Can you share a little about your budgeting process? Do you have a payday routine? Do you have a spreadsheet that you work off of?
oh yes ofc! this is the part that i like about finances
i do have a payday routine and i do work with a spreadsheet! it's half expense tracker/half monthly budgeting sheet: it has an option to put in specific expense categories and then use those to track your spending in those areas, etc, and it shows you (by percentage) how much of your income is going to expenses, savings, debt, investments, etc. it also shows you, when you budget, how much money you have left/how much you're going over budget, etc, and you can play around with amounts until it actually fits your projected income. i am going to try and track down the link to the one i bought but honestly i think most budgeting spreadsheets being sold on like, etsy, or whatever, do most of these things!
the thing about being a grad student is that income is like... so unpredictable. i get a chunk of funding at the beginning of each semester (sometimes different amounts), then i also get paid biweekly for teaching or research assistant work (or both, or whatever), i always have a weird half or third paycheck at the end of the term, and i have about a month between the end of one semester and the beginning of another where i have absolutely zero money coming into my bank account. annoying!! who knows what i will make in a year!! not me!!
so i budget by semester, and by months within that semester. when i'm budgeting at the beginning of term (aka: when i get my big lump sum of funding for the semester) i try to roughly predict how much i'll get paid bi-weekly total for the term (i always lowball it), and add that to my lump sum funding amount, and then divide it into five: each part is for one month (the four months of term, and then the month after term ends when i'm without paydays for a while). this gives me my amt to budget each month. right now it's looking IRRITATINGLY tight and that's very much a result of me learning how not to overwork and as a result working way fewer jobs but still living in an expensive city and in an apt that we moved into when i was making double what i make now >:( annoying >:( (an apt which is, unfortunately, actually very reasonable for the area!! horrific!! maybe i will simply move somewhere else. i am running away into the mountains as we speak)
but! while we're here. for the foreseeable. here are a few budget-y things i do that i mostly enjoy and always find super helpful:
at the beginning of term when i get that lump sum of funding i immediately put all of my rent money for the whole term + 1 mth into a separate savings acct. i pull out rent every month but this way i know i have it set aside! my bills have been fluctuating a bit lately but if i knew what they were Firmly, i would set that amount aside too
once a week i track my expenses in my budget spreadsheet. i was doing this daily at one point but that felt a bit much. the spreadsheet i use allows you to put in your expected budget and then it shows u how much you've spent in each category based on what you put in the tracker, etc. i find this so freaking helpful!! if i run out of "working in the coffeeshop" money halfway through the month then i know i'm a) doing that way more than usual or b) buying too many extras [blueberry scone i'm looking at u] or c) i'm underbudgeting for it, and being unrealistic! in which case i see if there's anywhere else i can move money from (ie. am i way underbudget for groceries? other spending? etc)
at the beginning of each month i re-budget. mostly the numbers stay relatively similar but if my spending was too high last month, this month it's gonna be lower! if i was way under budget for groceries last month, i might move some of the 'extra' into another area that needs some love (home improvement, emergency fund, etc). this allows me to adapt for whatever the Reality of the previous month was, not the (usually very frugal) Fantasy
speaking of which: i am as realistic as possible about what i will be spending. it's fine on paper to think "ah yes i will budget SO frugally and then i will be frugal!!" but it's much easier, i find, to budget realistically and then know where you need to make adjustments based on your priorities. i moved money out of my "shopping" budget and into my "coffeeshop" budget because, honestly? my coffeeshop sessions are so vital for me right now that they easily take priority, and it makes that movement of funds make sense. i also try to slightly overbudget, where i can and if i can (still within my means!) -- so like, i put a budget of $300 on groceries even though i'm aiming for $200. i'd rather get to the end of the month and realize i'm under budget in a few categories than consistently be overspending because i spread myself too thin across the board
i don't look at the amount in my bank account without also looking at my budgeting spreadsheet before making a Real Purchase (clothes, books, decor, etc) because the amount in my bank account is! already allocated! it's easy to look at that big number from your funding dump and be like ah yes :-) i have money :-) but the reality is that money's gotta stretch, so looking at my spreadsheet helps me remember that i have already dedicated every dollar to something. if i don't have $$$ left in the "fun spending" category then i don't have the money to buy anything (even tho i do. i don't)
i hope this is helpful! i am constantly playing around with finding the right budget for me and trying different approaches but all of these have consistently been really good to me. i really enjoy aja dang's budgeting videos on youtube, and i follow a few budget accounts on instagram, and i've found those really helpful for keeping my budget top of mind, so if you're also keen to keep your budget more present in your daily/weekly/monthly life i'd recommend finding some that you enjoy, too
