A few weeks ago I asked readers to complete a survey trying to find out what topics you’d like to see more of. Surprisingly, many of you asked to know more about how I support myself as a single person and what my finances look like. In case you hadn’t noticed already there are virtually no off-limits topics for me on this blog. Growing up I always found it so odd that people never talked about how much money they made. I think it is a side effect from living in a society where the belief is:
How much money you make = How ‘good’ of a person you are.
FALSE. I hate it when people assume if your not making over some certain amount annually that you must be lazy, unintelligent or some combination of the two. Most people are shocked to find out how much I make because they assume since I’m ridiculously hard working and have a Masters degree that I’d be pretty well off. My income fluctuates significantly due to how many classes I’m teaching, or how many jobs I have at the moment (I’ve had 2-3 jobs at all times since I graduated) but I’ve never made over 40k a year.
I’m a 29 year old female, with a masters degree, working 60 hours a week (without any benefits) and I’ve never broken 40k.
and I couldn’t care less.
Most of the items are self-explanatory but I’ll add a few notes:
- Fun Money: I spend about $50 a week on what I consider ‘fun’ non-essential things; books, going out with friends, 2 bags of PB2 off Amazon (which I order twice a month now!). If I splurge on something like a package of yoga classes (8 for $65) then I’ll make up for it by spending less the next week. If I absolutely had to cut my budget down this would be the only thing I could really cut, but since I do enjoy having some money to play with it stays!
- Things not on the list: Car insurance, cell phone and internet are all paid for by my parents. #NoShame. It started when I was in college and I was put on their family plans for all of those things and it’s just kind of stayed that way! They are so supportive of what I do but I think they are still waiting for me to get a ‘real’ job (which is only one that comes with benefits!) If I had to pay those things it would be an additional $100 for all three. The other thing missing: a car payment! I paid mine off last year and I will drive it into the ground to avoid that kind of monthly payment for as long as possible. Also, water and garbage is included in my rent.
- Savings: anything I make a month over $1568 gets put into a savings account. Honestly mine is looking pretty pitiful right now. With my teaching schedule I have a month off over Christmas, unpaid, so I’m always playing ‘catch up’ the first few months of the year. My goal is to have 3k in savings by the end of 2013.
- Money I make from this site/writing: I’ve started to make some money from doing sponsored posts and freelance writing work and everything I make from this site I reinvest in the site somehow. It’s what funds my race registrations, website hosting/domain fees and website related travel. I’m not making a lot at this point, but I’m grateful for what I do pull in since I would be unable to travel or devote as much time to the site as I do without it!
- Spend money on experiences, not things. Your $300 purse will be out of style long before the memories of a similar priced overnight trip with friends will be forgotten. Always ask yourself if something your about to buy is a need or a want. I promise you 9 times out of 10, you don’t need it.
- CUT CABLE. I will be doing a lengthy post on why I hate cable in the very near future. I spend $8 a month on netflix, watch hulu for free and have a pretty epic DVD collection that provides me with plenty of opportunities to be a total couch potato still (and often.)
- Learn how to save more on your monthly grocery bill. Check out my post here on that subject for how I manage to eat top quality, mostly organic for $200 a month.
- Downsize your house/apartment. Honestly, this was the best decision I made financially in the last year. My previous place was a 2 bedroom that cost about $900 a month in rent/power. Now, my amazing 490 sq ft studio costs about $640 a month. That extra $260 a month is going to help me substantially with one of my main goals for the year: Traveling more!
- Some of my favorite generic tips I’m sure you’ve seen before: Always bring your own lunch to work and cut way back on how often you eat out. Look at your local paper for fun events/activities going on that are free to attend (concert series, lectures, free museum days,…) Always check out your local library for books/dvd’s before renting or buying them. Get rid of your gym membership and workout at home/outside!
- Finally, if you can use it responsibly get a credit card with good rewards. I have had the same Chase credit card for 10 years now and it gives me 1 point for every dollar I spend. I use this card for every purchase I make during the month (gas, food, fun stuff,…) and pay it off completely at the end of the month. 100 points = 1 dollar. By the end of the year I’ll usually have about 10,000 points on the card ($100) and I’ll use that money for Christmas presents.
Hopefully that answers some of the questions I received in the survey. If you have any others please feel free to ask! Also, check back later this afternoon as I’ll have another post up reviewing Jillian Michael’s new book Slim for Life!
What is your favorite money saving tip?
These are amazing tips. You have such a cute place!!
Now that I’m used to having no walls I am totally in love with it!
Awesome tips girl!
Thank you!
great tips – i don’t have a budget worked out, but i really need to. thanks for the break down!
My budget is pretty simple so it’s easy for me to stick to. Aside from required bills I know I can spend $50 a week on food, and $50 on ‘fun’. I don’t keep an exact log/track of everything I spend as long as I know it’s in that range.
That rent is ridiculous- I am SO jealous. I live near DC and pay nearly $1k a month (and I have a roommate, so our 2 bed/2bath is $2k a month! PLUS utilities!) These are great tips! I have a few as well: Any cash you have at the end of the day put into a jar for extra fun money/savings. Make your own coffee (which I just started this week!) instead of paying ~$5 a cup at the ‘bucks. Use coupons/shop sales when you can!
Lol – well keep in mind my place is only a 490 sq ft studio! Even then it’s still super cheap to live in Pensacola.
Love your tips … I’ll also throw all cash/change I have at the end of a day in a jar to use for laundry/emergency money. I didn’t even think to mention brewing coffee at home since I’m a tea drinker but that does save a ton of money! I’ll go out for coffee maybe once every 2 weeks as a way to work outside of the house for a change.
Great post! I used to do a lot of personal finance blogging on a different blog, and I love that you allocate fun money. That’s perfect.
But I’m with Tiny n Fit – I live just outside of DC and it’s ridiculous here. I bought a house and pay less now than I did with rent for my shared 2br/2ba. :)
I’ve toyed with the idea of buying a house here but I’m not sure if I want to be married to the area. I’d MUCH rather my ‘rent’ go to paying off an investment for myself though rather than my landlords!
Great job on your budgeting and setting priorities! Looks like our budgets and way that we spend our money is pretty similar! Its nice to know that someone like myself has the same goals and habits! Keep it up and that $3k will be saved in no time!! :)
Thank you! I’m happily back to transferring a bit of money automatically with every paycheck into savings so I’m confident I’ll reach 3k by December. I’m also planning at least one big trip this year so if I reach that 3k goal early in the Fall I may have to ‘splurge’ on another small trip!
Save all you can when you’re single because kids are expensive! :)
Lol – I teach Human Growth and Development and the statistic is that the average kid coasts about 200k to raise from birth to 18. That’s crazy talk!
Great tips! Since October my budget has been turned on it’s head due to moving into a bigger place with my boyfriend, on the outskirts of Philly. On top of my $500 / mo student loan, car insurance, cell and 1 credit card bill, all other expenses have skyrocketed :( It’s been quite the adjustment. I throw all extra change into a jar at the end of the day (although I rarely carry cash). also, we have recently started a joint savings account where each week we deposit the amount of money that is equivalent to the week of the year. For example the first week we deposited $1, then $2 the second, and so on and so forth. Tomorrow I will be depositing $11. Granted, it’ll get a little rough the last 2 months of the year, but if you do that for the entire year you’ll have saved over $1,0000 with fairly little effort. Also, I have a part time job, and with that money I put half into savings and the other half towards my credit card, no matter what.
I LOVE that savings idea!! Great since the first of the year is so hard on a lot of people right after the holidays. I also though about suggesting getting a part-time job since one of the easiest ways to have more money, is to make more! I know it’s hard enough for many people to find 1 full-time job let alone think of others. I actually wish I had more friends with kids as I’d love to babysit again!
GREAT tips! We are 2 months from paying Gary’s truck off, then we will both be driving fully paid vehicles and I don’t care what people think, but we will drive them to infinity & beyond! ;-)
I agree about spending money on experiences, not THINGS. I used to think the opposite, but changed my tune a few years back.
Paying off my car was the only way I could start paying off my student loans. I had to have them defferred until the car was paid off since I couldn’t swing both payments at once! The loans will take me 9 years to pay off if I make the minimum, so I’m hoping to double the payments, pay them off in 5 years and likely have to buy a new car at that point.
What made you realize experiences > things a few years ago?
Loved this post! I really enjoyed your perspective! Someone with similar expenses!
Thank you! I’m sure it’s nice for a lot of people who live in similar income brackets to see someone who isn’t making ‘a lot’ of money but does quite well for themselves still!
I am SO jealous of your rent. But happy to see that our budgets are pretty similar, minus the phone and car payments. Great post, I love seeing how other people live. May have to do something similar sometime!
I was a little worried that it would open myself up for criticism from other based on how I chose to spend but I’m, as usual, so happy with the response!
Great tips! I am still feeling the pain of adjusting from being a DINK family (with my income being well into the six figures) to being a mostly single-income family with a mortgage and a kid. I can’t wait to read your grocery money-saving tips, as that’s where I could probably stand to cut most…
Oh man that would be a hard adjustment! I always joke that whoever marries me has it easy since I’ve realized how happy I can be with so little!
Awesome tips–I am trying to do better with my budget! I’m a pretty big couponer and recently found that you can register for email updates from Earthbound Farm Organics and they send you a coupon each week for one of their products! It’s hard to find coupons for that stuff sometimes, so I thought I’d put it out there for you and your readers :)
YES! I didn’t even think of coupons. It can be so hard finding coupons for organic/healthy products. I will check out Earthbound Farm Organics. A student also mentioned to me that our local flea market has really good produce that’s ridiculously cheap that I still need to look into!
Budget posts make me so happy! Car & health insurance suck and are unfortunately in my monthly budget. My groceries are right about on par with yours. I need to be better about dedicating fun money! I’m a saver by nature so I literally have to force myself. I started tracking all of my expenses in excel & it’s so much better to actually know where the money is going.
Well I’d much rather be to much on the side of saving (like you) then spending! I went through periods in the last few years where I saved almost every penny and spent virtually nothing – and I’ve found that I am much happier now when I use my money to go out and do fun things, or buy things like craft supplies and books!
I was surprised you didn’t mention anything about saving for retirement. I’m 31 and it is an important budget item for me given that we don’t know about the future of social security and pensions are not as common anymore.
Unfortunately, if you could guess by looking at my budget, I don’t make significantly over that and anything I put into ‘savings’ is a catch-all for emergencies/retirement. I won’t touch it except for either of those reasons. My school does take a bit out every paycheck for some sort of 401a retirement.
Your studio is BEAUTIFUL!
I’m 30 and have a masters degree AND a job at a great company (make less than 40k a year), and my parents still pay: my cell phone, cat insurance, gym membership, and my former employer screwed up my dependents on the W-2 and it wasn’t worth fighting them on it, so I owed the IRS $3,000-they paid it off for me. They also buy grocery items randomly and help me out of sticky situations, like when I owed the doggy eye doctor $300 they paid it to keep me out of collections. You’re right-NO SHAME!
You said “cat insurance” and I’m assuming you meant car and that is the best typo ever.
My parents definitely bought me the new sofa and table for this place when I moved in December! Thank god my parents rock (as do yours!) … sometimes the single girls just need a little break ;)
HAHAHA yes, that was a typo :) I meant car insurance…haha!! ( I also need an eye exam :-/)
I DO have health insurance for my English Bulldog <3 haha!
Yowza you’re responsible ;) I need to work on this whole budget thing!
Lol – I’m not *always* that responsible, but I was lucky to be raised with understanding how important it is to save/spend wisely!
Thanks for not being shy about your budget! I think a great travel tip is to save on the hotel and spend more on the experiences. I’m ok with sleeping in a decent bed, however outdated the rooms may be. We’re going to Chicago in June and staying at a Best Western, just so we can do more site-seeing. I’d rather spend the money on experiences around town and maybe one good meal out than an extravagant room. We always travel on-the-cheap, scouring for deals and such beforehand.
You are absolutely right! I’m actually considering staying at a hostel for 2 nights in Portland in June to save money and have more to spend on food/activities there. Plus, it seems like a great way to meet people since I’ll be there alone for that part of the trip.
Great post. Our budget has changed since I stopped working and we had a kid. So my splurges are more about things that I can use over and over than going out or travelling as often.
Very good point! I did ‘splurge’ last year and bought a $50 garbage can. The one I had for 2 years prior was broken and pissed me off every time I tried to use it. I finally said I wanted the nicest one I could afford and, even though I could have gotten away with a more basic model, I still smile when I use it sometimes!
Haha, I feel the same way about our diaper pail!
My grocery budget for 2 people is also around $200 a month (total, not per person). It’s amazing how much money you save by making food and not eating out. I spend more money than I would like at my work’s cafe but the food is SO GOOD and they have so many healthy options that are affordable.
Dang your good with feeding 2 people! I think I could comfortable double most of my recipes and feed another adult and myself for $300 a month. I love cooking in bulk already since I only have time to eat leftovers during the week and it makes cooking so much cheaper!
Such an awesome post! Thanks so much for sharing. Josh and I are getting married this summer and we definitely need to sit down and put together a budget for us.
I’ve been fortunate that most of my adult relationships have been with guys who share similar financial views. Have fun creating a budget together!
I work in the education field so I have to be good with my money to cover the “off months” too. One of my biggest tips is to lower your heat and increase your AC. My heat has been set at about 60 all winter and 80 all summer. It was rough at first and now I’m used to it. I use a space heater and fans and this makes it tolerable. I save 50 dollars a month doing that, and it’s definitely worth it! I also try to buy in bulk, shop sales, and almost never go out for lunch (neither do my co-workers, so it makes it easy). A bonus- a free gym membership comes with my job too:) Showering at the gym helps keep water costs lower too :)
Ahhh I always forget to look into the gym at our campus! Unfortunately I’ve heard it’s pretty pathetic but it’s still worth checking out. I also never turn the heater on and rely only on a space heater + lots of sweaters! I’m not sure if I could live in 80 degree temps in the Summer but I did get an awesome standing oscillating fan a few weeks ago that should help me keep my ridiculous power bills down in the 100 degree summer weather!
“Spend money on experiences, not things” – My favorite tip. I will wear my clothes until they are falling off of me and use the same purse until it breaks because nothing can beat a good trip or an experience with friends!
Yep – I literally have holes in my last pair of shoes, my bra was replaced only because it fell apart & I’ve used the same $8 purse from Walmart for 6 months. #Priorities!
OK, since no one else asked, what is Salem-pants? I think I am reading that right.
I do agree with the person who said you should be saving for retirement. I am quite a bit older than you and never took saving for retirment seriously and am not trying to play catch up and I only make 50k a year so it’s pretty difficult. I wish I had started much sooner.
I hope you will look into your 401a plan at work and find out if there is a match the school makes on the money you contribute. If so, try to increase what you contribute to at least get the full match.
I have to agree with the others that you need to check on your retirement account at work. The first two years I was out in the working world from college, I neglected to put very much away in my 401K. For the last 5 years I’ve taken advantage of the full match my company offers and my fund has grown significantly, even in the midst of the economic downturn. Good tips, though. We tried the no cable thing for about a year (this was before Roku and other services became popular) and didn’t really care for it. It may be time to try dumping cable again soon :)
I love budgets! ( personal finance blogger nerd over here) Thank you for taking the time to show us your budget and share what you are able to do with it. Being a non-profit professional myself, I know what it’s like to want to stretch those pennies!
This is a great post Erica. Keeping a budget is a great way to stay on top of your finances. I find that bringing my lunch every day and only going out to dinner once a month really helps my finances. I have a change jar that I throw my loose change into every week. I’m saving for a pair of Lululemon yoga pants. It may take a year of loose change, but it will be well worth the wait!
But you will enjoy the pants so much more after waiting (and saving up) for them!
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Originally we didn’t have cable. then we got it. but now we are cutting it again. i hate paying $100 /month on it! and we barely watch it. now if i could cut the smartphone bills. least i can write most of it off!
I sometimes miss it since it can be a nice source of entertainment, but I spent some time at my parents house this week all excited to have cable and all I did was watch shows I own on dvd!