A few of occupations that I can think of off hand that could fall into this category are waitresses or waiters working for salary and tips, truck drivers that are paid by mile and never know how many miles they are going to get, self-employed that their business income varies from season to season, and list could go on.

Trying to manage your finances with a steady income is hard enough but when you never know what your paycheck will be seems almost impossible, but it's not. It is, however, going to be a little more tricky.

In my Budget and Bill Organizer I talk about averaging your expenses like your phone and electric bills that vary from month to month. The same principle can be used to average your income.

The first step you need to take is to find records of your pay for as far back as you can. It would be best if you had records going back for at least 6 months.

Take these records and total amounts you were paid for entire period. Then divide that by number of months you have records for. This will give you your average monthly income.

Yeah, that's a little dramatic but I have been helping people with their personal finances for almost 30 years and it's not too far off base. The word scares daylights out of some people.

You should see their faces when I tell them they are already budgeting no matter whether they have anything written down or not. It's a fact.

Whether you run your budget out of your wallet or on a printed budget form you are still budgeting your money. The main difference is that running your budget out of your wallet doesn't have a plan or anyway to control your spending.

Maybe we should refer to managing our finances as a road map instead of a budget. It doesn't sound quite as bad and it identifies what you are doing more clearly.

Budgeting is exactly like taking a trip in your car. You know where you are and where you want to go but you need a road map to find out how to get there. You are simply developing a plan or route if you prefer.

No one would even consider starting out on a trip to unfamiliar places without a road map. Why would you consider managing your money without a budget?