If your income lands in uneven lumps, the hardest question is a deceptively simple one: how much can you actually afford to pay yourself each month? This free irregular income calculator answers it. Enter what you really earned over the last few months and it works out a steady monthly wage you can draw, plus the buffer that carries you through the lean months, so a spiky income can finally feel like a salary.
How this irregular income calculator works
The calculator takes a deliberately conservative approach. It averages the months you enter, then sets your steady wage a little below that average rather than right at it. That gap matters: a wage pitched at your exact average slowly drains your reserve over time, while one set just under it lets the reserve grow. It also estimates the buffer you would want sitting behind that wage, sized to the number of months you choose, so a slow stretch never forces your pay to drop. The more months you enter, the more realistic the number, because a longer stretch captures both your strong months and your quiet ones.
How to use your result
Treat the wage it gives you as a starting point, not a hard rule. The idea is to pay yourself that fixed amount from a separate buffer account each month, let your actual income land in a different account, and let the buffer absorb the difference between the two. If you have not worked out your true spending floor yet, do that first with the bare-minimum budget method, because your wage should always clear it. The full system this number plugs into is the 3-account setup in how to budget with an irregular income.
Turn the number into a steady paycheck
A calculated wage only helps if you actually build the structure underneath it: a buffer that holds the surplus from strong months and tops you up in weak ones. That reservoir is what turns the figure above into a paycheck you can count on, month after month, no matter what your income does. Start with the income buffer account guide to set it up, then browse the rest of the budgeting guides to put the pieces around it in place.
This calculator is a general starting point to plan with, a behavioural rule of thumb, not financial advice. It does not account for taxes or your personal circumstances. See our full disclaimer.