43 Examples of Variable Expenses

John Spacey, June 28, 2020

Variable expenses are expenses that change over time such that they are more difficult to budget and predict. This can be contrasted with fixed expenses that are fully predictable and constant. The following are common examples of variable business and personal expenses.

Business

In the context of business, a variable expense is most commonly an expense that rises with production levels. Variable expenses also include strategic initiatives such as a project that is expensed. Variable expenses can be contrasted with overhead such as the cost of your HR team that doesn't change with your business volumes or strategy.

Advertising	Bad Debt Expense
Commissions	Components
Consulting	Cost of Goods Sold
Delivery	Direct Labor
Electricity	Foreign Exchange Loss
Freight	Inventory
Marketing Expenses	Materials
Professional Fees	Strategic Initiatives
Subcontracts	Supplies
Taxes	Travel Expenses

Some types of taxes such as property tax are typically a fixed expense. Income tax tends to be highly variable according to income and expenses.

Personal

Personal variable expenses includes costs that are discretionary, unpredictable, one-time, unusual or that go up and down according to usage. These can be budgeted for with categories such as contingency and discretionary.

Appliances	Bedding
Clothing	Disasters (e.g. Flood Damage)
Electronics	Energy & Fuel
Entertainment	Eye Care
Food	Footwear
Furniture	Haircare
Home Furnishings	Internet & Communications
Luxuries	Medicine
Out-of-pocket Medical	Repair
Restaurants	Toiletries
Travel	Utilities
Vacations

In many cases, it is possible to convert a variable cost into a fixed cost. For example, insurance that covers medicine. It is also common for services to offer fixed rate pricing such as a streaming media service that offers entertainment for a fixed monthly fee.