While I love shopping, I also realize how important it is to save. Ever since my very first paycheck, I've created strict budgets for myself and kept track of all purchases. The Mint app is great, but I choose to create my own Google Drive sheets so I can better personalize it. The nerd side of me thinks it's fun!
Because budgeting has worked for me, I thought I'd share my process. It's different for everyone since we all have different lifestyles, priorities, and commitments, but this might be a good starting point. I'll divide this topic into a few blog posts.
This is a rough estimate of how I allocated my after-tax income. Notice the 6% spent on shopping - it might be higher or lower for everyone. I'll go into mine in more detail some other time.
To create your own, first calculate your monthly post-tax income.
Then establish your savings goal, and think about the minimum you can spend on each category. Think you can get away with spending only 7% on dining? Write that down. Repeat for each category.
After you've allocated an amount to each category, see how much income you have left to work with. If you have extra unallocated income, decide if you should move that to your savings goal, or maybe expand one of your top priority categories a bit more. For example, maybe dining out is very important to you because it lets you bond with your best friends. Add a few % here.
However, if you don't have any extra unallocated income, or are over budget, re-examine each category and see what you can cut before you lower your savings goal. Good luck!
Now that I'm back in school, I sadly have no income so my budgets are very different. A grad student budget is basically just rent, tuition, and coffee/alcohol!
How much do you think is reasonable to spend on shopping?
No comments:
Post a Comment