Money Monday 2

After my Money Monday post last month here is one for February. I have already said that in January my penny and running pot had topped up to nearly £20. It is still creeping up as I am maintaining the exercise and keeping track of the days of the year. I have decided to use it towards my first mummy treat of the year a proper haircut: 

As my work is as a supply teacher my income varies from week to week which makes it hard to budget as I have no idea what I will be earning in the future! The only regular amounts are my tax credits which have to cover the basics. My rent and council tax also fluctuate as some weeks I earn too much for assistance and other weeks get no income at all... I am therefore trying to find ways to make sure that my money lasts the whole month:

• 5% of any income is going into my long term savings for annual costs and big items.
• Another 5% is going into my short term savings to make sure that there is money for regular bills.
• I have a credit card with a small limit just for things like petrol and I make sure that each time money comes in I pay a bit off each week rather than wait until the end of the month.
• Using the text message service from my building society for which I have set a low balance alert and it warns me if I don't have enough in the current account for a direct debit.

Have you got any other tips to help me make my irregular income last out the whole month?