Starting a Budget

One of the most important and beneficial things that I started when I went into college was to begin budgeting my money. I have never been one to spend a lot of money excessively anyways, but I never really saved just for the purpose of saving money. I would always save money for something specific, like a new computer or my first car.

It might be difficult trying to think of budgeting when you are making less than $200 a week, but this is the most important time to start.

Why I Needed to Budget.

Just for a little bit of history on me, I had to start budgeting in college because my family did not take on any financial responsibility for me. I had and still have to pay my way through college. This means I take loans out for my room and board as well as my tuition. Some of my other expenses include groceries, car expenses, gas and books. I do still live at home (with the exception of my first year in college) which saves me a lot of money on living expenses.

Luckily, after some convincing, my mom took on the responsibility of paying my phone bill and my car insurance payments. So there's just a little back story on me and why I needed to start saving money instead of spending it while I was in college.

How to Start.

To begin a successful budget you need to list all of your expenses and paychecks. For me this was easy because I have a consistent stream of income and I know how much I need to budget for each expense. Here's what my breakdown looks like:

Income: $150
Expenses: $82
- Groceries: $30
- Student Loan: $15
- Gas: $25
- Oil Change: $5
- Amazon Prime: $2
- Gym: $5
Savings: $20
Leftover: $48

This budget is on a per week basis since I get paid every single week. The oil change and amazon prime is a cumulative expense which means I save for it over an extended period of time. This helps me out so that when I go to do these tasks I'm not breaking the bank trying to come up with $50 all at once.

Most Important Thing.

After you write out your budgeting breakdown the most important task is to actually stick with it. I use the cash envelop system for my groceries, oil change, amazon prime and gym membership. This keeps me accountable for my money and allows me to not overspend or spend the money in that account on other items.

And one last thing, don't compare yourself to others. I watched so many budgeting videos, but they broke their income down into multiple accounts. I quickly got discouraged because I knew, on the little amount of money I had, that I would never be able to save for things like a clothing expense or gifts for other people.

Just work with what you have and leave it at that.