I make a decent income, so I couldn’t grasp why I have practically been living paycheck to paycheck. I am tired of it. I want to save more, I want to travel at least once a year...
So I lurked on this sub, found a ton of good advice, and decided the best route would be for me to spend what I normally spend and track everything down to the penny.
I figured I was spending a ton of money on eating out. Surprisingly, it only added up to $145, which I don’t think is horrible for one person... but considering I spent $418 on groceries for two people last month, that number should be much lower. I would also like for my grocery budget to be lower; however, I’m not sure how I could even go about that because truthfully my husband and I only make it a week and a half before we start to run out of food (I estimate $300 of the $418 was spent on food, and the rest was spent on supplies such as laundry soap, shampoo/conditioner, toothpaste, paper towels, toilet paper, OTC meds etc)
The real surprise came when I realized how much money I spent on going out to social events, buying random crap I thought I “needed” on amazon, video games, and expenses I forgot to account for like renewing my nursing license. I really didn’t think I spent that much on myself. I buy new clothes maybe 2-3 times per year, I only have two close friends I do things with, and I am by no means a flashy individual.
To amend this, I have taken $100 out of my checking account and thats all I am allowing myself to spend over the next two weeks on eating out and “stuff.” I am going to try and make my biweekly grocery trip $175. These are not huge steps, but it’s a start. Ideally, I should have $400 a month to put in a savings account for emergencies while still living comfortably. Right now I have barely been getting away with saving $150 a month, and it seems like once every couple months I have to dip into to the little savings I have to pay my bills. I’m hoping I can fix this for myself successfully.
Thanks to all the people who supply this thread with helpful content!
Submitted March 30, 2018 at 03:16AM by m4rceline https://ift.tt/2J6Smj1
