So I'm having a problem making a budget. It's SO hard on a variable income, and Dave Ramsey's sheet in the back of his book is confusing me, which is nothing new being that numbers of any type confuse me. The way my paychecks work is that I get paid for the previous month the current month. For example, at the end of November, I handed a bill to my boss with all the work I did and the total of what she owes me. Then the first friday of December, I get four checks equally divided (and when there's five Fridays that month, five checks). Being that it varies from month to month, it's just hard to budget! I think I'm going to spend a lot of time today researching budgets online with variable incomes.... I usually make around the same each month, but it can be really high or (god forbid, which I fear for january) a lot lower. It just depends on the work I had that month. I'm going to have to step it up an insane amount if I want to get us out of this mess, which will mean working every weekend and working late. I don't care though!
Taxes. When I got my last paycheck (which I don't have in front of me, so numbers are approximate) I found a percentage calculator online to see how much percent I paid in taxes. Like I said earlier, I'm awful with numbers, but I kept coming up with the number that I paid 28% in taxes [when I first did that, I had the exact #'s in front of me]. Does that sound insanely high for someone who made roughly $56,000, or am I really just that naive, or can I not even use a simple percent calculator correctly (hope that last one is that case)?? I paid approximately $15,000 in taxes. I claim single and 0 even though we're married, being that I really don't ever want to owe, and I *always* used to owe. Plus we do have the rent money from out tenant this year that we'll have to pay taxes on. But 30%?? That seems like a LOT. I'll get my check and put the exactly money withheld later and exactly how much I made, but at the very least I paid $14,000 in taxes, although it was closer to $15k, I believe. Hrmph.
Budgeting, Taxes and other random stuff
December 30th, 2007 at 04:40 pm
December 30th, 2007 at 05:00 pm 1199034038
Also, if you are voluntarily loaning money to Uncle Sam interest-free in order to get a refund after you file, you need to subtract that refund from the actual taxes paid. That will lower the true percentage.
December 30th, 2007 at 05:34 pm 1199036050
December 31st, 2007 at 01:39 am 1199065155
For budgeting on variable income...any possibility that you construct your budget against your lowest earned month?
December 31st, 2007 at 03:41 am 1199072483