I think budgeting and practical finances should be taught at multiple stages throughout a student’s life. I thought I knew the general idea but didn’t appreciate how much neglecting it would set me back.
What is your process for budgeting? As a starting point this article lists a few methods.
I use zero based budgeting where every dollar is assigned a purpose. I don’t end up sticking exactly to the plan, but I do keep a spreadsheet which lists my current balances and all expected expenses, so I can see my future balance and avoid going in the red. A couple times a month I cross off expenses which have been paid and update the balance. This is especially helpful to me because a big portion of my income is irregular month to month.
At the start of 2023 there wasn’t one for me. I was in a rut and generally felt that if I didn’t spend the money on myself, my SO would. About 6 months later I had one entire paycheck vanish midway through the week from excessive takeout purchases (150+ daily) and quickly set a budget. We each get about 200 a week for ‘allowance’ to do with as we please, about another 200 for food for both of us, and the rest was going into aavings/toward bills, but then in November I realized just how little the principle on the credit card we haven’t used in two years was being paid with auto-pay and diverted the savings money towards that.
Currently, I’ve knocked down the CC by a third, plan to get it under control by march of work keeps up, then going back into savings and continuing with the basic plan.