Standard budgeting advice assumes a fixed salary. "Take your monthly income, subtract expenses…" — fine if your paycheck is the same every month. Not fine if it isn't.
Freelancers, contractors, and people with variable hours face real uncertainty: you don't know what's coming in, so how do you know what you can spend?
Use your lowest recent month as your baseline
Look at your last six months of income. Find the lowest month. Use that as the income figure in your budget — not your average, not your best month. Your worst.
This is conservative by design. If you earn more than that, the extra goes to savings or builds a buffer. You never get caught short.
Build a one-month buffer
The ideal end state is having one month's expenses sitting in a separate account. When a slow month hits, you spend from the buffer and replenish it in better months. Income volatility becomes invisible.
In Repikue, set your income to your conservative estimate and your savings goal to whatever you want to move into your buffer. This automatically limits your daily spending to what you can actually afford.
Adjust your period length to match your income
If you get paid per project or invoice, set your budget period to match. Got paid today for a three-week project? Create a three-week budget period. The daily budget will reflect your real situation.
- Always budget from your lowest realistic income, not your average
- Keep a separate "buffer" account with 1–2 months of expenses
- Adjust your budget period to match when money actually arrives
- In a good month, pay yourself a "bonus" into savings before spending more