My Mom has always told me that the most important thing for you to do is save! Now that I've started working and all, I've noticed that the second most important thing is to budget your spending!
Although it can act as a sad reminder of how broke you are, a budget helps to control your spending and can save you the embarrassment of swiping a card that has no cash (yup I've seen this happen before) or overspending and then freaking out when you see your bills.
My personal budget is pretty simple too. There are no fancy formulas and from the budget I can see where my money is going and know just how much I have to spend. All I did was open a excel spreadsheet and list all the things I spend on monthly.
In a nutshell my list includes:- bills
- gas for the car
- savings
- loan payments
- everyday stuff
Each month about 10% of my salary goes to savings, 15% to loan payments, 20% to gas (yes gas prices are not working for my budget at all), 20% to bills and the rest is for my everyday stuff.
I don't have many major expenses more than these, so my budget doesn't go in depth to pick out just how much I spend on food, random night's out and all that. Not like I spend much on that stuff individually anyway...plus living with my parents definitely cuts lots of expenses which to me really isn't a bad thing. =]
Please note though loves that I'm horrible at accounts so I make sure to keep things simple and I include any specific info so that I never miss a payment, I'm sure to get some saving done and all my basic needs are covered. I also make sure to note any additional spending for specific months (like gift shopping for Christmas or a special birthday).
Most people don't have a budget at all.....and the result of that is being totally broke and not having a clue where the money has gone.
By the way...budgeting is an excellent New Year's resolution so get to it!
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