My $1400 Budget

Last month (March), I shared my budget as a recent grad budget. This was a generous month of budgeting for me, I gave myself a little bit of wiggle room when it came to buying extra things for my apartment like fire extinguishers, and buying a few more work clothes. Now, it's time for my budget to get serious. I am on a mission to pay off my car by the middle of June, and I am going full Dave Ramsey on this. If you're unfamiliar with Dave Ramsey, this basically means budgeting, and every other dollar is being thrown at debt. So here is my $1400 budget. For reference, I am single, so I only have to worry about myself, and I live in CT.

Rent: 775

This includes heat and hot water, and is a 10 minute drive to work. This is fairly average around where I live, I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with a roommate.

Car: 140

I am hoping to have this paid off by the middle of summer. That being said, I pay a lot more than this every month by this is my minimum payment.

Cable: 75

I live with a roommate, so we split cable and electric. Electric ends up being around $40, so she uses the difference to purchase other things we need

Food: 160

Realistically speaking this could be lower, but I love food. I can't really justify living off pasta and ramen to save a couple bucks. If a girl wants to treat herself to vegan cheese every now and again, that's okay. It really is crazy how buying food at the grocery store adds up. Try and stay away from frozen and processed foods, they'll eat your budget (get it, eat? I think I'm funny). My goal for this month is to stay under budget and try doing bi-weekly shops to see if that helps with the budget so I stop buying as many unhealthy treats.

Restaurants: 30

A chunk of this will be rolled over from the month prior. I never order take-out, but eating out is such a social thing. It's funny how I have to justify things in my budget to myself. It's okay to give yourself a little breathing room. Yes, you need to budget and cut your expenses, but if your budget isn't realistic or sustainable you're never going to stick to it

Gas: 40

This is still an expense I am very unsure about. My first month living here I was driving back and forth to Massachusetts a lot and spent $75, but this month there is a week left and I have a full tank and have only spend $20. Hopefully this will become more of a concrete number over time. Most of my family and friends live over an hour away, so I want to give myself a little wiggle room in case anything pops up

Subscriptions: 5

If you don't know how much you are spending on subscriptions, check. Between Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Apple Music, and so many more, you could be wasting a whole lot of money. I still have my student account with Apple Music that is worth every penny to me and that is only $5

Miscellaneous: 25

I cut this by more than half from last month. I also anticipate having some roll over from the month prior. Typically rollover I put towards debt, but there are a few more things I'm in need and I cut April's budget a lot, so I'm going to hold onto it. This is anything fun I want, and just other little expenses that pop up.

Car Insurance + Phone: 120 + 30

These are things that I don't pay every month but that go into sinking funds for lump sum payments.

Total: 1400

This is my monthly budget for April, I was able to stay well within budget with a few trades between categories last month. I am hoping I can be a little more diligent with my food, gas, and restaurant money, but I think these are reasonable expectations for myself. Let me know what you think and if you have any tips, happy budgeting!

Katie