As a commission-based person you are used to your bank account fluctuating like CRAZY. There are times you just got paid big commissions and you feel great, while there are harder times as well.

In order to combat the variance, here is my favorite way to budget if you hold a commission-based job!

If you have a base salary, try to budget all of your fixed living expenses on your salary. Then use your commissions for variable expenses and fun.

What are your fixed living expenses? House payment, insurance, debt payments. Let’s say you have a salary of $50,000 for the year. If you divide that per month that is $4,166 per month before taxes and around $3,333 per month after taxes (based on a rough estimate of 20% tax bracket). For simple purposes, let’s say you have $3,000 per month after taxes to use on housing and your other fixed living expenses.

Beyond that, your commissions should be used for food, gas, entertainment, travel and SAVINGS.

I’m surprised at the number of sales people that over extend their personal budgets. If I had to guess I would say it’ is because salespeople are used to seeing larger dollar amounts on their checks. They can become desensitized to the value of money.

How to budget as a salesperson or commission-employee is tricky but it can be done. It takes understanding of your fixed expenses and a good amount of discipline.