Tag: money management

#51 Budget

Savings and Budget go hand and hand for me, so obviously this was going to be the next post. The budget properly happened  when I finally started focusing on my savings more because the only way for me to do anything with out touching that savings money was to budget.

If you saw my last post I mentioned I was being aggressive with saving money and because of that I’ve had to be really careful with what I spend money on and really thinking over every aspect of what I can and can’t afford. When I first started my budget it was difficult just cause I was used to just paying it off whenever, but now that I didn’t have the full safety of my full income it made me refocus and go through all my payments.

I started by going through every single subscription and monthly payments that I had. I ended up cancelling a few and going to cheaper subscriptions and it ended up that I was paying around $100 in things I didn’t even care about or use that much. I then stopped eating out every week and now I think I only go out once or twice a month.

The hardest thing for my budget has been when I want cool things. So I usually take a few weeks to decide if I really want something and if it’s just not in the moment. For the most part my thinking has led me to buying the stuff, but I’m glad I thought about it for a few weeks to prepare the money for it and make room in my budget. That way I can still have fun, but also have enough money to live.

Whether I will always stick to the budget plan I have now I don’t know, but it’s been working for me for a while now and I think I’ve developed good habits that I intend to use for the rest of my life.

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#52 Savings

I’ve always been good at saving money and not spending it on items I don’t necessarily need. I do buy things for fun and I make sure to spend my money on experiences that will be worth it, but I also always try to find the right deal for me.

With that said. I’ve never actually had a savings account. So last year I opened one up and I did a quick google search of how much I should have in savings by the time I’m 30. I found a few random numbers that people thought you should have by 30 and I saw some percentages for savings based off income.

In the end of that little research I decided to focus on my savings using the 50 / 30 / 20 rule, which is also what I am currently setting up my budget to be. 50% in necessities, 30% in wants, and 20% in savings. Since I didn’t really start my savings til this year I’ve been a bit more aggressive than 20% of my income every month. I’ve been making sure to divert any extra cash that way to build it and I’ve made sure to have my paycheck split into two bank accounts. That way I don’t even see that 20% ever in my bank account. Makes it way easier to save when it just happening. Bless direct deposits.

My plan right now is to use a portion of my savings to invest once I get to a more comfortable amount in my savings and have it grow that way. As for now I’ve made it a solid year of straight habit to put money in my savings and I feel like that’s a goal worthy accomplishment!

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