Understanding the difference between fixed and variable expenses can help you with budgeting, setting financial goals, and a lot more. Part of that zero-based budget includes those fixed costs that happen month after month. For your fixed expenses, all you have to do is make a line item with the name (like Rent) and amount ($1,200).

Variable expenses change regularly and may be directly influenced by the choices you make day to day. Unlike fixed expenses, variable expenses can be less predictable and more volatile, which isn’t to say that variable expenses aren’t necessary; many essentials fall into this category. Budgeting for variable expenses can be more challenging, as you may not be able to pinpoint exactly how much they’ll add up to from one month to another. If you’re not tracking variable expenses regularly, it could be very easy to under- or overestimate how much of your budget you should allocate to them. This is something you can easily do with a budgeting app, however, which can minimize the odds of variable expenses sideswiping your spending plan. Your monthly expenses—regardless of how much you spend—include both fixed or variable costs.

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If you’re signed up for a monthly service that you rarely use, there may be an alternative plan with a lower price. For example, consider a cheaper gym membership or a different streaming service. Additionally, shop around for alternative car insurance, health insurance, life insurance and homeowners or renters insurance plans to save more money. Budget your fixed expenses first, because they make up the majority of your budget and are usually set for longer periods of time.

• The best budgeting system is the one that helps you pay your bills, cover fun expenses and save toward your goals.
• Fixed expenses are simple to spot once you know what to look for.
• These costs are among two different types of business expenses that together result in their total costs.
• If you don’t like the budgeting style you chose or had trouble sticking to it, you might switch to another to see if that works better for you.
• It makes up a large part of most people’s budgets, so it is important to be aware of how much you spend on these expenses each month.

Along with recording your revenue and paying off debt, you also have to track your various expenses. Your budget should be made out of Play-Doh, not chiseled in marble—if something in your life changes, just reshape it a little. Move money from one category to another without guilt or shame. The bottom line is that it’s  your money and you can spend it however you want. This should be your take-home pay after taxes and other deductions. If your income varies from month to month, divide your annual income by 12 to find your average monthly income and use that as a starting point.

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The words within a relevant or reasonable range of activity are normally added to the definition because at an extremely high volume or low volume, a change will likely occur. You may have seen recent news coverage of customers of financial services companies falling victim to social engineering scams. Scammers impersonate a trusted company to convince their targets into revealing or handing over sensitive information such as insurance, banking or login credentials. This scamming can happen via text, email or websites set up to look like the trusted company. These bills cannot easily be changed and are usually paid on a regular basis, such as weekly, monthly, quarterly or from year to year.

Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Daphne Foreman is a former Banking and Personal Finance Analyst for Forbes Advisor. She has worked as a personal finance editor, writer, and content strategist covering banking, credit cards, insurance and investing. As a small business owner and former financial advisor, Daphne has first-hand experience with the challenges individuals face in making smart financial choices. There’s a third group of costs that includes mixed fixed and variable expenses. You can take an average of your monthly spending for each variable expense and include that amount in your budget.

Variable costs are usually the first expenses that people try to cut when they need to start saving money. Unfortunately, variable costs are also some of the toughest expenses to cut back on, because doing so requires a daily commitment to frugal decision-making. It’s much easier to budget for fixed expenses than it is to budget for a variable expense or discretionary expense.

How to Save Money on Variable Expenses:

Businesses incur both variable and fixed expenses during the production process. We determine the variation in variable expenses by the volume of the goods produced. Examples of variable expenses include labour, raw materials, and commissions.

By being creative and using a few tricks you may be able to save a significant amount of money each month without making too many sacrifices. Another example would be if a salesperson gets paid on commission. Although this employee’s basic pay is constant, the commission they receive from each sale is not. Because the overall cost varies according to the volume of sales. These fluctuations may be influenced by the choices you make or by outside forces.

• Fixed expenses cannot be avoided and must be paid regardless of how much money is left over after your variable expenses have been paid.
• Kristi serves as a board member for Kindway, a non-profit organization dedicated to the successful re-entry of incarcerated men and women into the community.
• For example, you could have a groceries category, a utilities category and a travel expenses category.
• Rather, they’re “variable” because the amount that you spend differs from month to month.
• The envelope system may help you avoid overspending on variable costs because you have a designated amount for each expense.

Bringing down variable expenses, however, is usually possible. For example, you can trim your grocery bill and avoid dining out or purchasing nonessential items. The upside of having variable expenses in your budget is that you have more control over them than you do with fixed expenses. So it’s typically easier to find opportunities to save money. Look at both your fixed and variable costs if you need to start making cost reductions.

How Do Fixed Costs Differ From Variable Costs?

The little bit you save on your fixed expenses can add up fast. Just because an expense is fixed, it doesn’t mean you can’t save money on it. When it comes to fixed and variable costs—negotiation, shopping the market, and the power of paying in advance can go a long way in saving some of your hard-earned Benjamins. Fixed expenses are the items in your budget that stay the same month after month . We’re talking about your mortgage or rent payments, gym membership, life insurance, medical insurance or even streaming service costs (Netflix, Disney+ or Hulu). While those money terms sound like you just bought a one-way ticket to snooze fest, stick with us.

Enter email address to receive our monthly Money Maximizer newsletter. Kristi is an active member of the community, working with several non-profit and social organizations that aid unserved communities throughout the country. Kristi serves as a board member for Kindway, a non-profit organization dedicated to the successful re-entry of incarcerated men and women into the community. Additionally, Kristi is a member of the Board of Trustees for The American College of Financial Services. Where he is able to communicate complex financial information in a manner judges and juries can understand. An industry thought leader, Suzanne is a sought-after speaker, moderator, and columnist on topics ranging from marketing and leadership to financial literacy and fintech.

If you have more customers, you’ll inevitably need to spend more on food and labor to serve those people. All of those variable costs really make you appreciate the reliability of fixed expenses. Fixed expenses are important to understand because they represent a significant portion of the total costs of running a business. For many businesses, fixed expenses can be 60% or more of total operating costs.

In this blog post, we will dive into what a fixed expense is and how it can help your business succeed. We will discuss different types of fixed expenses, their advantages and disadvantages, and how you can use them to create an effective budgeting plan. Many variable expenses happen sporadically only a few times a year. Think of that plane ticket you just booked to see your family in California. For example, gas, parking fees, groceries, and personal care expenses in any given month could be different from previous payments or ones you’ll make in the future.

Types of fixed expenses

The articles and research support materials available on this site are educational and are not intended to be investment or tax advice. All such information is provided solely for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly. Fixed expenses can make up anywhere from 40% to 75% of most people’s budgets.

If you budget by paycheck or schedule automatic bill payments, having bills due at roughly the same time can help with avoiding late payments and the fees that go along with them. A fixed expense just means an expense in your budget that you can expect to stay the same, or close to it, over time. When you sit down to make your monthly budget, you don’t have to guess how much you’ll pay toward fixed expenses. You can simply carry over those amounts from last month’s budget. It will become clearer where your money is going if you break down your spending into fixed and variable categories. This will also help you identify areas where you can cut costs.

This could help you clearly see how much you have left to spend on each category every month. It could also turn variable expenses into expenses you can anticipate and budget for each month, just like your fixed expenses. If you need to start cutting back on costs, look at both your fixed and variable expenses. Devoting a Saturday afternoon to reviewing all of your subscriptions, insurance plans and recurring monthly bills may help you trim hundreds of dollars from your fixed monthly budget. These are the expenses you have that don’t change month-to-month.