The idea of budgeting is great. In fact, it is rather necessary for both going green and keeping your life green. Starting out adulthood with even a rough budget can set you up for a much financially stable future. Knowing where your money is going can prevent you from wasting money and resources, by encouraging you to cut back, and can prevent you from getting into debt.
The downside of budgeting: it is a bit overwhelming if you’ve never experienced one before. I grew up like most teenagers. I rarely had more than a couple bucks in my wallet or bag (often crinkled into a funky ball), and when I had a craving for chocolate or my friends wanted to go out to eat, I would whip it out and spend it. I wasn’t too liberal with my money. If I knew I had to spend it on something else, I could stop myself. A day later, however, I never had a clue what I spent the money on and rarely that I spent it at all. If I didn’t have any money, no big deal- I just couldn’t buy anything. Money was a rare but eventually renewable.
When that source is your own paycheck however, suddenly it’s not so renewable. Suddenly, a budget seems like a brilliant idea. But where to start? There are many, many budget templates on the internet. The key to choosing one is finding one that best reflects your lifestyle and then tweaking it further to represent your lifestyle. You won’t need a “Gas expense” section if you don’t have a car but you probably will need “Public transit expense”.
But as I set out to move out of my mother’s house within the next month, I know that I need to budget in a way that doesn’t allow me to fall into the hole that new adults often do. I will not allow myself to buy $.99 box pizzas or tv dinners (even if I could find one that is vegetarian). I am learning to eat in a way that reduces waste and improves my health. The best thing to do of course, would be to purchase food that is locally grown. That is something that I will work towards. For now, I am budgeting for fruits and vegetables, grain products, staple foods, high-iron foods (which I will discuss in a later post), and pasta, pasta, pasta.
In reality, budgeting is not a huge endeavor. It only requires us to do something that Americans aren’t really used to – thinking. We are blind consumers. I believe there are two ways in which we can turn that around: budgeting and watching what we eat, especially becoming some level of vegetarian.
So here’s a step by step, through personal experience, way of creating a budget:
· Figure out your sources of income after taxes – This of course is basic, but keeping in mind what you get after taxes is VERY important. You do not really make $8.40 an hour for 25 hours a week, you make a bit less. Budgeting for that gross amount can lead to some financial ‘WTFs’.
· Think through additional sources of income – do you receive child support? Do you have a side craft business? Do you babysit? At the same time, you may want to leave these additional sources out of your initial configuration. It will cause you to be stricter with your money and give you more savings than you would originally allowed for. However, if that money is necessary to pay rent AND eat, then of course add it in.
· Next subtract your bills from your spendable money. If you live in a dorm, most likely you have already paid for this in your room and board bill. This is a great time in budgeting to see what you really need and what you need to cut back on. These days ever expanding capabilities of the internet, it is almost unnecessary to pay a cable bill. Call local providers and ask around though because in many cases, your internet bill can be combined with a cable package and may be cheaper than just internet by itself. Personally, I feel that television is just another source of vegetative state and an energy zapper. This part of budgeting will really make you think about how much water you use (those military-style showers are probably looking nice at this point) and how much electricity you allow to go to waste.
· Make a list of food you normally eat, toiletries you use, basically anything you would go to the store for. Go to the store and start writing down prices for all of your different necessities. When you come across something on the list that is completely unnecessary, cross it out before you get into the habit of buying it (don’t worry, my own list does include chocolate chip cookies). Take note of how often you go through each item each month, that way you can plan your grocery trips around large groups of items that have run out or are running out instead of five trips in five days for different things. Pay attention to what you can buy in bulk. Some things like toilet paper, q-tips and other non-perishable items can be purchased at Costco and other wholesale stores. By buying these necessities in bulk, you reduce the waste that goes into the packaging. (Just make sure that you don’t buy that 35 pound bag of cheese puffs while you’re there.)
· Next, factor in your transportation expense. Hopefully that is only public transit fare, or a small amount of gas money for trips to Grandma’s house. Even better if your bike leaves a big fat zero in this section.
· Of course, it is best to be prepared. Leave some room for medical expenses. Personally, I am not too knowledgable in this area because my insurance is still paid for. You’ll just have to use your judgement in this category.
· Give yourself a little bit of spending money because we all (hopefully) have social lives that require a bit of fun careless spending every once in a while. Just be conservative.
· I also gave myself money to spend on clothes each month. My work doesn’t have a uniform, so I need a good supply of work appropriate clothes that I can easily get from used stores.
By cutting down and slimming your budget, you should have ample savings (unless you work few hours and your rent is extremely high). If you are like me and qualify for food stamps, even $50 in help can go a long way.
Today I watched “No Impact Man”, the documentary following one man’s experiment to live without any impact on the Earth. His ambition and perserverance is an inspiration for all of us. It shows that we really don’t need much beyond love to live. I highly recommend watching it. The documentary shows that budgeting not only your money, but your life, can go a long way.
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