The way I budget has drastically changed over the past two years.
I’ve went from being super uptight to being laid back – a little too laid back at times. And then when I find motivation to save I start being a little uptight again.
Right now I’m in the full blown savings mode. Here’s a look into how I budget and how I’m able to save, even on a relatively small income.
My Bills Don’t Fluctuate Much
I know what to expect every month.
If an emergency comes up I’ve got cash to cover it. I don’t have to worry about putting emergencies on credit and then paying it back over the next several months.
Also, since I am now 100% debt free all I have to worry about are the basics – utilities, babysitting, insurance, and gas for my car.
I also started paying my insurance every six months as of last year so I no longer have to worry about that as a monthly bill.
I Don’t Keep a Written Budget
I don’t keep a written budget.
Since I know what to expect and when to expect it I just pay my bills as they come in. I’m pretty cheap as it is, so even if I had a ton of money coming in I wouldn’t want to spend it. (Unless I get super lazy again and stop cooking – just sayin.)
After my bills for the week are paid I then determine whether or not I’ll need to get groceries, fill my car up, or if I’ll be spending money on some type of activity.
If the answer is no I’ll either leave my checking account alone or transfer the leftover money to savings, depending on what my projected income and expenses will be for the following week.
I Try to Save Specific Income Sources
Right now I’m trying to live off of my freelance income and save all other sources of income, specifically, blog income.
By picking one income source to live off and looking at the others as side income its way easier to stash that money in savings.
You can see that I was able to save $479.28 out of $664.19 of my June Blogging Income.
The Biggest Factors That Help Me Do This
Earning around $2,500 a month is considered a low salary by many, but it works for me. And this is why:
- I have zero debt.
- I have a healthy emergency fund.
- I live in a low cost area.
- I don’t care what others think of me and therefore don’t feel the need to “keep up with Joneses”
- I have a reliable, paid off car. (2007 Chevy Equinox – she’s a good car and will be driven until she dies.)
- I quit eating out!! A huge accomplishment for me. (Future post idea: How to quit eating out for people who hate to cook.)
- I enjoy low/no cost activities. I don’t care about traveling and if I did I’d rent a house from Airbnb to save. Fun for me equals chilling with my girls, watching Sons of Anarchy reruns with the bf, fishing, working, and competition target shooting between me and my youngest brother.
- I have an awesome family and all the love and support I could ever ask for – who needs stuff?
I feel really good about the fact that I’m now content with my life. In my early twenties I wanted stuff. Now I just want to be around the people I enjoy and have realized life isn’t about money or material possessions.
Once you figure that out money doesn’t matter.
So I’m pretty confident that as I continue to increase my income I’ll be able to wisely invest, save, and spend.
There’s no one size fits all financial solution. Let me know what works for you. How do you budget? How do you save?
P.S. If there’s a financial topic you want me to write a post on in the future let me know in the comments or shoot me an email.
I think I should start to quit eating out, I usually treat my family every Sunday after mass and for me that is one of my biggest expenses aside from groceries. It’s not how much you earn money, but how you spend it.
Exactly. Once a week doesn’t sound to bad though. I was having months where I was doing five to six times a week, maybe more. That’s why I had to quit.
I’m like you some months i do well other months i get a bit wild with the spending. But i am no where near to keeping up with the joneses. I have cheap rent right now. really cheap. But i live in a more expensive area. rent and utilities would be close to half your monthly income. It worries me if my living situation were to change how i would manage. it worries me a lot. that is what motivates me to save! and looking at my spreadsheets daily helps too and reminds me to keep doing it!
I’m lucky that I actually enjoy living in such a low cost area. If my rent and utilities took up half my income I’d be pretty screwed. My biggest expense is babysitting. I pay the babysitter the same amount each week regardless of how many times I take the girls there. My ex husband and I rotate though so it costs me $300/month.
I always state that every budget is different. What works for you might not work for others but the key point is to save and to manage your money. Also, I love how you are happy with the incomes others consider low. You are making it work, you have it together, and you are debt free. Good for you!
Good for you, Alexa !
I would love a post on ideas for cheaper housing…. Getting rid of or lowering the housing bill seems to make a huge difference. I’m having rrouble finding a 2 bedroom for 1k a month! And, that doesn’t include utilities. Ugh. Larger towns have school district boundaries to deal with too. Even if I bought a mobile home, I don’t know anyone that would let me put it on their place. Rent in a park is easily 500 – 800 a month. So what else is there ? Working for an apartment complex so you get free or reduced rent ? Maybe buying a duplex ??? ( ouch. big money / mortgage but maybe better long term.)
That’s a good idea. I’ll see what I can come up with. I think it mainly comes down to location though. I was reading an article on Club Thrifty where it was reported that average American pays $275k for housing. Where I live you would get a freaking mansion for that type of money.
Let me do some digging 😉
I definitely agree that it’s all about location. I live in Henderson, Nevada and 275K will get you a 3 bedroom, maybe 4 bedroom if you’re really lucky. However, in Las Vegas (which is 10 miles from Henderson), that could get you a 5 bedroom or 6 bedroom, no luck needed. You would also get higher crime rates and lower ranked public schools. I would only consider moving to a completely different area if it was practical and saved me money, and the area was safe and livable.
Can’t wait for your post on giving up eating out for those who hate to cook AKA ME!
I would love to see a future post on for people who hate to cook. While I don’t hate it, there are some nights where I just don’t want to do anything except order a pizza and binge watch a TV show. Cooking can be so time consuming! Where do you find your recipes?
I agree i like talking about cheap living too. Where i live it’s expensive for a mortgage or rent. and i’m single. I’m thinking of buying some land out in the country (as long as i can have internet access to work and a phone line) and building a tiny home with a basement or a mobile home like alexa. So Many people I know are tied down to a mortgage and i don’t want to be one of them. Also i would prefer to live in the country. I love how Alexa was able to pay off her loan and now lives so cheaply! No interest in articles on hating to cook. no offense. i have bigger worries. LOL
No offense taken. You are lucky because I just submitted that post to another blog haha.
At the trailer the only internet I can get is AT&T hotspot and that thing sucks. But it just depends where you live. I’m hoping that AT&T broadens there network for regular internet.
I’m going to do some investigating on those tiny houses. lol They interest me as well. Plus there is a really cool one about a mile from where I live.
Funny about the article about cooking. LOL Yeah honestly unless you can build it yourself i wonder about the costs for those tiny homes. i would want one not on wheels and not to small too. probably a mobile home is cheaper unless you can build it yourself. but i don’t know that I’m just guessing and assuming! Some are a decent size though and can be put right on a basement. i haven’t done much research on them though.
Hi alexa,
I would love to see a blog post about cars, How to buy one , how to save for one, picking a relaible car. i know there are blog posts like that out there but i think single moms might have more roadblocks then the average person such as if her credit was afftected from divorce , her income, no knowledge about buying a car or repairs. I also think that $2500 isnt a lot but right now i would like to make that. I would give me a lot more breathing room as far as my budget.
I know what you mean about the making $2500/month. My last insurance job paid $11.50/hour which is why I had to work two day jobs to get by. It was too much though. When I went down to one day job I was bringing home $1,500/month max. So now $2,500 feels good to me.
What kind of work do you do?
And I can definitely do the car post! I just helped my brother get a car with no credit and he got a really good deal!! On Monday I already have a post coming about what I would and wouldn’t finance(which includes a car) but I definitely make that post for people to get cars with bad or no credit. Thanks for the idea!
My husband and I recently just looked over our budget to see where we could cut some spending. We found that we were spending more than I had liked on eating out. So for the time being and the immediate future months, we are trying to eliminate the need/want to go out on the town to save a couple of hundred dollars here and there.
A great resource that you should include are links to two very popular subreddits
– /r/Frugal
– /r/Frugallearning/
Both are a plethora of information and a great place to get advice on budgeting / saving 😀
I am trying to figure out how one would live on a tiny budget. I have a new job working in the school system making only $17,700 a year. After taxes, insurance, and fees my monthly check is just over $700 a month. Childcare is $420 a month. House is $400 a month. Then utilities, car payment, phone, student loans, dr bills from baby’s birth. I work 40 hours a week. I don’t think it will ever be possible to make it.
That would definitely be hard to survive on $700 a month – especially without having a paid for home or some other type of free housing and daycare.
I’ve made around the same gross income before but I didn’t have any benefits and the taxes taken out of my check were very minimal. I’d be bringing home at least $1,200 a month and even then getting by while working and paying for child care was hard.
Can you qualify for any free daycare? It sounds like you’ve already got your housing situation pretty well under control and I’m sure you’ve got your other expenses as far down as possible.
To me it sounds like the only option you have is to look for ways to earn more money or see if you can qualify for any type of assitance. If you wanna talk or bounce some ideas back and forth feel free to email me anytime at [email protected]
Thanks Alexa 🙂