Let’s talk budgeting! I promise you it will not be scary. I know you are in your twenties but it is never too late to start. It is okay if you are scarred. I was to when I first started and had no where to go; but I am here to help you understand and conquer budgeting in a fast and easy way.
So the first step into creating a budget is figuring out if it is something that you want to do on paper or on the computer or even your phone. I 100% suggest doing it digitally on your computer or your phone. If you are doing it on paper it may be easy to misplace or lose. I suggest that you take picture every time after you finish your budget for a backup incase you lose your paper copy. If you are doing it on the computer it is extremely important that you back up your budget. I would suggest using Google Sheets (but that is just my opinion and you can really use anything you would like.
Alright next is to understand where your money is coming from and where it is going. It is very important to start with you income. You can do this by pay period, month or even annually. It is totally up to you. Once you know how much money is coming in then you are able to divided it into your funds.
Now you know where your income is coming in that is amazing. Next you want to write a list of things you need to pay. Such as putting all your subscriptions in one spot as well as putting down the day that you need to pay your bill.
As you can see I put CC next to Disney + and Netflix. This is because for this payment I would be using a Credit Card (for Debit Card I would use DC). I personally do it this way so I can understand what accounts or cards my money is coming out of.
Now do not forget you should make an emergency fund. Creating this emergency fund will help you put money aside for random things such as your car broke down and it was $200 to fix it. You put away a little bit of your earnings away into an emergency fun then you do not need to worry about trying to figure out what funds you need to cut into in order to pay the $200 to get your car fixed. This fund may seem silly now but trust me it will help you in the long run.
Some other funds that you should think about are:
- Car Insurance
- Home Insurance
- Rent
- Groceries
- Medical Insurance
- Paying Bills
- I personally would create a separate fund for all my different bills I need to pay.
- Going out
- This one is important to put a little bit of money in each month to treat yourself every once in a while.
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