Tips on budgeting your money

Are you spending money on Starbucks coffee everyday? What about Dunkin' Donuts? Or do you spend the majority of your money on food? Everyone has at least some sort of bad spending habit. Think about this, instead of spending around $5 for that coffee everyday before school, you can save around $100 a month. In high school, it probably would have been easier to lock me in a tank with sharks than force me to save money (no exaggeration there). Saving up money can be hard, especially if you don't have a material object to save for, but it is important to have a cushion just in case you need one (like when you have to spend $1,300 on brakes for your car... no big deal). If you've been wanting to start saving or budgeting your money, now is the right time. Well, maybe after the holidays. Recently, I've been getting better at saving my money and I'm going to share the best tips and advice I can give on how to save and budget your money.

#1: Limit your everyday spending.

Just as I was saying with the everyday Starbucks purchase, limit yourself. Start buying your own coffee grounds at the store (I promise it's not that bad), or make it an every Monday and Friday thing to get you through the week rather than everyday. Aside from coffee, if you have something else that you frequently buy, that you don't necessarily need, think about when or why you want it, and stop yourself from buying everyday. Small amounts like Ubers, delivery charges for food, and the motorized Bird or Lime scooters downtime are all okay purchases, but those small amounts add up. It's okay to tell yourself no.

#2: Add more to your savings than you take out.

If you have a savings account, treat it like a prized possession. Don't pull money out all the time unless you absolutely have to. Every paycheck, put a designated dollar amount into your savings. It also helps me to keep a good chunk of money in my savings by telling myself that I have to have above a certain amount of money at all times. For example, I might want to keep $500 in my savings at all times, then I know I will always have that money and I can't pull money out past that amount.

#3: Make a list of all the things you purchase monthly.

Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Apple Music, gym membership etc. or whatever it is you spend money on monthly, make a list of all those things and make sure that you have extra money at the end of each month for all of those fees. If you know an exact dollar amount that will be taken out of your account by the end of the month, then you'll know how much to spend until. Don't forget to take into account gas, groceries, and other things you have to spend monthly. It's not the best feeling when you see your checking account in the negatives.

#4: Think twice before online shopping or making big purchases.

Online shopping can be so tempting. You see the ads and deals all the time for different clothing stores, and the majority of the time, you want to buy something. It's hard to have self-control when online shopping, especially when you see a cute $10 top or shoes that are on sale for $50. My rule is, if I see it and think about it again tomorrow, then I can buy it.

#5: Give yourself a set amount of money that you're willing to spend in a certain time period.

Aside from your monthly fees, if you have extra money in your bank account, how much of that are you willing to spend? There are many ways you can control this, but the easiest way for me was to give myself a set amount of money to spend during pay periods. I used to get paid monthly, so I would give myself about $200 to spend every month. I would put the rest of the money I got from a paycheck into my savings, and make use of that $200. A large chunk went to gas, but the rest went to other essentials and any extra money I had could then go into savings or I could use it to go out and make plans with friends.

#6: Make an actual budget.

However you want to, the best way to save money is to make a budget. Logging every purchase you make, especially when you have cash on you, is the easiest way to keep a budget. There are apps for keeping a budget, but some of them ask for your bank account information and that's kind of sketch. You could make a Google Spreadsheet (or Excel) to log these, or just handwrite them the old fashioned way and do the math.

I hope this helps someone and their spending habits. I'm still working on mine, so we can get through this together, I promise.

Today's Blog Post Bop:

"Self Care" by Mac Miller

There can only be one,

Ariana J. Bagley