How do YOU budget money???

[trojanpopcorn]

OK, so after managing to get my new job with estee lauder I have been thinking carefully about managing my new wages.

I will earn approx 600 dollars a month (part time) and I will be studying at university.

Excluding food, because I use my savings, do you guys save a certain amount aside each month to treat yourself or do you just spend whatever you'd like?

Give me your ideas and techniques!!! I'd love to see how you all manages wages AND a Mac/makeup addiction...

Liz

 

[captodometer]

Reality check: I don't think you can afford to be a student with a MAC addiction on that kind of salary

If you have savings that you buy food with, great. But how will you pay the rent? US$600 is NZ$790 and about 360 euros. Decent housing would be difficult to find for that amount of money, unless you plan on having about 5 or more flatmates. And please don't say "student loans." They do have to be paid back eventually.

I understand your dilemma: I left my well-paid job as a veterinarian in the US and moved to New Zealand to go to graduate school. I've been living off of my savings since I moved here in June: I cut all unnecessary spending because I couldn't afford it. I haven't bought a makeup item since moving here. I just got a job as a part-time veterinarian that I will start next month: it will leave me with about NZ$750 every month after I pay the rent. A single MAC eyeshadow costs NZ$38, and $62 to fill up my car. I can't afford a MAC habit, and I don't think you can either

I do use Quicken software to keep track of where my money goes. It's very helpful and I've used it for about 5 years. You can do a budget with it and download your banking transactions.

My splurge items will be books or travel: I enjoy these things more than makeup. But choose whatever splurges make you happy. Mine are few and far between, but you have to indulge yourself every once in a while

 

[Shimmer]

quicken.
I make my coffee instead of buying by the cup.
And, I generally set aside a set amount a week to 'treat' myself, if there's something coming up that I WANT MUST HAVE NOW THANK YOU then I'll stash a little extra.

 

[Jacq-i]

I keep track of everything I spend, cash, credit, paypal, eBay, etc. I try to evaluate what I need, really want, kinda want, and so on.

My MAC/make-up logic is kind of messed up though... I always justify buying so much because "if I buy it now, I'll pay retail, but if I don't it'll sell out and I'll have to pay 3X the money!!" So, if you have more willpower than I do, you'll do fine.

 

[MAKExMExUP]

I don't know if this is BUDGETING but everytime I see a cute top, shoes, or even FOOD I think to myself "this money would be better spent on a NARS blush!"

 

[Love Always Ivy]

right now i wok 3 jobs. im a asst manager at the body shop, an intern at estee lauder and i waitress on campus.

my TBS paycheck direct deposits and auto transfers 100 to savings, and the rest is spending money/ bill money.
my internship paycheck basically goes to reimburse me for travelling costs to and from the e.l. labs. and are used to pay off bills.
i live off tips from waitessaing and the paychecks fom that job go straight to savings and sit there.
also, anything i make off my online sales/swaps are the only money i use to fuel my makeup addiction.

food: i use my campus meal plan (paid by scholarships), but i dont even use those, since i get bangin ass food at my waitressing job


so far with my system ive been saving tons, since i guess i work so much (plus 16 credits as a biochem major) there really isnt time for me to spend money HAHA

edit: also, me and my mom were talking about starting an IRA fund for me. which sounds weird considering im not even 21 yet

 

[gigglegirl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Love Always Ivy edit: also, me and my mom were talking about starting an IRA fund for me. which sounds weird considering im not even 21 yet

I don't mean to sound all nerdy, but the IRA thing is SUCH A FANTASTIC idea. The power of compounding is a beautiful thing! Start early and let that baby grow. Though I'm in Canada where we don't have IRA's we have RRSP's which are our way of a tax-sheltered retirement vehicle.

Good luck with school and all, sounds like you're a busy girl!

 

[trojanpopcorn]

Thanks for the replies

I actually pay ALL my rent and food and phoe bill out of my savings. I just wanted some ideas as to how people controlled. My boyfriend said that if it was him he would buy something necessary every 2 months. I was like,,,, no.

I am thinking of putting 400 dollars into savings and spending 200 dollars on myself each month, maybe a little less.

I think I'll make a spreadsheet.......

And what are IRAs?

 

[flowerhead]

I only buy food I know I'll eat, I don't buy any snack food. Pasta, fruit and vegetables are cheap and nutritious...& I when I go out I'll usually drink diet coke, I'll drink cheap vodka before I go out to save money. Also, I'll set aside my money for rent and bills before anything, even if I'm really poor for a week. It's better than sleeping in a cardboard box!
And don't underestimate cheaper cosmetics! They are often just as good quality. Bourjois and Loreal are fab. I treat my favourite makeup (MAC, Urban Decay, Dior) as luxury.

 

[YvetteJeannine]

Independent
Retirement
Account

These accounts are created for retirement. I'm not totally sure, but they are either taxed lightly, or totally tax-exempt.

Did you say you're using your savings for payments/monthly expenses? A savings account should be used for just that; saving. If you are using an account for regular expenses, then technically it's not a savings. It sounds like you need to be socking away any 'extra' cash you have...it's hard, but it sounds as though you aren't really making enough to splurge too often. That being said, you DO have to every once in a while treat yourself to something. What's the point of working hard if we can't make ourselves happy every once in a while, right? I just don't think you'll be able to fuel a huge MAC addiction with your income. Don't worry though; most of us didn't start out buying huge loads of makeup at one time. Honestly, I think that'd not only be impractical, but quite silly...(unless, of course you're an heiress to an oil fortune). I started out only buying a few things a month (sometimes only one thing..sometimes nothing), and after a couple years, I've amassed quite a nice makeup stash.

Start by buying one or two 'essential' makeup items a month (MAC is good because it's not quite as expensive as some other brands, such as NARS, where a single eyeshadow goes for over twenty dollars, and a MAC e/s goes for about fourteen American dollars)....When purchasing, ask yourself about how versatile the product is. Will you get a lot of use out of it...can you use it in more than one way, is it a color that will be in style in a few months? You can't go wrong by purchasing staples; then, when you are in a better way financially, you can go with the little 'extras', and splurge on things you don't really need. Hope that helped at least some

 

[melliquor]

I calculate my expenses every month and see what is left after rent, bills, and travel. Whatever money is left... i take a couple of hundred and put the rest into savings.

 

[kimmy]

i figure out what i'll need to pay all my bills for the month (and i usually figure them a little higher than they usually are, just in case) and then i transfer half of what's left into my savings. of the other half that i leave in my checking, i only use about a quarter of it for makeup, ice cream, new clothes (things i don't absolutely NEED but like to have) and the rest just hangs around in my checking account in case of an emergency.

 

[trojanpopcorn]

ooohhhhh kimmy i like the way you do it!

 

[Chic 2k6]

i get £20 a week EMA (Educational Maintenance Allowance, paid by the government to get students to go to school) and what I decided to do was use £10 for Spending on what i want and the other £10 to be used on College Supplies

so if you have money after the bills, half it for college and use the other half on what you'd like. I also:

- Buy a bottle of water, after it's empty, just fill it with tap water, stick in fridge for a short bit and that's water sorted.

- Coffee, just make your own into a thermos flask.

- Snacks, bring coupla bananas with you instead of buying snacks at college, they're dead cheap at the market.

- Buy supplies first then spend/save leftover money.

- I'm addicted to MAC & Lush so if i come across them, I look around, then leave and carry on shopping and make a decision based on would you use it regularly, do you need it? etc.... I actually walked away from MAC coupla times because i didnt feel like i'd need anything.

 

[user79]

I set up my bank account so it automatically deducts $500 at the beginning of the month and puts it into a separate savings account. I don't touch that money, I live off the rest of my salary. Now I've saved up quite a bit, was able to pay off my remaining student debt, and can probably go on a vacation somewhere.

 

[Love Always Ivy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trojanpopcorn Thanks for the replies I actually pay ALL my rent and food and phoe bill out of my savings. I just wanted some ideas as to how people controlled. My boyfriend said that if it was him he would buy something necessary every 2 months. I was like,,,, no. I am thinking of putting 400 dollars into savings and spending 200 dollars on myself each month, maybe a little less. I think I'll make a spreadsheet....... And what are IRAs?

an ira is an account that just collects crazy interest over years and years. it is locked until you are 60 or 65 when you retire.

 

[Raerae]

Make enough money so you can buy whatever you want, and still save.

 

[redambition]

my budgeting is rather (erm) complicated.

firstly, i work out how much i need to cover bills, set expenses and weekly cash in wallet. I always leave a buffer by over-estimating. this money always stays in my primary account. if there's money left over at the next pay day, it's added to my savings.

next, i take most of the remainder and dump it in my savings account. i keep this account at a separate bank (with no card access to it), so i can't touch that money unless i go to the trouble of transferring it back and waiting for the transfer to clear. this is my "true" savings account. money in here is being put aside, not to be touched unless it's an emergency, or i'm buying something big (house, car, major holiday etc)

finally, i put a smaller amount of money into a second savings account i hold at the same bank as my primary account. i call this my "ladies nice things" account, but really it's where i put some spare cash so that if i do see something i would like to splurge on that i can afford, i can use this money. i also use this account for setting extra money aside when i'm saving for smaller ticket items (like the new computer i want, or a short, small holiday).

i did some shopping around and both of my savings accounts are high interest and don't have fees associated with transactions, so it's worthwhile having my money in there. my old "ladies nice things" account wasn't high interest and had transaction fees, so i found i wasn't using it.

the ratio of money put into real savings vs ladies nice things savings varies. if there is something particular i want to purchase, i may swing the favour more toward ladies nice things. otherwise, most of it goes to real savings. either way, i have set myself a minimum contribution to each account on a monthly basis, just to ensure i do actually save some money.

finally - even though i have a credit card, i don't use it if i don't have the money in the bank to cover the purchase i'm making. i use my cc instead of EFTPOS as there's no transaction fees on my card. the credit facility (spending more than i can afford) is again an emergencies only buffer.

i'd much rather sacrifice some fun and save money for a bit, letting it earn interest for me until i can afford something, rather than buying it now and paying a much higher rate of interest on the credit card while i pay it off.

 

[Kimberleigh]

We've recently began to pretend like we live paycheck to paycheck so that all of our money goes to pay off our debts (2 student loans, 2 cars, first and second mortgage, appliances). We throw all of our money at our lowest bill (we recently bought all new stainless steel appliances from best buy for about $5,000). After that bill is paid off, we'll start on our second mortgage, next is my car payment, his master's degree, his car payment, my student loans and finally our mortgage. We pay the minimum on all the bills except for the lowest bill so that we'll pay it off faster. We have a decent sized "egg" in savings (enough for 4-6 months of living if an emergency ever came up), so we're solely focusing on paying off our debts in the next 4-5 years so that we can start investing (we both already have 401ks and I'm starting an IRA this fall) and buying a bigger house. The only debt we want to have is a mortgage because, really, I want to be wealthy not appear to be wealthy.

We've never had credit card debt, so we just got rid off all of them except for one that is for a dept store that doesn't charge interest on any purchases, and mine that I keep for emergencies. I get $10 out of the bank to live on during the week (I don't eat out for lunch ever), and my husband is a teacher so he takes his lunch to work as well. I have addictions too (handbags, shoes, MAC), but I'm really focusing on getting out from under the "good" debt we have so that I don't spend my entire life paying things off...there's plenty of time in my life (I'm only 29) to spend money and I'd rather pay cash for it than throw it on a credit card. It takes a lot of effort to not reach for the credit card, and if I'm not carrying it on me it just makes putting it on my debit card that much more difficult.

 

[Shimmer]

www.daveramsey.com