It took awhile before I realized I needed a monthly budget. It originally started out as pieces of scratch paper, and I would budget one paycheck at a time. When your paychecks are only $400 and your rent is $340, that can quickly screw you over.
Now, I have a budget, that I have kept about a year now since my promotion. It's on an Excel Spreadsheet, but I have various versions throughout notebooks to keep readily accessible.
Start off with your base paycheck, no overtime or bonuses. If you have a significant other helping with bills, (which I have had since I moved out, we moved in together after about 4 months of dating), add his/her base check as well. I take my check after taxes, social security and medicare is taken out. I will use my current budget as an example. Mine is $817, and my husband is $622 (after the wonderful child support). Then, I have all of my bills, and the day of the month they are due. The wonderful thing about Excel, is you can have so many different aspects of a single spreadsheet. After I have all of my bills, I then factor in how much I will be spending on our pets, groceries, and gas each check. In our case, it is $185 a pay period total. Take your paycheck dates for the next 6 months to start off, my budget is now over a year, and add them in their own column.
October 21st November 4th
$817.00 C pay $817.00 C pay
$622.00 Z Pay $622.00 Z Pay
-$185.00 GGP -$185.00 GGP
-$832.00 mortgage -$75.00 hycite
-$56.84 Sprint -$350.00 car
$365 for savings -$8.69 Hulu
-$210.00 loan
-$120.00 avista
-$180.00 TBD Com/WSG
$310 left for savings
This is just a quick example of a typical monthly payment for me. A few bills aren't listed just because of the way the due date falls. The highlighted green bills are the ones I am paying extra on to pay them off quicker. The payment for the car is $325 a month, but I am paying $350, and when my loan is paid off in two years, I will put the extra $210 towards my car. It's called the snowball effect, and has worked thus far.
We have also set a spending allowance of $20.00 per person, per check, so $80 a month. This cuts back on random spending on things you don't really need. You will quickly learn how much you buy is actually just extra 'stuff'.
This budget helps you remember when bills are due, but more specifically exactly what check they need to come out of, and how much you should have leftover. This was really helpful when planning my wedding, and what I needed to buy as well, and it has been helpful during the home buying process. You can feel free to comment if you have any questions, or would like an example of my spreadsheet!
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Started from the bottom...
I have had numerous people ask me how I was quickly able to get on my feet financially. I am going to dedicate this blog to advise young people who are struggling, that it is much easier than you think to be financially stable in your early 20's.
A little bit of background about me. I was set to go to a university when last minute my funding fell through. I started working at Wal-Mart ($9.40 an hour, 40 hours a week), the only place that would accept a kid like me with zero job experience. Quickly, I realized that I would not be able to save up enough money, and I decided to look at other options.
After a series of events, I ended up quitting my job to try and go to school, and within about a week I was moving out of my parents' house. Unemployed, having never been on my own, I don't think I truly realized the severity of the situation until about mid September (I moved out mid August). My $800 savings, which would have lasted years while in high school, was down to about $300. I hadn't really started hammering down the job applications until this point, before I was maybe submitting 5 a day. At this point, I was now doing 20+ minimum a day, and the only interview I had was at Lowe's ($9.89 an hour, 24 hours a week). They didn't have set hours, so I had to stay with my boyfriend at the time, who lived about 2 miles from my new job. I started two days before my birthday, and to this day that was still the best gift I have ever received. No more ramen!!! I could go out and have fun finally!!
WRONG. I was now only working 24 hours a week (maximum), no set schedule to get another job, and I had zero spending money. In fact, I was gifted a car by my boyfriend's grandparents because they didn't want me biking/walking in the red light district. This car would soon become a money pit as well, with the bumper falling off and the car shutting off when I tried to drive it. I almost felt as though I was worse off with a job, at least I could get some benefits while unemployed.
6 months later, I got a job with Securitas ($10.85, 32 hrs) as a security guard. Anyone that knows me would absolutely laugh out loud, but it was an absolute saving grace at that time. I was scheduled for 32 hours a week, but in reality I was working 50+ with all of the overtime, 12 hour shifts from midnight to noon, and back again the next day. This is the first time I was really able to save up some money, and I started putting aside a little bit each paycheck. Well, my car eventually crapped out about 3 months into my new job, and by this time I had about $500 saved up for a down payment. 6 months after getting this job originally, I was desperate for a steady schedule, and landed a job with a temp agency ($11.50, 40 hrs a week). This is the first time I was finally happy with a job, happy with my paycheck, and had money for dates (we had just reached 1 year together). 7 months later, I landed a promotion to $13.00 an hour, and here I am with my first home. Stay tuned for the next post :)
A little bit of background about me. I was set to go to a university when last minute my funding fell through. I started working at Wal-Mart ($9.40 an hour, 40 hours a week), the only place that would accept a kid like me with zero job experience. Quickly, I realized that I would not be able to save up enough money, and I decided to look at other options.
After a series of events, I ended up quitting my job to try and go to school, and within about a week I was moving out of my parents' house. Unemployed, having never been on my own, I don't think I truly realized the severity of the situation until about mid September (I moved out mid August). My $800 savings, which would have lasted years while in high school, was down to about $300. I hadn't really started hammering down the job applications until this point, before I was maybe submitting 5 a day. At this point, I was now doing 20+ minimum a day, and the only interview I had was at Lowe's ($9.89 an hour, 24 hours a week). They didn't have set hours, so I had to stay with my boyfriend at the time, who lived about 2 miles from my new job. I started two days before my birthday, and to this day that was still the best gift I have ever received. No more ramen!!! I could go out and have fun finally!!
WRONG. I was now only working 24 hours a week (maximum), no set schedule to get another job, and I had zero spending money. In fact, I was gifted a car by my boyfriend's grandparents because they didn't want me biking/walking in the red light district. This car would soon become a money pit as well, with the bumper falling off and the car shutting off when I tried to drive it. I almost felt as though I was worse off with a job, at least I could get some benefits while unemployed.
6 months later, I got a job with Securitas ($10.85, 32 hrs) as a security guard. Anyone that knows me would absolutely laugh out loud, but it was an absolute saving grace at that time. I was scheduled for 32 hours a week, but in reality I was working 50+ with all of the overtime, 12 hour shifts from midnight to noon, and back again the next day. This is the first time I was really able to save up some money, and I started putting aside a little bit each paycheck. Well, my car eventually crapped out about 3 months into my new job, and by this time I had about $500 saved up for a down payment. 6 months after getting this job originally, I was desperate for a steady schedule, and landed a job with a temp agency ($11.50, 40 hrs a week). This is the first time I was finally happy with a job, happy with my paycheck, and had money for dates (we had just reached 1 year together). 7 months later, I landed a promotion to $13.00 an hour, and here I am with my first home. Stay tuned for the next post :)
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