Marie
Nowadays, being a freelancer is your best bet to earn money from the comforts of your home. For full-time parents, being able to juggle work, caring for the children, and household chores is a challenge. With the abundance of freelance home-based jobs, earning at home has never been easier. Plus, you’ll have more time for family.
Which brings us to the question – how often would you like to get paid? You may have heard of freelancers that get paid as frequent as every week or even every day. Let’s explore the frequency of these payment methods and learn how to manage your budget wisely.
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The Weekly Method
The good thing about this method is that you can be sure you’ll have money to cover your expenses for the week. This works great if you have children. However, you may not realize that you end up consuming all your pay thinking that you’ll get more next week. It’s like living from paycheck to paycheck.
What to Do:
List down your top consumables and your usual expenses. Groceries are a top priority especially if you have hungry mouths to feed. List your food items according to shelf life. It is recommended that you buy fresh produce like fruits and vegetables every week, so set aside a budget for that.
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The Bi-Weekly Method
Personally, this is the best payment method. It helps you budget your expenses plus your bills. For example, if you get paid every other Friday, set aside money depending on the due date of your bills. You could also balance your expenses. If the bulk of your bills fall in the first half of the month, then do your grocery-shopping for two weeks’ worth on the latter part.
What to Do:
Come up with two budget lists. The first one is for the first half of the month, the second list is for the latter part. Segregate the expenses starting with the bills due. If for example, most of your bills fall on the 10th to the 15th, you may want to postpone your grocery-shopping on the second payout.
Also, plan your meals accordingly. This helps you plan your grocery list in advance. It also enables you to balance the meals and not overeat pork or chicken or fried food.
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The Monthly Method
If you are single and don’t have a family to feed, this method would work best for you. Why? This prevents you from going over your budget. You budget your expenses only once a month, including your savings. Otherwise, you’ll end up not eating or broke for the rest of the month.
What to Do:
List down all your expenses for the month. Start with the bills because these cannot be left un-paid. For utility bills, it is best to come up with an estimate according to usage. For example, you can install an app on your phone that measures your electricity consumption.
After listing down your bill dues, plan your meals, errands and even your extracurricular activities. Since you are a freelancer, you may have a few jobs on the side to augment your weekly expenses.
Conclusion
Budgeting is a skill. For parents, this is quite a challenge. You’ll never know when emergencies happen, so you have to be ready – all the time. Don’t forget to factor health insurance, too. Medical emergencies are costly if you don’t have insurance.
