Easy Financing Without the Big Word Jargon

Find out if you can you afford your bills, and options if you find out you can't
Ways to start and pay off debt faster, and build your credit whether you have any or not
Design savings accounts for emergencies, fun and retirement
Life hacks that save money in the home, entertaining kids, dating, and more

Step One

Step one is fairly basic, but can be challenging for those who don't have a steady income, receive commission, and/or work odd days and hours. Don't worry, I've been there. I got you. You need to figure out what your least amount of monthly income is after taxes for a regular 4 week month, anything else is extra to play with.

For my Full-Time Hourly People, you should already have an idea of what you bring in after taxes because it should say on your paycheck. Because everything can be direct deposited these days, you may need to ask your employer if there is a way to get an email that has the details of the check with the pay, hours, and taxes. It's still a good idea to do the math, so you know how it works and what it should look like, so you know you are getting paid right. You multiply your hourly pay (example: $20) by 8 hours per day first, if you work a full 8 hours. Some companies schedule you for 8 hours, but you clock out for lunch for 30 to 45 minutes, so you technically only worked for 7 hours and 15 or 30 minutes. Others will schedule you past 8 hours to make up for the lunch break, like 9 a.m. to 5:30, 5:45, 6:00 p.m. So, know what your exact hours are. I recommend underestimating if you are clocking out at quarterly time frames like 5:45 or 3:15. (example: I would count 9 to 5:45 as 7.5 hours as if it was actually 9 to 5:30) It's easier for math purposes, especially if you ever leave early.

The Math:

$20 per hour X 8 hours worked per day = $160 income per day before taxes

$160 per day X 5 days worked per week = $800 income per week before taxes

$800 per week X 4 weeks worked per month = $3,200 income per month before taxes

For my Part-Time Hourly People, you have to be real with yourselves on how much you are scheduled to work. Unless you and the employer specifically said you will be working X amount of days and X amount of hours, your employer can schedule you for as little hours as they please. Most part-time job post will say 10 to 20 hours or 12 to 30, which means you could be working on the lighter side sometimes, or most of the time. Maybe your employer alternates your weeks, 3 days one week, 4 days the next. Maybe you usually work 6 hours, but occasionally work 4 hours. All of this matters, and if you just started at a new job and have no clue what it is going to look like, ask your boss "what will my minimum days and hours look like per week, so I can estimate my finances, please?" The process is basically the same as the full-timer person. You multiply your hourly pay (example $20) by the least amount of hours you will work in a day; let's say 4 hours.

The Math:

$20 per hour X 4 hours worked per day = $80 income per day before taxes

$80 per day X 3 days worked per week = $240 income per week before taxes

$240 per week X 4 weeks worked per month = $960 income per month before taxes

For my Commission People. First of all, the majority of you also signed up for an hourly pay for a base rate, so you still get to go home with something if you don't make any sales. Your employer probably said something like "Your base pay will be $15, but everyone always makes more than that because of the commission." It's a lie. It's very rare that the new person makes more than their hourly pay for the first couple paychecks or so, and there are going to be times when you don't get the commission due to sales quotas not being met that they most likely did not explain to you either. So, it's very important to know what your hourly pay is and what your minimum hours per week worked are going to be. If you are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at $15 per hour, those are the numbers you use because you need to make sure you are living within your means. The extra commission or tip money is exactly that, extra, extra money to play with, extra money to put into savings, extra money for clothes, etc. It's not to be counted as your base income because it's sporadic and unreliable. You use the same process, multiply your hourly pay (example $15) by the least amount of hours worked in a day (example 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. is 7.5 hours).

The Math:

$15 per hour X 7.5 hours per day = $112.50 income per day before taxes

$112.50 per day X 4 days worked per week = $450 income per week before taxes

$450 per week X 4 weeks worked per month = $1800 income per month before taxes

For my Freelancers. Yours is a bit complicated since it's based on you bringing in the client and what you charge for your services, but it is possible. Similar to the part-timer, if you haven't just started your freelance career, you should have an idea of the minimum amount of work you do per day or week. Or, you have a minimum number of clients per day, week, or maybe month. For easy numbers sake, let's say you know you always have at least 3 clients per day and the lowest service charge you have is $75. You would multiply the minimum service fee of $75 by those 3 clients to get your minimum income per day before taxes.

The Math:

$75 service fee X 3 clients per day = $225 income per day before taxes

$225 per day X 4 days worked per week = $900 income per week before taxes

$900 per week X 4 weeks worked per month = $3600 income per month before taxes