I work for a great company and they always try to throw this money stuff in our face, like, TALK TO A FINANCIAL ADVISOR! Or, SAVE FOR RETIREMENT! And I'm like, I'm 25, I don't need to think about retirement. In a random turn of events, I attended a lunch time seminar at work yesterday. Since John is unemployed, he came with. Also, I bought him lunch. I'm sure that's why he came.
They talked about how to budget: figure out your expenses, your income, etc. I know that stuff. They talked about SAVING, DEBT (what is good debt?), INTEREST RATES, and INVESTING. I was comforted by the fact my student loans are "good debt", and the fact I had my bad times with credit cards circa 2007 - 2009, and no longer have any credit cards. But what I knew I had to do was a good analysis of where my money is going. John decided we had to have a budget meeting, and I'm pleasantly surprised at how it went.
I make a good income at a nice, solid corporate job. But I have some things I need to save for that will be happening in the next two years. And I have $2.00 in my savings account.
John and I are in a pretty serious relationship, and I know he's the guy I'll marry, so I feel comfortable letting him help me figure my shit out. We did a little "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours" on our checking accounts. I mean, the little, teeny details. I felt so exposed, like being at the gyno. John didn't question or laugh at the purchases that looked a lot like this:
Ulta $131.25
Target $185.00
Sephora $62.43
(the salon I go to that I'm not going to mention because it will come up in Google alerts and I don't want them to find this blog) $225
Well... you get it. We did an analysis of three months of spending and holy crap I waste so much money. Because I started crying, we only checked out what I spent on fast food (see also: why I'm fat). John said things like, "I know you're a social gal, but can't your friends get together and do things that don't revolve around food, every week?", and "don't cry about this, we're together, that's all that matters". Bless his heart. Oh, and the breakdown of going out to eat expenses went like this:
October 2012: $245
November 2012: $325
December 2012: $350
OMG. Even if I CUT THAT IN HALF....seriously. Granted, it was the holidays, and I traveled to North Dakota probably three times.
My plan? Now that I'm aware of the situation, I'm going to stand by the budget John and I made. It isn't even that bad. I have $200/month budgeted for my monthly beauty expenses, and $200/month for "going out to eat" money. Not bad, not bad at all. I do have one leftover medical bill (lesson learned: don't go to the ER even though you think you're dying, you're really not because it cost you $600), that will be paid in full by April and I can start SAVING.
Oh and I want to add a few things: I feel all jumbled up, because now John doesn't have a job, and I am pretty sure a job I have an amazing chance at (that has a $15K/year pay raise), that is at my company is coming open. So what I'm saying is, things can change. John could get a job here in the metro, and we could move in together, thus cutting our joint living bills in half. I could get the promotion thus allowing me to pay off that debt sooner/start saving sooner. The point is that having a solid list of "this is what comes in/this is what I KNOW is going out" is very helpful.
I'll keep you all in the loop with how it goes. But tell me, do you live on a budget? How do you cut corners while also living a fabulous life?
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