Help with my budget.

[Kerjack]

I just need to know if this is going to cut it.

$430 -Rent
$100 -Groceries
$60 - Cell phone plan
$80 - Personal Items
$200 - Towards Debt
-------
$870

I have about $1500 in debt.
$1200 - Credit Card
$300 - Cellphone(Cancellation)

I make around $11 per hour and work about 70 hours a week. I will be putting all the extra money towards my debt until it's paid off.

Sound good? Where should I make changes?

[2ndGenGranola]

I would start by looking at the groceries and personal items.

Are you getting the best deal for your money? Are you buying prepackaged items? Are you spending on sodas? Are all personal items needs or are they wants defended as needs? (I see this as often being a big problem for some).

[sunshine]

Car expenses?

Medical expenses?

What about utilities besides the phone?

Stamps? or do you do all your bill paying, correspondence online?

Entertainment? If you don't budget some fun money, you'll end up spending it from somewhere.

[ladykemma2]

i don't think you have enough money for groceries?

[Debbie-cat]

I think you are very focussed which will help pay down your debt. I would look at your personal expenses and groceries. That is about all you have to play with. Good luck.

[kmonokwe]

Sorry - I'm confused. Let me know if I've got something wrong, because it doesn't seem to add up for me.

If you make $11/hour working 70 hrs/week, thats $3,080 monthly, pre-tax. So suppose you take home $2500-$2800 depending on your tax withholdings. Is that right?

If the budget you listed is monthly, you've got a LOT of room to wiggle (this is why I was confused, hehe)! Which is a great problem to have.

So, is that right, or did I get lost along the way somewhere?

That said, I think the other posters have a lot of great thoughts. Do you have health insurance? Make sure you put your insurance premiums and your estimated medical expenses in - including things like prescription and visit copays and normal stuff like tylenol and cold medicine. What about your car? It is a great idea to put some money away every month for routine maintenance and the emergencies you know will come at some point. We do $50/month for a 14-year old car. It's a small price monthly for a LOT of security.

I agree with sunshine - put in a little "blow" money. A few months on a strict budget (heck, it only takes a few weeks, for some! ) and mostly likely you'll get to feeling deprived. Give yourself a little money each month to have fun with. It helps you stick to your budget when you know your budget allows you to do some fun stuff!

[MomToTwoBoys]

Gross pay for 52 weeks, if you work 70 hours per week at $11/hr, you're bringing home about 15% of $2800 (because the tax rate for someone making about what you make is 15%). If you were above $40k per year, it's a 22% tax.

That means you're doing pretty well for being single and making that much money.

You'll need to break down your budget even further and include every expense. Categorize everything. If you're in Alberta, you don't pay a health care insurance fee.

[miss_cas]

Really, with all those hours and your budget, you will have those debts paid off in no time. Throw all the spare money at it once you have a $1k emergency fund saved up.

Read "Total Money Makeover". Witness what hot water credit cards can get you into. Unless you own a home, car or pets or get a rental car frequently (none rent to anyone under 21 anyway unless your employer made special arrangements), you have no need for these monsters. If you can't pay for it in cash, you can't afford it. A debit card will work for booking online travel reservations or shopping online, just make sure there is fraud protection.

If you have learned you lesson about credit and not give into the new jeans or pizza emergencies any more and pay it off in full every month, they are a tremendous tool for building your credit and can make getting an apartment or loan much easier. I qualified for a mortgage with nothing but a solid apt rental history and timely credit card payment history (no cosigner needed). That means paying on time, every time, no bounced checks.

[kita]

$430 -Rent
$100 -Groceries
$60 - Cell phone plan
$80 - Personal Items
$200 - Towards Debt
-------
$870


If you have to live on this budget for long it will kill you. If you are working 70 hours a week, you will need more money for food because you will not be able to do all the cooking from scratch. (Unless you are getting food at work, in which case, it may be a tiny bit too much.) Also it doesn't have any personal money. You need that so you won't go crazy in four months. There is no Christmas money...and you won't have that debt paid off even at this rate by Christmas. You have the wiggle room use it so you can pay off the debt longer rather than sprinting so quickly that you die out by fall....

[Kerjack]

Ah! I meant 70 hours every 2 weeks sorry!