Daily disposable income is what you would use for things like going out to dinner or a movie, going to the mall and other things that are more “fun” in nature and not a requirement to be paid, like a bill. A great example of how to figure your disposable income can sometimes be figured in your head. In order to know if you can afford to go out for dinner a couple nights a week, you need to know how much daily disposable income you have to work with. Figuring this out is not very hard, but it does require some thought, basic record keeping, and simple math.
Step 1: Make a budget
First you need to account for all of our expenses, and put the dollar amounts on them. Then you need to gather up all if your check stubs and invoices to add up all of the money you have coming in. It is easier to figure it monthly since most bills are monthly ones. The key is to remember to count for the bills that you do not pay every month. Things like property taxes, registration and inspection for your car, propane, or garbage service do not always get paid every month, and can ruin your budget if they are not accounted for. So in a nutshell, step one of finding your daily disposable income is to make a budget sheet.
Step 2: Find the difference
Once you have your income and expenses all added up, you subtract the expenses from the income amount, and your disposable income for the month (if you did your budget that way) would be the difference. In order to find the daily amount of that money, you would simply divide the monthly disposable income amount by the number of days in the month. If you have a stable job, and your income is predictable, you can even figure it for the whole year. When figuring by the year, there is usually more to play with.
Things to remember:
Keep in mind that even though an important part of life is to have fun, tomorrow will be here. If you spend all of your extra money today, and lose your job tomorrow then where will you be? That is why putting some of your disposable income into investments or savings should be high on your list of things to do. If you are good with your money, then you would have counted savings and investments into your expenses.
Now you know some of the basic steps on how to calculate your daily disposable income. Hopefully it will help you make the right financial decisions for you and your family. There are sites that can help you put the budget together, track it for you, and help lead you on the way to financial freedom, but it is not something that can be done for you. The main thing is to set your goal, make a plan to achieve it, and stick to that plan until you reach it. If it means that you cannot go out to eat this month so you can buy a boat next month, then you have a month to start getting your fishing equipment ready.