After establishing my need for a disposable income, I thought it would be appropriate to take a moment to talk about budgeting...
Budgeting is boring...budgeting sucks...and apparently budgeting is a necessary part of being in your twenties. At the beginning of each month, I take a look at my bank account and realize that I did not do a good job of watching my spending in the last month. This is a sad, and pathetic realization that happens to me 12 times a year.
I get paid on the 1st and 15th of each month...
....and each month on the 1st, I feel poor,
....and each month on the 15th I feel a little richer,
....and then the 1st comes around again and I'm back to being poor.
Its a vicious cycle.
So on the first of each month I take a few minutes, and a piece of scrap paper and try to figure out my finances..
total in bank account
- rent (i hate rent)
- approx. $$ for groceries before next check
- credit card payment #1
+ 15th payment
- cable bill
- water bill
- electric bill
- gas bill
- approx. $$ for groceries before next check
- credit card payment #2
=
broke
Oh and did I mention that my boyfriend and I are trying to save money for a down payment on a condo/first home? Yeah...that's happening. So obviously I need to come up with a serious budget and stick to it. And the first thing I am cutting out is eating lunch in the cafeteria at work. If I ate lunch in the cafeteria everyday for a month, and spent an average of $5 each time, I would spend $25 a week = $100 a month = $1200 a year....are you f'ing kidding me?! So long cafeteria lunch...hello left overs...
If anyone has any good budgeting tips they have discovered and would like to share, I would love for you to email me or leave them in the comments.
