# What are the best budget apps for irregular income?

The best budget app for an irregular income is one that plans in percentages, not fixed amounts. Portio is built for this: each time money arrives it sets aside your giving, fills your fixed bills, and splits the rest by your percentages, so one plan fits a slow month and a good month. YNAB and EveryDollar also work, by budgeting only money you already have, but you assign every payment by hand. Type your own slow and good months below to see the same plan in both.

## Which budget apps handle irregular income?

| App | How it copes with uneven pay | What you do each time you are paid |
|---|---|---|
| Portio | giving and bills first, then the rest by percentages, recalculated with every income | add the amount, then tick the transfers |
| YNAB | you budget only money you already have | assign the payment to categories by hand |
| EveryDollar | a new zero-based budget each month, with a planner for paychecks on the paid plan | rebuild the month around what you expect |
| Goodbudget | envelopes, filled when income arrives | fill each envelope by hand |
| A spreadsheet | whatever you build | works if the split is formulas, not fixed amounts |

In Portio one income a month is free, and more than one income in a month needs Premium. Plans and features change: check each app's own page before you choose.

## Why do normal budgets fail on an irregular income?

Most budgets are a list of fixed amounts: 600 to savings, 400 to food, 300 to debt. That list assumes the same income every month. In a slow month it does not add up, so you drop it. In a good month the extra has no plan, so it is spent.

A percentage has neither problem. 25% of what is left is always 25% of what is left.

## How does the same plan work in a slow month and a good month?

Take 5% giving, 1,050 of bills, and a split of 25% savings, 20% investment, 15% trips and 40% debt:

| | Slow month | Good month |
|---|---|---|
| Income | 2,000 | 4,000 |
| Giving, 5% | 100 | 200 |
| Bills | 1,050 | 1,050 |
| Left to split | 850 | 2,750 |
| Savings, 25% | 212.50 | 687.50 |
| Investment, 20% | 170 | 550 |
| Trips, 15% | 127.50 | 412.50 |
| Debt, 40% | 340 | 1,100 |

The bills are the same in both columns. Everything else moves with the income, and both columns add up to exactly what was earned.

## Should I budget on my lowest month or my average month?

Use your lowest month to test your bills, and no month at all to set the split.

- **Bills.** Look at the last six to twelve months and find the lowest one. If that income, after giving, covers your fixed bills, your bills are safe. If it does not, the gap is the number to work on.
- **Everything else.** Percentages need no forecast. You do not have to guess next month's income to know how it will be divided.

An average is risky because half of your months are below it.

## What do I do when a month does not cover my bills?

Pay the bills in order of importance, rent before internet, and split nothing that month. Cover the gap from a buffer you filled in better months.

In the example above, an income of 900 leaves 855 after giving, which is 195 short of 1,050 in bills. A buffer of a few times that gap makes a slow month uneventful.

## How big should the buffer be?

Start with one month of fixed bills, then build towards three. With an uneven income, the buffer is used more often than a normal emergency fund, so refill it first after each slow month. [How big an emergency fund should be](/blog/how-big-should-an-emergency-fund-be) works through the targets.

The simplest way to fill it is to give savings a larger share of the split until the buffer is full, then lower it again.

## What if I am paid several times a month?

Use the same order across the whole month. The first payment goes to giving and then fills your bills. Once the bills are covered, each later payment is split by your percentages in full.

This is why the order matters more than the amounts. You never have to decide what a payment is for. Its place in the month decides it.

## What about tax?

If tax is not taken from your income before it reaches you, give it its own line and fill it before anything else is split. Ask an accountant or your tax office what share to hold back. Money that is already owed is not yours to budget.

## Where do I start?

1. Find your lowest month in the last year.
2. Add up your fixed bills and check them against that month.
3. Choose percentages for what is left. [How to split your salary](/blog/how-to-split-your-salary) has starting points.
4. Each time you are paid, follow the same order: giving, bills, split.