Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Basics

So...budgeting.  I receive a paycheck every two weeks, about $1,280 after taxes, health insurance, and the state's retirement plan.  Two months out of the year, I receive three paychecks.  But basically, I budget my bills for every two weeks.  I have some side income but that is very sporadic and I don't like to depend on it in my budgeting - any extra will just have to go towards debt.  I do share living expenses with my BF - but here is an idea of what the budget is for my portion of bills in a month:

Paycheck #1
Rent  $418
Student Loan #1 $50
Credit card #2   $100
Student Loan #2   $130.11
Savings  $10
Groceries  $100
Water  $35 est.
Carpool  $100 est.
Natural Gas  $20 est.
Credit card #1  $150 est.
Misc. Living Expenses  $80
Phone $78  (I forgot to include this expense the first time around, however, it's always been in my budget!)

Paycheck #2
Credit card #3   $50
Insurance (Car, renters)  $60
Credit card #4  $320 est.
Electricity  $35 est.
Cable/Internet  $40 est.
Student Loan #3  $216.61
Student Loan #2  $130.11
Savings  $10
Gym  $21.77
Groceries  $100
Credit card #1  $215 est.
Misc. Living Expenses  $80

I know it's probably really confusing with all the student loans and credit cards but this has worked for me for quite a while.  But here are some explanations anyway...
Student Loans:
One of my student loans is large enough that I have to break it up between the paychecks.  It just changed to a higher amount because its calculated using the amount of my income, and since my income increased when I got my permanent job, so did my student loan payment.  However, if I make that payment amount for ten years (seems like forever), the government will forgive the remainder of my loan because I work in a public service field.
Misc. Living Expenses
This amount is very small, but sadly it will have to cover gas for my car, and any entertainment or eating out. 
But...if I take my carpool as much as possible and bring my lunch as much as possible, it should work.  Speaking of my carpool, it's a van that goes from my town to the next town over and I pay a monthly fee, depending on the gas prices, the amount of miles it ran that month and however many permanent riders we happen to have that month to split the cost.  It's very cost-effective...if you use it - otherwise, you're paying for the van AND paying gas for your car and tolls on the highway.  Then...transporation expenses are out of control.
Estimations
Some of my budgeted amounts are just estimations, and any extra I have leftover will go towards debt (or fun, depending on how burnt out I'm getting).
And finally, in the next couple of weeks, I'll have some extra money coming in from the BF for his half of purchases we made for our new dog (a stray we just couldn't leave all by himself), and that money will be applied towards debt since I made those purchases on my dang credit card before I decided to stop using my card.  (Oopsies!)
So there you have it, my budget.  I think I've made the explanation way more complicated that it needed to be..haha!. :)

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