College student seeking advice on future budget

[mndtrp]

Something else I thought of:

Once you determine your budget, set up automatic payments to a savings account for the remainder. The amount into my checking covered all bills, with some left over for entertainment. I was able to do this from my employer, a certain amount to my checking account, the remainder into my savings. If I worked overtime, it went to my savings without me ever really seeing it.

The strange thing about doing this, is I always managed to stay within the amount being deposited into my checking account. If I knew I was getting a decent amount of overtime or holiday pay, I would occasionally splurge on a large purchase. Somehow, I never ended up having to transfer that overtime money into my checking account to cover the extra charge. I subliminally shifted my spending in other areas to cover the large purchase.

As I got raises, I was still living within my preset budget, so the extra was banked. I didn't have any debt at the time, my retirement was being funded, so it pretty much sat there until I used half of it for my 20% down payment. The rest has been there for emergencies.

[kita]

Develop some inexpensive hobbies. These will be lifesavers if things become rough as well as stretching that $600 a month in entertainment. If your income is what you are hoping, you can invest modestly in them now and when you have kids etc. you can still do them. Camping, Hiking. Volunteer somewhere. Homeless shelter, museum whatever. Eating out, clubbing and bars are easy but expensive forms of entertainment. I am not saying don't do them, just balance them with some other things.