Want to post to show that it is possible to not only live a decent life making $26k (pre-tax), but also to save money.
Background info with lots of no’s – no spouse, no kids, no debt, no car, no smart phone, no cable/tv, no health insurance (this tidbit can easily be a post on its own, so all I will say is I am aware of the risks and I made my decision, for better or worse).
Annual income - $26,500
I live in a major US city in a downtown condo. I have a roommate who makes significantly more than I do, and she cut me a deal on the rent if I do all of the house cleaning and upkeep. My portion of the rent = $765. All utilities, including internet, are included except electric, which average around $36 per month, split = $18. Thus housing costs = $765 + $18 = $783.
I give myself $70 per week to cover all of my spending needs – food, entertainment, and misc. costs. If something comes up which is beyond the scope of what the $70 is supposed to cover (hobbies, travel , gifts, hotel stays, etc), the amount comes out of savings.
The key figure which determines whether the budget is a success or not is the weekly $70. If I consistently cover all of my weekly costs with $70 or less, then the budget allows a savings of approximately $500 per month. 2 months out of the year I am paid 3 times per month instead of 2, so for those 2 months the monthly savings jumps to ~$1300. As I was able to save $9222 during this budget year, the $70 weekly amount was a realistic expectation of what I would spend from week to week. As for what I would spend the money on, mostly grocery trips because I prepare 95% of my meals at home. Remaining money is spent on misc. items needed for the condo or entertainment. It helps that most of my entertainment needs have little to no cost – walking/running, reading, watch movies on youtube/reddit.
I also had a small supplement to my 2017 income from sporadic at-home editing work for a grad student, and if I happened to own any material goods which I knew could fetch a good price on ebay/Craig’s List I would make a minimal amount of cash with reselling. This extra income was not a part of my budget income, so when I happened to make an extra $150 in a month, I would simply drop it into savings and move on to the next month.
I plan to follow this budget for 2018. If I can produce a similar rate of savings I will have approx. $20k. One might wonder “why all the savings, why not enjoy life a little?” I do plan on spending that money (in 2019), but instead of buying material goods, I plan to buy the valuable commodity of time.
Submitted December 05, 2017 at 02:12PM by TBC1986 http://ift.tt/2BKcYtV
