Budgets! Ideas?

amelia_atlantic

I know this isn't fitness related but I am STRUGGLING (like everyone else) trying to make ends meet and it's taking a toll on my well being. I could really use some guidance! I'm really not making much money at my current job. I've been shopping around for better paying jobs but SURPRISE! there aren't any.

I don't feel comfortable putting my income up here so if anyone was willing to private message me, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

Basics:
I live in Maine
100% Single
Salary (range) $20,000-$30,000
Work Full Time
School Part Time (out of pocket, no financial aid for a YEAR)
Live alone/Rent
No Car payment
$20,000ish in student loans

I've been shuffling money around for so long to afford basic living expenses, I'm realizing neglecting one thing to pay for another is the only way I know how to live.

***Oh, I DO budget! I DO keep an excel spreadsheet but I am lax from time to time (like with food logging). All work and no play just gets to a person! I find I "binge" on fun things once I free up a little money. I SHOULD save, I know this. It's simply that there isn't enough money to go around! Where to cut corners?!

Any advice accepted! Please help

eates

See if you can get a deferment for your student loans. Check with your school or the community centers, churches, etc. and see if they have a budgeting class. If they don't then sit down and create a budget for yourself. Money in -fixed expenses = money left for the rest. See what you can cut out. Small changes will add up.
We cut our cell phone plan for a $17 a month savings. it's not a ton but it adds up. I just keep an eye on our usage and if we're close to going over than I bump our plan up for that month. Check around for better insurance rates. If you can get the same coverage for $30 less that's still $30 more you have each month.

nburns325

hey there, just PM'd you!

kimmerroze

Check out this site... I used it to figure out my budget.. It was really helful. It has lots of tools to use for different things, how to save money, how to budget, ways to increase your budget, ways to shop for less, healthy recipes, cheap recipes, etc... TONS of helpful stuff. they also have a free credit checker, called credit karma.

www.learnvest.com

Just set up a free account and get to work entering your bills and income and what not.

smrtcar

find tolerable room-mates, pay-as-you-go cell phone plan, use library/starbucks wifi for internet, plan groceries and do cooking days and freeze for later. Find free banking. Not sure what's in the US for free banking though. Cancel cable. I agree about asking for reduced school loan repayments.

Some of these i've done in the past or currently do.

Good luck.

ltlemermaid

I know how it is to live pay check to paycheck and then streaching it to make it last longer and it sucks. What we did earlier this year and has worked for the last few months:

Go through all your necessary bills-utilities, rent, insurance etc and total that up. Next figure what you use for gas and food (do not count restaurants or fun money yet). add that to the first #. This is how much you spend to LIVE. Is there anything left over? if not then its time to cut back. Being single usually means you want to be more social-check out free events to attend in your area or do pot luck dinners with friends and movie night in instead of going out.

We currently don't have cable or internet in the home-hoping to get internet soon! We cut back on going out to eat to 2x a month only. Cut it out completely if you have to to save up some$. We don't go out as much either unless its free or close by. We don't buy new clothes , items unless its a NEED, WANTS don't matter anymore to us. We have a total of 7 weddings to attened for close friends this year and that includes showers and bach parties!! so that was our insentive to start saving. I know this will continue from now on too to help pay off bills, have some $ for the future.

Now that I am tracking ALL the spending and watchinig the accounts like a hawk (yes this is time consuming) I know where every penny goes and I have been able to start saving $. I opened up a seperate account for savings (love the pnc virtual wallet) and every pay check part of it goes in there to save for future use/expenses. It doesn't matter the amount it could be $20 or 50 or more what ever you can. ( I just figure my bills and living expenses and what ever is left over part of it goes to savings). Its surprising how much we can save and how it adds up over time if you let it sit there!

By doing this we don't live pay check to paycheck as much-some times its still close but I feel better knowing we have some $ put aside.

You can also look into part time jobs doing anything that pays...it may not be what you want or like but its still extra $ for a while.

Good luck and hang in there!

tryandtryagain

First, please don't feel that you're alone. My situation is different, in that I have a larger salary and have paid off my school loans, but I support my family (two other people besides me) and with my husband not working in this economy, it translates to be the same...what's coming in is equal to or slightly less than what's going out. We did the shuffle-thing for a while too, but that got old quick and was so stressful! Budgeting is so important. In our case, when we couldn't change what was coming in, we had to change what was going out so that we could continue to make it and still have money left over for savings. We cut down on cable tv plans, cell phone plans, restructured how we pay our insurance (paying for 6 months at a time saves us about $200 per year!), cut down on meals out, I stopped getting my nails done at a salon and did them myself, bought more clothes on clearance, etc. We trimmed every bit of fat that we could from the budget. And small changes do add up!

In addition to creating a great budget that you can live with. Could you maybe get a roommate, to help off set your rent and utility payments?

amelia_atlantic

Check out this site... I used it to figure out my budget.. It was really helful. It has lots of tools to use for different things, how to save money, how to budget, ways to increase your budget, ways to shop for less, healthy recipes, cheap recipes, etc... TONS of helpful stuff. they also have a free credit checker, called credit karma.

www.learnvest.com

Just set up a free account and get to work entering your bills and income and what not.

Thank you! I will definitely check this out!

amelia_atlantic

Thank you all for the support and responses! I just feel like I"m going to crack! I'm exhausted.

Some further details:
I cannot have a roommate. I renewed a lease on a one-bedroom. I like living alone and it has kept costs down. I used to pay the exact same WITH a roommate who racked up ultilities and got HD cable in my name (long story).

I don't have cable.

I "borrow" wireless from my neighbors.

My student loans have already been consolidated to a fairly low/affordable monthly payment.

I can't ask for a raise, my company is frozen at a 2 PERCENT yearly raise.


I just think it's time to seriously, seriously start looking for a better paying job. More money will not manifest itself.

Thank you all again for your suggestions and support!

smrtcar

sounds like you're doing all the right things. Keep plugging away until the economy improves or use this opportunity to search for a better paying job. Cheers and best wishes.

milanks

One thing I do that I think hasn't been mentioned(?) to save money is that I regularly sell clothes at consignment and replace them with other used clothes. With losing weight, I find myself needing to buy clothes often since I shrink and wanting to buy clothes often because my body is more fun to dress now. It seems like clothes go in and out of my wardrobe so often that it would just be far too wasteful to pay full price for anything, so I buy lots of used and clearance stuff to keep clothes cost down.

In recent months, I've learned to scale back my make-up kit and wash my hair less often and that's drastically cut my "beauty budget." I've found that I didn't really need to spend money on products like that every month and that my hair and skin are actually better off because of it.

If you have a place to hang clothes to dry, that can save a lot too - instead of using your utilities or paying for a dryer at a laundry mat (whatever the case.) You can also make your own laundry soap much cheaper than you can buy it, it's more environmentally friendly and it lasts a long time too. There are recipes for that all over the internet.

Utility costs can be cut a lot too if you can find ways to cut back. I'm sure your house is different, but for example...our house is cooled with a window unit and we like to have it on at bedtime so we can fall asleep comfortably but we set a timer on it so that it shuts off while we're sleeping. Once we're asleep, we really have no idea what the temperature is in the house anyway so why keep it cool?