What Kind of Budgeter Are You?
The OCD Wannabe
- Marks down every dollar spent
- Gets super stressed over monthly expenses
- Wants everything to be perfect or it will all fail
The Winger
-Moves without saving anything
-Can’t afford the first month’s rent
-Ends up moving back in with their parents
The Save and Spender
- Does well with saving
- Sees something they want
- Uses all the money they saved for something else
The Balancer✨️
-Saves a certain % of paycheck
-Takes some for personal use
-Creates goals but doesn’t create an insane time limit
So how do you save up?
For short term goals:
-50-60% of your income
-in sections of three
Overall cost: $150
Week 1: 50
Week 2: 100
Week 3: 150
For long term goals:
-70-80% of your income
-bi-weekly or monthly goals
Overall goal: 5,000
Half way checkpoint: 3-month duration
The Big No No’s
Taking on too much with too little time-
If you are saving to move out or buy a car, you can only make so much money within a certain amount of time, not including what portions of that you will need for personal use like a coffee or gas.
Tracking everything down to the dime-
Just trust me, it’s not going to help, it will make you hate the process and never let you relax.
Not using the tools at your disposal-
There are apps and budgeting tools everywhere. Use them, abuse them, and thank me later.
Tools that may help
- Truebill or mint (but basically any budgeting apps that will help you keep your spending under control)
- Trello (has templates created by others to have a fun way to set goals and track things)
- Literally, anything created for college kids
Rose Engel is a senior who attends half days at West Morris Central and night classes at Centenary University. She is passionate about creative writing...
