1. Base your budget on the lowest amount you expect to make in any month.
   Use an average of the past six months' income as a base.
2. Consult with a professional before preparing your budget.

If you use the lowest expected monthly income as your base, you can take any surplus from good months and put it in savings.

1. food
   mortgage
2. car loan payments

Though your mortgage and car payments remain the same amount each month, your food costs vary.

1. cable television
   electricity
2. clothing

Since most people have a set fee that they pay for cable television each month, this would be considered a fixed expense.

1. 0.1
   0.15
2. 0.25

Maintaining a healthy savings plan can mean the difference in tough financial times. But if you have a lot of fixed expenses, paying them off might be preferable to saving.

1. forgetting to enter such payments in their checkbook registers
   not checking that there were no mistakes
2. not ensuring that there is enough money in their accounts to cover the bills

If you forget to input these payments in your checkbook register, you might accidentally go into overdraft. Tracking these expenses in your budget plan can help decrease this chance.

1. looking over your prior checkbook entries
   adding an extra 10% for "miscellaneous fixed expenses"
2. charting your overall income and expenses for the prior 10 years

By reviewing your recent expense records you may notice some recurring payments that you had originally forgotten.

1. eliminating unnecessary expenses
   transferring your credit card debt to a card with a lower interest rate
2. creating a budget plan that lists them clearly

Some fixed expenses are hard to remove, but if you cut out some of the luxuries you can make an impact. Figure out which of your fixed expenses are real necessities.

1. making it your first post-paycheck expenditure each month
   setting an automatic reminder on your computer
2. reducing your fixed expenses

Many people guarantee that they add to their savings each month by setting up an automatic deposit from their paycheck.

1. mortgage
   Internet
2. credit card

You may consider trying to pay one of your fixed expenses off earlier, if it has no such penalty. If you do, you can free up money for other expenses or savings.

1. education
   reducing fixed expenses
2. writing out a budget plan

Education will obviously increase your expenses in the short term, and might even reduce your income if it cuts into your work schedule. But it usually will pay off in the long run.