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I'm about to start a temporary job with a pay arrangement I'm not used to - I'm used to monthly.

It's weekly pay and after training, I will be switching to what the company describes as a Continental pattern. It will consist of 4 days on, 4 days off and 10 hour shifts. So some weeks I could do 30 hours, some weeks 40 hours.

To make things even easier, the rate of pay changes depending on what time of day you work or on Sundays. As yet, I do not know what shift pattern I'll be on.

I'm trying to work out how to do a budget for monthly bills with so much variation because its not a simple case that I'll work x hours at x amount.

Any advice?

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Regarding budgeting, start with baselines that don't get you into any trouble... in that you can rely on that base income level.

(1) You will always get 30 hrs / week @ base pay. Let's say you make $15 per hr., that's $450 pre-tax each week. Your taxes and withholdings will determine take home pay.

(2) Some months you'll have 1-2 weeks w/ 10 more paid hours. You can see the timing by counting it out on a calendar. If you can avoid it, I would not factor this extra $150-$300/month into your budget... it happens rarely.

(3) Off-hours premium: again, budget w what is certain to come in. You will work Sundays 2x/month, include that in your budget. You won't always work the late shift if that gets a premium... if you can, save it when that comes!

One common challenge with shift work is getting used to OT premiuns and variable pay and assuming it will always be there.

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