Our biggest problems with our budget are the discretionary categories which we fund solely with the money we make above and beyond the standard 40 hour work-week paycheck. It is not steady income, and so I find myself buying things in anticipation of a future large paycheck, and when it doesn't pan out, I am in the hole. This happens more times than I care to admit.
So, this month, we are going to try something new. We get a generous "refund" at tax time (despite the fact that we pay nothing towards federal income tax, only social security, state, etc), which coincidentally, is approximately equal to the average amount we make over the course of the year above and beyond the 40 hour workweek income.
Starting this month, instead of applying the tax "refund" towards our debt, like we usually do, I am going to put the lump sum in our discretionary savings account to be used as needed over the year. This will take discipline and restraint, but I think it will be easier to do it this way than to fund the discretionary account with hit and miss extra income. We will know from the get- go what we have to work with. Whenever we do get bonus income, it will go towards debt payoff.
We are waiting on one more form in order to complete our taxes, so I've left the budget blank for now, but when we do receive our "refund", I will update the budget accordingly.
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