Foremost, I want to state that considering I don't have a fixed income, it's somewhat difficult to come up with a budget. For my income, I figured that I make on average a hundred dollars a shift plus two biweekly checks of roughly 150. That gave me the grand total of 1900 dollars a month (16 working days x 100 dollars + 150 dollar checks x two pay periods).
Fixed Expenses
Rent: 600
Auto Insurance: 181
Car Payment: 272
Cell Phone: 86
Credit Cards: 300
Savings: 150
Flexible Expenses
Clothing/Auto: 50
Gas: 80
School Supplies: 10
Household Items: 11
Entertainment/Going Out: 60
Food: 100
The Explanation
Obviously, rent, auto insurance, car payment and cell phone are fixed items. I definitely could do something about lowering my phone bill though! I rarely use up all the minutes although I put the texting to good use. I think I use texts more than minutes. As for the credit cards and savings, with that sort of progress in my budget, I could pay off my credit card bills in four to five months! After I pay off the credit cards, that money is going to be divvied up between extra on my car payment and more into savings. Once the savings goal is met, it's going to be all thrown at my car.
As for the flexible expenses, part of my resolutions for the new year is to buy more clothes. I figure I'll start a clothing/auto fund that will pay for any oil changes that occur, along with buying some new clothes. Gas is a major expense for me. I commute back and forth out to Los Angeles for school. School supplies are hardly needed although do occur (paper, pens, scantrons, etc.). Same goes for household expenses. I seem not to go through shampoo, toothpaste or detergent terribly often. The following two are my biggest weaknesses that I've already gone WAY over this budget for this month. I am twenty-one... and I love to go out! Furthermore, since I spend upwards of twelve hours at school on some days, I inevitably buy food on campus.
I'm quite satisfied with this budget. Although, I'm fully aware that I'll prolly have to make some adjustments as time goes on.
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3 comments:
It's good that you're accepting that you're going to buy food on campus and you're going to go out. I think it's really important to make room in your budgets for things that you enjoy and things that make your life easier.
How did you come up with your flexible expenses? Is it based on history or just what you hope to spend?
I'm impressed that you only spend $100 on food. I spend about $200, and I usually go over!
@Julie: Regarding the flexible expenses, I've been tracking my expenses off and on for a couple months. It's a mixture of what I hope to spend and realistic based on history.
@SavingDiva: I work in a restaurant, so a lot of my food comes from there. Heh.
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