Well, seeing as how the purpose of this site is to teach you to budget yourself, I might as well explain a way to go about making that budget. I suggest using those handy cash stretcher tips I’ve given out on this site, as well. Alongside this budget scheme, they will help to make you a frugal genius and you’ll be on your way to saving tons of money to build your future with.
What you need to do is figure out how much money you spend on what areas of your life and then you can trim the fat off of each area until you have a good amount of extra cash by your side. Now, how much you trim off and how much you spend is really up to you, but I just want to warn you that if you cut off too much, you may come off as cheap. If that’s fine, by all means, ya cheapskate, go ahead! …Just kidding. In fact, it’s not really too bad to be a bit of a cheapskate at some point in your life. Most people can’t afford to spend money like crazy, but it’s just as true that most people like to spend a bunch of money once in a while, so if you choose to even it out a little by skimping on certain things, that’s fine. Just make sure it’s not your spouse’s birthday present you’re skimping on or you’ll pay for it later!
So, to start, figure out how much you spend on groceries. Then, if you can trim some off, it’s a good idea to do so. An average person should be able to survive pretty comfortably on 20 bucks a week if you do your shopping properly. Just multiply this by how many people there are in your family and you’ve got yourself a pretty good little grocery budget. You may need to add a little extra for those growing children, though. **Just as a side note, when I first started budgeting my cash, I was able to provide for myself on ten dollars a week. Now, that’s not something I would recommend too highly for any families, but if it’s only you and your spouse or significant other, it’s something to consider. You can have big savings that way.
Another way to cut your food budget down is to STOP GOING TO FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS!!! No matter how many tacos you can get for seventy cents, they’re still bilking you out of your hard-earned cash when you could just make your own meals. I know just how tempting it is to eat at your favorite fast food chain, but even if you just start by cutting down on those trips out, you’ll see how much money you’re saving and you’ll be so excited you won’t even want to go back! Plus, the cost of gas needs to be factored into your greasy burger joint outings. Nowadays, a short trip to get a quick meal could end up costing even more than the meal itself. This brings me to my next point…
Try cutting down on your fuel usage. I’m not trying to guilt you into it or anything. We all know that the environment is in trouble. But think of how much you are spending on gas! It’s ridiculous! Plus, if you don’t cut down now, when will you? Gas prices are rising and rising fast. They probably won’t even stop rising, either. The most likely scenario is that the gas prices will continue to rise and you’ll find yourself paying seven or eight bucks a gallon at the pump. Annual projected numbers indicate that the oil companies are actually expecting you to pay that much by this time next year! Can you even imagine that?? That would make your fifty dollar tank into a one hundred dollar tank and you’ll be out of even more money than before! So, before you’re the last person on Earth paying out the ears for gasoline, it’s a good idea to start conserving and looking elsewhere for transport. If your city has a localized public transportation system such as a subway or lightrail, I would definitely recommend using that. Buses are probably just as bad as cars, though, so I wouldn’t recommend using them as much. The wait at the bus stop can be quite annoying and their prices are rising, too. But if you have a long trip that is almost a straight shot from home, they’re a pretty good deal. Even if you have to go 35 blocks in one direction and then switch buses, with a transfer, you’re getting a phenomenal deal! While you’re saving money on transportation, you might want to think about purchasing something else. Hybrids are good for now, but I’m willing to bet they’ll become obsolete in the near future as we continue to search for other methods of fuel conservation. I would highly endorse a scooter purchase. You can find them for as cheap as a tenth of the price of a new hybrid car, they get twice as many miles to the gallon as the average hybrid, and they seem to be quite trendy right now.
Now, you should look at the hobbies/interest/miscellaneous part of your fiscal usage. If you don’t have one, you can probably just skip this part, but it’s still good to know about for those months of the year when you do actually have money to go do something fun. For those of you that have a specific time and day to go out and have fun, or have a particularly spendy interest, it’s time to look at what you can do to relieve the financial stress in this area. If you have a date night, consider seeing a dollar or discount movie instead of a regular one. Maybe there’s one of those flicks that you were going to see at the bigger theaters but it just slipped by while you were seeing others. Well, at a discount theater, you can save an average of nine to ten bucks on the price of a ticket. While that might seem like a little amount now, remember one of the key items in a frugal mind is that little bits of cash add up. Ten bucks on a movie ticket for you, ten bucks on your partner’s ticket, that’s twenty bucks there. Twenty bucks next week, twenty the week after, and more after that. In one month’s time, you’ve saved eighty dollars, assuming you go once a week. What if you go to the movies more than that? The savings are monumental when you sit and think about it. And after that, do you really need the popcorn and drink? Maybe you do today and maybe you don’t the next time. But let’s see how much you save when you don’t get popcorn and drinks at all:
Again, if you go to the movies once a week, you save 20 to 24 bucks on popcorn in a month, and 16 to 20 bucks on sodas. If you go more times in a week, you’re saving even more. All in all, if you use these tips at the movies, you save at least a hundred dollars a month on your night at the movies. Think about it for a minute and tell me you’re not angry with the movie theater companies now!
Another popular interest is video games. If you’re the type of person who goes out to buy the new video game you’ve been waiting for, it’s really hard to find a used copy since you’re probably getting the game right after it comes out. But if you can wait a little tiny bit, say a month at the most, you’re definitely likely to find the game used. And if you can avoid the temptation of buying the game when in close proximity to it, then you can visit the store and check for used copies whenever you want. This will up your chances of getting your way and saving your funds. When I get into a busy month, I don’t even have time for my hobbies (which include video games), so I have to wait before I get all the ones I want. By the time I actually can buy them, they’re used and low-priced and I save a bundle. Buy your games one at a time and you can keep saving money as the other games’ prices keep going down. (And for those really violent games you like, you may find it used ever quicker than you think. I’ve found games used when some kid was able to get away with buying it and then his mom brought it back because of the kid being too young for it. Lucky day!) This can really be applied to anything, though. If the price of something you like doesn’t lower with time, it will most likely still be in a used section somewhere. Music, movies, etc. are always bought and sold someplace.
I think this article applies to everyone, but if you can’t find anything in it that directly applies to you and your fiscal needs, stretch the concepts to other aspects of your budget that are unique to you. The principles remain the same no matter what the different splurgings are.