow.
And guess what?
Those bills are still due, butthe income, it's just not there.

(02:13):
So what do you do?
You dip into savings, and that'sassuming that you have some.
And all of a sudden you start to feel thisstress again about covering everything.
And maybe you postponepaying off that debt.
Maybe you're working actively topay off your debt, or maybe you're
working actively to save money.
And when you have that income,that's not what you expected.
you postpone paying off that debtor you postpone savings for goals

(02:37):
and this unpredictable swing.
And it's really a swingbetween feast and famine.
And I get it.
I've lived that myself in mybusiness, and it's a major struggle.
And here's a simple truth.
It makes traditional monthlybudgeting feel almost impossible.
And what I think it really does, itleads us to be reactive in our spending
instead of being planned in our spending.

(02:59):
And it truly does create constantuncertainty and anxiety because
you are always wondering if you'regonna have enough to meet your
obligations and meet them consistently.
A lot of people share with me, theysay, Ralph feels like I can never
get ahead because any progress I madein a good month will all of a sudden
Ralph gets wiped out in a slow month.

(03:19):
Well, here's the thingyou need to understand.
Managing irregular income doesrequire a different approach.
If you've got a steady paycheck, if youget paid every week or every other week,
it's a little bit easier to manage that.
If you don't have that income, ifyou've got irregular income, that does
truly demand extra discipline becauseduring the good times, you've gotta

(03:41):
be prepared for those lean times.
I call this forward thinking stewardship.
It's actually talked about in the Bible.
Think about the story ofJoseph in Genesis chapter 41.
I'm not gonna read that story today.
I'm gonna encourage you to do that.
But he didn't just enjoy the sevenyears of that abundant harvest.
During that time, Josephsaved and he stored up grain

(04:03):
during those abundance years.
'cause he knew he needed to prepare forthose seven years of famine that followed.
See this was a simple act ofsaving from a place of plenty
to prepare for that scarcity.
And it's a powerful biblical model formanaging those unpredictable resources.
every day I talk on the showabout being diligent and being

(04:25):
diligent in our stewardship.
So yes, we have to trust God'sprovision, not just in the moment,
but over all of our different seasons.
And we've gotta learn to use thatabundance he provides today to
create stability for tomorrow.
So you might be asking, what can we do?
How do we bring stability andpeace to your finances when your

(04:45):
income is anything but stable?
Well, I've got a solution today,and I'm gonna tell you to do this.
I think the best thing to do isimplement a budget and saving
strategy design specifically forthose of you who find yourself in
that irregular income situation.
Focus in on building what I'mgonna call a consistent buffer.
And it's a buffer to smoothout the highs and lows.

(05:07):
This approach, if you're able to do it,is gonna Shift you from reacting to your
income and that income volatility toreally being proactive in managing it.
Okay, so here's your one actionstep for today, specifically laser
focused on managing irregular income.
The first thing I want you to do,and this one is crucial, you need to

(05:28):
go calculate your average essentialexpenses, go back to your budget.
Go back to that financialsnapshot that we created.
Identify your absoluteessential monthly expenses.
These might be things like housing ormaybe the minimum utility costs you gotta
eat, so you gotta put basic food on there.
If you've got debts, you need toat least be making the minimum

(05:50):
debt payments, and don't forget,include transportation costs.
Then I want you to calculate thattotal amount needed each month, and
that is just to cover the basics.
I'm gonna call this your baselinebudget, so you got that number in mind.
The next thing you need to do isset what I call a buffer fund goal.
Your primary goal is to builda separate savings account.

(06:11):
Now, this is not your emergency savingsaccount, but this is designed to
cover maybe one, two, or three monthsof those average essential expenses.
Again, this isn't your emergency fund.
It can overlap, that's fine.
But this buffer is specificallysmoothing out those income dips.
I want you to writedown your target amount.
For example, maybe for you, you wanttwo times your average essential

(06:33):
expenses, so write that down.
This way you know how much your averageexpenses are per month, and you're
saying to me, Ralph, I wanna have atleast two months of those set aside.
Then what I want you to do is duringthose months, when you have good months,
you know you've had a good month ofsales, or you landed that contract or
landed that client, that maybe is goingto give you a big upfront payment.

(06:54):
You gotta building that bufferin those high income months.
Aggressively fund it.
Hey, if you've got an extramonth, don't think to yourself,
Hey, and I've done this.
You land that big client, Hey, let'sgo out to eat every night this week.
Or Let's go buy that watch wewanted, or that, that electronic
that we couldn't live without.
I want you to instead think aboutaggressively funding that buffer

(07:17):
fund until you reach that goal.
Of course, you're still gonna payyour essential bills, but then
send any extra money directlyto that buffer savings fund.
And the reason you're doingthat is the final step here.
When you have those low incomemonths, that's when you can go grab
that money from that buffer fund tocover that shortfall in your, you

(07:38):
know, in your essential expenses.
What does this do?
It prevents you from going into debt.
We don't wanna find ourselvesconstantly going into debt when
we have these low income months.
It also completely reduces or eliminatesthat stress of covering the bases.
You're not worried about, am Igonna have a roof over my head?
Am I gonna be able to eatand put gasoline in the car?

(08:00):
It also helps you get past thatfeast or famine stress cycle.
It creates a beautiful financial cushionthat will allow you to pay your essential
bills consistently, regardless of how muchincome came in in that specific month.
And it really does help replace thatuncertainty of that unpredictable
income because you've got a, you'vegot a stable planned buffer that can

(08:22):
bring you significant peace of mind.
Well, let's pray together now.
Father, God, thank you for providing forus even when our income isn't predictable.
And Lord, we confess that stressand anxiety come from that feast or
famine cycle really does bother us.
So, Lord, we would ask that yougrant us wisdom and grant us
discipline to manage our irregularincome and manage it effectively.

(08:46):
Help us to save diligently duringthose times of abundance that you
give us, that way we're preparedfor those times of scarcity.
Grant us peace during those lowincome periods when we might feel
like we can't trust, and just giveus trust in your consistent provision
through the many seasons of our lives.
Guide us in being wise stewardsof every dollar that you send our

(09:07):
way, regardless of when it arrives.
And we ask this in confidence.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Now listen to me.
Managing irregular income takesintentionality and it takes discipline.
It's, it's not simple, it's not easy.
But if you add intentionality and youadd discipline and implement that buffer

(09:28):
strategy we talked about today, you candramatically reduce the stress of that
unpredictability because guess what?
You're taking control of your financialflow and you're not just reacting.
Now if managing irregular incomeis a challenge that you face, maybe
you know somebody else that's facingit too, and I'm gonna encourage
you to share the show and sharethis particular episode with them.

(09:49):
You can find out all of our resourcesand connect with our show at our
website that's at financially.
Confident christian.com, and I've gota special gift for you on the journey.
For the first 100 listenerswho go to financially confident
christian.com/master, I'm gonnagive you a free copy of my book.
It's called Mastering Your Finances.

(10:10):
Now, this is a quick,it's a powerful read.
Design is a starting point to helpyou break that cycle of financial
shame and step into confidence.
Again, you get to that bygoing to financially confident
christian.com/master.
Go get your free copy today.
Now tomorrow we're gonna betalking about lifestyle creep.
Yeah.
How spending often increasesas income increases.

(10:33):
And we're gonna talk specificallyabout how to avoid that trap to protect
the progress that you're making.
You don't wanna miss it.
So make sure you join me tomorrow.
Now, let's all go out thereand be financially confident.
Christians, you can do this.
I have confidence in you.
Have confidence in yourself.
Stay financially savvy.
God bless you, and youhave a great day today.