Living on a Budget

It’s not anything new, but having a budget helps me keep track of my expenditures. Then I can see patterns in my spending habits and hopefully be better at what I purchase. Plus having a solid figure reminds me how much I’m spending on certain items.

Aside from rent and paying for school, most of my expenditures aren’t really necessary. I’m really trying to cut down to spending about $1000/month for all expenses except for school, rent, and utilities. It doesn’t sound too terrible, but curbing spending isn’t my forte. I’ve been known to indulge in some retail therapy every once in a while.

Currently, I’m working on meeting the Food Stamp Challenge, where I’m spending about $20/week on food. The only problem is that I love eating out and it ruins the budget a bit. For groceries, I do hit less than $80/month, but at the same time, I spend about $150/month eating out. So I’m limiting myself to eating out once a week, or four times a month. Hopefully I can accomplish such a feat.

As for savings, I’m slowly building it up, but it definitely comes slowly. Recently, I realized that the money I put in my savings is minimal compared to the money I spend, so I’m increasing the amount I’m putting into savings. Hopefully, I’ll build up a strong financial foundation when I graduate and start my career.

All in all, I’m off to a good start. I’ll be minimizing expenses and building a strong savings account…this will prepare me for the future.