Budgeting My Life For 2021

Finding Budgeting!

So like everything else in my life, I have found budgeting and I was hooked instantly. Now I don’t make a lot of money, only about $100 to $200 bi-weekly, and my fiance isn’t currently working so we don’t really have much. Especially with my family getting Covid-19 this month, none of us are working right now so we aren’t getting anything. I want to use budgeting to help us eventually put money on the side so that we have a fund for an event like this again. So, let's get to learning together!!!

What Is Budgeting?

Budgeting is essentially a process in which you plan on where your money is going, paying rent, bills, buying clothes, groceries, getting your nails done. You do this to see if you have the money to pay for the things needed, and/ or also for your wants. It’s great if you're someone like me who doesn’t have a large income or doesn’t seem to ever have any spending money. It is really helpful to sort out your money so you can spend your money more wisely (I’m speaking to all of you shopaholics out there).

How To Budget A Low Income!

So, what I’ve learned is that no one can survive on $350 a month in the city of Houston. Why? Because rent goes only as low as a possible $600 monthly. I am lucky however that my mother in law runs the apartments I live in and I just pay what I can every month which isn’t a lot, if any. But my rent is usually $875, and that includes utilities already.

Bills I have on the side are $200, that's wifi, phone, and vet costs for our rescue. So that leaves $150 for groceries and basic necessities.

Yeah, there is not a lot of room to budget. I’m not naive enough to not see this. I’m hoping my situation is only temporary, and I start increasing my income in the next month or so.

In order to help me with this process I have decided to purchase envelopes, and on each one I have written what I need or want to put my money towards and how much I hope to be able to put in monthly.

Example Categories:

Rent/ Utilities: $$$

Groceries: $$$

Vacation: $$$

Emergency Fund: $$$

Savings: $$$

Kid Fund; $$$

And so on. Now, I recommend not making more than 10 categories before you go and mess up somewhere. Sometimes when you have too many, you tend to spread your money too thin and you’ll probably find yourself taking money from other envelopes for different purposes. That would defeat the purpose of budgeting to start with. It will get frustrating and you eventually quit. So keeping a set amount of categories is key.

Money Saving Challenges!

There are a lot of money saving challenges on the internet. One of them that I have seen done is the 52 week challenge where you put away the money of the week you are on. On day one you would put away $1 to start, the second day you would put away $2, and so on. Once you put away week 52 you should end up with a grand total of $1,378. If that’s too easy try doubling it. So that by week 52 you would end with a total of $2,756.

You can even just create your own challenge if you can’t find a doable one that fits your financial capabilities. You don’t have to go with what challenges others are doing. Do what you can without stressing your financials out than they already might be. Do what you think will help you.

That being said I think I’m going to put away any extra money that I end up with at the end of every two weeks and we'll see what we end up with in the next two months. It’s time for a fresh start in 2021, it’s been too much of a struggle in the past year to get to where I want to be in life, and that mostly goes into wanting to start my future plans that will impact the rest of my life. I’m only 21 and I don’t want to struggle financially my whole life and it’s going to start here, with budgeting my money and stabling my life. Wish Me Luck!!!