Looking for some input on how to split expenses, my partner and I are in our early 30s and planning to get married in the near future. He has an unpredictable income that varies month to month while mine is steady. On good months, our income is similar however he has more monthly bills and I have student debt. We split rent 50/50. He pays more of our expenses when he’s able to.
Up until now, we just go back and forth paying for things, don’t have much of a system. I generally cover larger costs and he will generally pay for groceries and household items each week.
Looking to be more organized, make informed decisions, and do a better job of planning for our future. We’ve had a hard time coming up with a budget/system with his fluctuating income.
TIA for any input!
How to split, unpredictable income
byu/supers0nicfunkyfr3sh inpersonalfinance
Posted by supers0nicfunkyfr3sh
3 Comments
When you get married, combine your income and pay your expenses
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The cleanest way to handle unpredictable income is to budget off the lower, predictable number and treat upside as bonus.
Start by listing all joint fixed expenses (rent, utilities, insurance, minimum debt payments, groceries baseline). Then assume your partner contributes only their worst-case average month (or even a conservative floor). Everything above that goes into a buffer account.
Good months will buy you stability, not change your lifestyle. Choose whether it goes to buffer, debt or future goals.
A buffer should build up to 3-6 months of his contributions which will allow you to plan. For example, if he has a particularly bad month, the buffer will make up his minimum.
Keep the student loan debt personal unless you’re married.
If your partner was living alone, I’d recommend that they figure out their annual budget and then divide by 12 to get a monthly budget. In months with higher income, the extra funds (whatever is beyond the monthly budget) goes into savings. In months with lower income, the gap is filled by drawing from those savings. That way the monthly budget stays consistent regardless of the cashflow. Seems like they could do this for their half of the expenes as well, and they you both have a stable budget to work with.