Living on a Budget

[Wigmund]

Couches are cheaper than beds. Though not as comfortable to sleep on.

[pochercoaster]

Originally Posted by Krylo

But I've also heard using an envelope system with cash can be helpful and it makes sense to me. Basically put aside all your money for the month in envelopes marked Groceries, Rent, etc. and only touch that money for those things. And carry only a small amount of money with you at any given time. Enough to get a half tank of gas or whatever you figure is best for emergencies.

This is actually exactly what I do, although I've never heard anyone else mention it before. I mainly use it for my unfixed expenses (clothing, groceries, haircuts, as I pay for my fixed expenses electronically and I'm uncomfortable leaving large amounts of cash hanging around).

However, I find simply saving your receipts and writing down how much you spend in each category (grocery/transportation/etc.) on a daily basis is the best way to stick to a budget. The information itself isn't terribly useful, but reminding yourself how much money you've spent every day keeps you accountable. It's old fashioned but it's worked for me- I make just under $15,000 a year but I've never missed a bill and have kept myself clothed and fed with some leftover money. It's important to do it every day because it's easy to lose your receipts and forget how much you've spent.

Oh, and don't use your credit card unless it's something you can only purchase with one (online transactions.) Personally, I use my credit card because I get a 1% rebate on my spending at the end of the year, but I never spend money I don't have and I pay off the balance in full every month.

[EVILNess]

I have a budget method I call the X+Y method. You allocate X as your solid amount of money, then the Y is if you need to add more to it or find a really good deal or something. The idea is that you have money to move around to cover holes.

The first place you always start with when you make a budget is bills.
Basically add up ALL of your expenses. Get all of your credit cards and add up all the minimum payments (I would pay as much as I could afford though), an average of you water, electric, and phone/internet bills, rent, and car/furniture payments. This is your X for Bills. Setting the Y is a personal thing, but I would allow for unexpected expenses or fluctuating bills. I set mine at 10% of my bills, and if my Y amount can't cover the change then I pull from my other Ys.

From personal experience I would say keep no more than 2 credit cards, and I suggest one of them is a card that you can only use at a grocery store (A walmart credit card for example) and use the regular credit card only for emergencies when you can't cover an expense with the rest of your money. Regardless, don't get into debt.

Now for the food.

If you are living alone then $50+25 a month should be plenty for you to eat on, and I am not talking about just eating instant ramen. Assuming you don't eat out every night and spend a bit extra to get yourself set up.

I would recommend spending double your budget the first month. You can also stagger the big purchases so you don't have to replace them all at once. IE Buy the sugar first, then the beans next month, then the Rice. "Easy" microwave food is also a no-no for budgets it will eat your cash.

Buy things that will last a long time and you can store. Can goods are ideal, buy some storage containers as well. Also, learn to properly portion your food. It will make it last longer. Also, remember to buy OFF BRAND.

Here is my grocery list in case you were wondering, I shop every 2 weeks to replenish what I am low on so I may not spend all this at once:

• Two 1 lb packages of elbow pasta
• 1 doz. eggs
• 6 8oz. cans of tomato sauce
• Peanut Butter
• 2 4lb bags of Beans (type varies by mood, can also sub for canned beans if you don't like cooking beans)
• 2 4lb bags of Brown Rice
• Salt, pepper and other spices
• 4 cans tuna
• 5 lb bag of potatoes
• 1 lb margarine
• 1 package cheap bologna
• 1 package cheap weenies
• 1 lb of ham or turkey lunch meat
• 1-2 loaves of bread
• 1 lbs of fruit that is in season (Apples are good almost all year round)
• 1 gallon of milk

That is roughly 50 bucks at my local grocery store. I use any leftover money to buy things like hamburger meat, chicken, or steak that is on sale for a real good dinner. I usually get ground turkey cause it is cheaper than ground beef. Also, if a good sale comes up and you can grab cheap meat, then stock up and throw it in your freezer. If you live near a place with good deer hunting and you know some deer hunters then see if they would share some of the deer venison with you. It's good.

Also, buy a crock-pot. It doesn't have to be huge, but it is handy when cooking beans, or rice, or a meal. They are great.

The last section of my budget is basically comprised of what money didn't spend over the month on other things. IE the entertainment category.

Find cheap things to do for fun. Many libraries rent DVDs now for example, not to mention the whole book thing. Netflix is only $9 a month and they do offer a free trial you could probably take advantage of for a bit. There are many decent free MMOs out there even if it takes some looking. Borrow games from friends. If you really want to watch current shows then I suggest you google some alternative ways. Avoid cable or satellite tv.

Word of advice, don't be afraid to save. Get a jar and throw your leftover money for the month in it and then go cash it in for something nice. I bought a PSP and 8 games this way.

[pochercoaster]

Something else I forgot to mention: It doesn't sound like you're working with much money, but it's important to save. I would strongly advise against using a credit card for emergencies- that's what savings are for. 10% of my income automatically goes to my savings account (which I have just to keep it separate from my spending money- the interest isn't exactly wonderful). If you're working with less, save 5%.

Credit cards should be used for building credit. I mean, if you have no choice- say, you can't borrow money from someone, presumably interest free- then yeah I guess you could use a credit card.

Savings should not be an afterthought. It's much easier to consciously stow away some money regularly than scramble at the last minute. My savings paid for an emergency trip to the dentist to fill a cavity and new glasses when my old frames got busted and gnarly. (Neither of these things are free under public insurance in Canada...) Try not to spend your savings on things you don't need. You will need that money for things that you don't plan for.

[Funka Genocide]

I've grown hopelessly inured of government funding and don't function well without a substantial income.

I got laid off and took 3 months to find a job, during that time I pretty much just existed. Not really sure how I managed, don't think I robbed anyone though.

My advice: Get a new job with the quickness.

[batgirl]

Don't use your credit card for large purchases, but do use your card to build up good credit. Make sure you can pay it all off in full. For example, I usually put a tank of gas and a small grocery order on my card and nothing more. Do not use your credit card to pay bills, it will bite you in the ass.

Buy store brand food and definitely be on the lookout for sales. My market had a variety of ravioli that my sister and I love for 99 cents a bag and we loaded up before the sale ended. If your supermarket has a free membership card, get it. It will usually let you get in on member only sales. Some places give you points for however much you purchase, and once you reach a certain level of points you get 20% off your next bill or something.

Be smart about produce shopping. Certain fruits and veggies will always be cheaper than others (carrots are always under a dollar for a medium sized bag in my area and bananas are super cheap). Also, remember seasons: Apples and watermelon and summer/fall fruits so they will be cheaper than plums and pears. Avoid exotic cheeses and fruits.

Only do laundry when you have full loads. It's pointless to wash a half load if you pay for it. If you must have a shirt that's in the hamper then hand wash it.

If you can, walk or bike. Saves gas money and saves money from public transportation. I'm lucky enough to live 10 mins from my market so I always bring a little cart to pull my groceries in and hurry home so the frozen stuff doesn't melt.

If you live on campus then yea, free events = free food. If you want to drink, frat parties are usually cheap enough for you to get trashed on.

[BitVyper]

Try to keep some cheap food available in your home all the time. It's so easy to justify takeout to yourself when you're hungry and there's nothing around. For the same reason, it doesn't hurt to have a water bottle so you aren't popping coins into the vending machines because it's hot and you're thirsty.

[Magus]

I recommend getting a lot of food from your parents, it helped me get through college. If you live nowhere near them, though, home cooking your own stuff is almost always cheaper. If you do eat out (obviously you want to avoid it, but sometimes you're stuck somewhere doing something and you can't go home and come back 'cause then you're spending even more money on gas), get something filling so you only have to eat once a day (like a sub or something). I'd also recommend avoiding those value meals at fast food places because they really don't seem of much value. You'd be better off with a few sandwiches off the value menu than a value meal that gives you one sandwich and some fries for 5.99. There are also soup kitchens and so on hosted by the Salvation Army or other organizations where you can just donate what you feel like for a decent meal (or nothing at all).

Get everything free you can, as someone mentioned, borrowing someone else's washer or pooling your laundry with a friends if you have only a half load can save you both money at a laundromat. Heck, when I was paying for electricity I actually went so far as to use my school's gym's showers instead of my own (this takes dedication though, plus you might not have access to a gym or anything like that...). If you were going to pay for an entertainment thing like cable, etc. you could probably just get by with the internet instead. Or drop stuff like that completely. I'd also recommend dumping your cell phone and finding a cheaper alternative if you're not on a contract (pay as you go is not necessarily very good, but if you budget your minutes and only use it for emergencies or calls related to getting jobs, one 20 dollar card every three months is way cheaper than a monthly cell phone bill that can be as high as 70 dollars), or even borrow a friend's land line if you're doing local job hunting and need to make calls. If you're literally poor enough to get government help, SafeLink can set you up with a free pre-paid cellphone and 250 minutes a month but you'd have to pretty much be below the poverty line and not have any savings, probably.

If you need to send a letter put it in a public mailbox with the address you want to send it to as the RETURN address. I'm not sure if there are return-to-sender fees where you've lived but I've never run into any personally. On the one hand you're defrauding the postal service, but on the other hand the postal service sucks. Plus you can tell your friends you're a hardened criminal with your defrauding ways.

[Satan's Onion]

While we're talking about free things...

You might try nosing around on the Internet to see if there's a local chapter of Freecycle (or a similar group) where you live. It's basically a group or mailing list or similar where people post stuff they don't want or need anymore but which still has plenty of use left, or post in search of certain items to see if anyone has any lying around that they'd like to give away. And the kicker is, it's all for free--getting and giving.

I'm a moderator for my local group, and it can be pretty neat. Your useless crap becomes someone else's great stuff, and you can end up with some awesome things for yourself.

[Amake]

I know an electrician who says switching things on does too make a power surge. If you're going to leave a light off for less than 15 minutes before turning it on again you'll apparently save money by leaving it on. Which may be so little it's not worth mentioning, but I'm still going to. Cause that's all I've got.