How am I learning to manage my money as a college student? It is hard. Honestly, I hardly know what I'm doing. But I'm getting there. I'm still broke.
Before now, I haven't really
had to manage my money very well. Of course I had to take care of the obvious: food, gas, etc.. Back in March I even bought myself a car, 100% all by myself (small victories, or not so small)! My car payment has been $130 per month, so it has been easy to take that right off the top of my first check of the month. Since I haven't really had any other "bills", it wasn't scary. It just diminished my spending money for the next few weeks.
Before I dive into how I am managing my money now, let me explain my situation. I don't feel odd talking about money at this point in my life, because I am learning. I know that it is a subject that is rarely talked about in daily conversation, but I would like to share my process in hopes of giving other college students/young adults an idea of how to try managing money.
I am in my second year of community college (a decision I made essentially to save money), I work a three hour lunch shift at a restaurant in town only four days a week, and I want more than anything to make the house I live in pretty again.
I am currently in the middle of two home projects, our main bathroom, and my bedroom (updates and posts coming soon!). I am paying for 100% of my college tuition because I do not receive any aid (inner monster trying not to escape..), and my online application for scholarships apparently never made it to the school, so
I got none of that. Needless to say, the 13 credits that I started the semester with has dropped to 6 because that is all I can afford. And I still don't have books. Gerrrsh.
At this exact moment, I have $6.00 in my wallet that I can spend. But I'm okay with that.
Lesson 1: Be okay with no money to spend.
I have about
$600 worth of stuff to purchase/pay for (hopefully) in the next 4 weeks. I'm going to be realistic and say that it won't happen, but I have a goal. I want to be able to scratch off 75% of my list within the next month.
I have averaged $40.00 per day, which is cash that I take home every afternoon. My paychecks will be
tiny compared to the checks that I am used to getting from my old job. Because I'm a waitress, I make a little over $2.00 an hour...I know, I know, bringin in the big bucks. Because I want a safety net, I have set my average per day a little lower than what it actually is, subtracted my $30 per week gas cost, and set aside $15 for the miscellaneous each week.
Here is the math:
$40.00 per day * 4 days a week = $160.00
$160.00 - $30.00 gas - $15.00 misc = $115.00
I've got 115.00 per week to pay for my list.
I made a list of what I have to pay, what I want to buy for my projects, and what I need.
Lesson 2: Prioritize
(1) What I HAVE to pay: gas, food, car payment, etc.
I already set aside money for gas (yay).
I round my tips to the nearest multiple of 5 and save that(which leaves me with 0-4$)
--I use this extra few for snacks/food while I'm out.
I begin an envelope that contains whatever I save for my car payment.
--In three days I have been able to put $80.00 in there!
(2) What I NEED: to take Lewis for his shots and to be fixed, coffee, razors, contact solution, etc.
Call me crazy, but I WILL place coffee and razors above a new bathroom floor any day.
Lewis will have three separate visits, each costing about $75.00
--I have an envelope with each visit and the price written on it, I will start putting money in them when I have my CAR PAYMENT finished. As soon as I fill one, I will take him, and fill for the next visit.
The others are usually the miscellaneous items and are covered using my $15 per week extra.
(3)What I want for my PROJECTS: bathroom floor, paint for my bedroom, a new fan, etc
Now these are the things that make me excited, of course they are, they have to be last on the list.
*I have already been out looking at prices, and have found what I want for them all.
--I was at Lowes and found beautiful tile for $0.25 each. SAY WHAT
--I did the math, and instead of the original $70.00 that I had put aside for it, I got IT ALL for $15.00.
**I honestly think that saving roughly $55.00 by purchasing the tiles early was worth it. It has to be a killer deal to make a substitution**
So what happened to the rest of the $70.00 that was put aside? good question.
In my
sealed envelope, I had $70.00 ready to go. I was waiting until I was ready to buy tile before I opened it...or even took it out of the shoebox. Because I was in town without my money when I bought the tile, I still had 70. I ripped open the envelope when I got home, and dispersed the $$ among others (most went to my car payment). I still need to buy grout, etc, so I saved $35 for that.
If this is really confusing, I'm sorry. Like I said, I'm still learning.
Anyways, I am sure that I will have some sort of update every now and then just to share what works and doesn't work for me. I would love to hear your theories on managing miniscule amounts of money(:
