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Sharing some basic budgeting tips that helped me save to move out on my own. I used to feel so intimidated and overwhelmed when it came to money, so these are things I wish I knew when I was younger. Although I'm no expert, this is what has worked for me, and hopefully you'll find it helpful! :)
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Hey guys, welcome back to my channel, or welcome if you're new
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If you don't already know me, my name is Sam and I just recently moved from Pennsylvania
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to North Carolina. And in documenting my journey of living here and living by myself, having an apartment
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without a roommate or anything, I have gotten quite a few questions asking how do I afford
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it, how do I manage my money, how do I budget, et cetera
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So I thought that I would just share some of my tips. I am by no means a financial advisor or any kind of expert when it comes to this stuff
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at all. A lot of the tips I'm going to be sharing I feel are like kind of common sense
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The first tip is so basic and should go without saying, don't spend money that you don't have
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And be really careful with credit cards. Now, of course I understand that sometimes emergencies come up and there is something
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that you have to pay for and you don't have the money to pay for it upfront, so you have
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to charge it to your credit card. Obviously that's a different story, but I'm talking about people who will just rack up
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their credit card debt. They're just blissfully unaware of their spending. I do love using credit cards
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It's a great way to build your credit and depending on the card that you have, you can
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get rewards, travel points, cash back, et cetera. So I do love using them, but I'm always very careful when I'm using my credit cards
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To go kind of hand in hand with that, don't live above your means
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Again, this is so simple. I feel stupid even having to say this
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I see a lot of people doing this. So many people want like the newest flashiest phone, the nicest flashiest car, the nicest
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biggest apartment. Just because you can technically afford something doesn't mean that you have to have it
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So for example, when I moved down here to North Carolina and I was looking at apartments
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technically, yeah, I could afford to live in a really nice luxury apartment, but instead
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I looked for something that was at the lower end of my price range. Now obviously, I mean, you don't have to live in a dump
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If you can afford something a little bit nicer, then go for it. But to me, it just isn't worth it
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It doesn't make sense to get a really expensive, super fancy apartment when I could live a
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little bit more modestly and then have extra money saved over every month
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So that way I can save, I can make my student loan payments. I can just live comfortably and not have to be stressed and super tight with money every month
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Same thing with my car. I'm not going to lie. I see people on social media with their fancy Mercedes Benz's and I'm like, that would be
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really nice. But do I really need that car? No. And I think a lot of people too, when they get these really fancy expensive cars, they're
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not thinking about how much more expensive their gas is going to be because now you have to put premium gas in that thing and it racks up
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The next thing that I suggest, and this is what I started doing when I started living on my own, is to list out all of your monthly expenses and put them in order from most important
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to least important. So for example, most important would be your rent, right
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Your car payment, your car insurance, your health insurance, if you have to pay for that
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And then least important would be maybe your Netflix account, your gym membership, things
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that you technically don't need you could do without. And this should include everything that is a normal, regular monthly expense to you
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Add it all up and then subtract that from how much you make every single month
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And that number right there is what you have for saving and for just fun spending
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Things that you don't necessarily do every single month, like going on vacation or maybe
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going shopping. If that number is smaller than what you would like it to be, now go back through and look
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at your monthly expenses and see what things could you do without
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What things could you get rid of? Not necessarily forever, but at least for right now so that you can start saving a little
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bit more every single month. So for example, I used to go and get my eyelash extensions done every single month and I loved
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having them. They made me feel really good, but I felt like it was an expense that I could do without
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So I stopped doing that. I had cable TV for a little while and realized, oh, I almost never watch cable
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So why am I paying for this when I could pay like half of the price and just have internet
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and I can stream whatever I want to watch. And think about things that you spend money on that you could start doing yourself for
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a little while. Like do you go and get your nails done all the time
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Maybe start doing your nails from home for a little while. I'm not saying that you have to cut out everything in life that brings you joy
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If it's a comfort for you to go and get like a facial every once in a while or something
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like that, then still do those things. Still live and enjoy your life, but just be a little bit more conscious of your spending
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I was in a habit for a really long time of going and getting so many different beauty
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services done every single month. I would get my nails, I would get my lashes, I would get facials, I would get waxes
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And it got to a point that it was just such a normal part of my routine that it wasn't even bringing me joy anymore
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It didn't even feel like a special treat because it was just something that I was doing
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so frequently. So I started to cut back and now if I just feel like I need a pampered day, I want to
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treat myself to something, I will go and do that. And it feels more special now that I don't do it all the time
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Another tip, and this one is huge. This really changed my life, especially when I was first saving to move out of my parents' house
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Have at least three to four different accounts. The first account should be where your money's coming out of for your necessary expenses
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your necessary bills, your reoccurring monthly expenses, your rent, your car payment, your
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groceries, et cetera. Things that you need in order to survive, like they are non-negotiables
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Then have a second account for savings. So either every week or every month, decide on a minimum amount that you are going to
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deposit into that savings account and do it every single time. Consider that like a mandatory expense
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Think of it like a bill that you have to pay. You have to put this minimum amount in your account every single time, even if it's literally
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just $5 a month, but something. Set a minimum amount for yourself
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And then if you have extra left over at the end of the month, put a little extra in that
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savings account if you can. Then have your third account be your fun money, what I like to call my fun money
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So this would be things that are not necessary, but you're just doing them because it brings
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you joy. So like going out to dinner, going to get your nails done
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And then the fourth account would be if you have any kind of debt that you need to pay
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off, whether you have credit card bill debt or student loan payments
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But I think that having that separate from your regular savings is really important because
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you don't want all of your savings and all of your extra money necessarily to just go
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to paying off that debt. I mean, yes, that's important. That should be your number one priority, but you also want to make sure that you have a
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little bit set aside for a rainy day. And again, I'm not an expert
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I don't know what an expert would recommend, but that is just what I have been doing and
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what's been working for me. And it just made it so much easier and clearer for me to really like get a grasp of how much
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money do I actually have, how much is coming in and where is it all going
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And it just keeps me organized. And then my last tip is to use mobile banking
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I have apps for my bank account, for all of my different credit cards, and it has made
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it so much easier for me. I love being able to just log in on my phone
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I'm constantly checking just to make sure that everything's looking right. I'm not seeing any like random fraudulent charges or anything
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And that way I'm aware too of like how much I have, what have I spent money on, et cetera
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And it just makes it so much easier to manage everything that way. So those are all of my tips
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That's how I personally budget my money and how I afford to live on my own and support
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myself financially. So I hope that you guys found this video helpful. If there was one particular tip that really stood out to you, go ahead and comment that
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down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts and hopefully I will see you in my next video. Bye
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Bye
Finance
Financial Planning & Management
Debt Management