Just thought I'd introduce myself and share a bit of what I'm trying to accomplish that led me here; sorry if this is in the wrong place!
I'm 24 (about to turn 25 this year). My parents have always taught me great money management skills, and also helped me out with my college (but not all of it!). I'm at the point where I've paid off all my student loans already (except a $5,000 no-interest loan to my dad due by 2015). I guess I'm trying to maximize my savings and cut my costs as much as possible, as I know that the next big step in life that I take will require a large amount of money (buying a house, starting a business, traveling the world).
Anyways, a quick rundown of my monthly finances:
Income: ~$2800 net
Rent: $600
Shop rent: $100
Internet: $50
Phone: $70
Gym: $30
Auto Insurance: $25
Car Maintenance: Minimal (I do all my own repairs when necessary so all I pay is parts cost)
Groceries: $300
Netflix: $10
Xbox Live, Parking, Misc Small Costs: $30 (rounded up generously)
Gas: $100
TOTAL EXPENSES: $1285
Now these are just my normal monthly expenses, it excludes all other spending (buying stuff, discretionary spending). So let me talk about my plan to cut some of these down.
The shop rent is for a workshop to work on motorcycles. I'm justifying that not only for hobby purposes but also because I'd like to flip some bikes to make some money, to at least cover my costs but hopefully cover the cost of rent too.
For internet we're also planning on getting it at our shop, and that would be covered by my rent already, so I think my new apartment (moving July 1) will be close enough to actually use that, so I could probably completely cut it out. Savings: $50
For phone, I currently have an iPhone 4 on AT&T and my contract just expired so I'm on month-to-month. I can't at this point give up texting or data, or having a smart phone as I use it a lot. So I'm looking at either adding it on to my parents' plan, who has a family plan on Sprint, or going to Virgin Mobile's new Beyond Talk plan that's $30/mo. For either plan I'd have to buy a completely new phone but I think it'd be worth it in the long run and I can sell my current one to pay towards it. I need to ask my parents how much it would be to get on their plan. Savings: $40+
For my gym membership I'm currently at Gold's which is $30/mo, but we have a Planet Fitness here that just opened up that's $10/mo without a contract. I can get out of my Gold's contract with some work and paying $50, but it could be worth it. The only thing that sucks is that Gold's has free parking and PF doesn't, and both are downtown so I'll have to check that out. Savings: $20
For auto insurance I pay only $300/yr which is incredibly cheap. But I could probably shop around and get cheaper. This is going to go up when I get a motorcycle on it, though, but I can justify that with the fuel savings.
Groceries. This one sucks. I'm into bodybuilding and working out, so I have a fixed meal plan that I eat every day. Unfortunately, this doesn't work well with couponing, which pretty much requires you to tailor your diet around their sales cycles. Also fresh food does not have nearly as many coupons or sales as it should. I seriously need to reevaluate this and haven't done so yet. I'll check around on the forum for tips!
Gas. I live 12 miles from work. I've biked it before. I'm planning on riding a motorcycle which will save on gas because the increased gas mileage. I'm also planning on biking to work more often for the fitness benefits as well as saving on gas.
Xbox Live, Netflix, Misc. I justify these because they're small expenses, and because I don't have cable and this is a great and cheap alternative.
Anyways, that's about all I've come up with for now. Those small changes would net me like $110 in monthly savings for sure, and probably a lot more that I haven't calculated out yet.
I'm always open for tips and this forum looks like a great resource!
I'm 24 (about to turn 25 this year). My parents have always taught me great money management skills, and also helped me out with my college (but not all of it!). I'm at the point where I've paid off all my student loans already (except a $5,000 no-interest loan to my dad due by 2015). I guess I'm trying to maximize my savings and cut my costs as much as possible, as I know that the next big step in life that I take will require a large amount of money (buying a house, starting a business, traveling the world).
Anyways, a quick rundown of my monthly finances:
Income: ~$2800 net
Rent: $600
Shop rent: $100
Internet: $50
Phone: $70
Gym: $30
Auto Insurance: $25
Car Maintenance: Minimal (I do all my own repairs when necessary so all I pay is parts cost)
Groceries: $300
Netflix: $10
Xbox Live, Parking, Misc Small Costs: $30 (rounded up generously)
Gas: $100
TOTAL EXPENSES: $1285
Now these are just my normal monthly expenses, it excludes all other spending (buying stuff, discretionary spending). So let me talk about my plan to cut some of these down.
The shop rent is for a workshop to work on motorcycles. I'm justifying that not only for hobby purposes but also because I'd like to flip some bikes to make some money, to at least cover my costs but hopefully cover the cost of rent too.
For internet we're also planning on getting it at our shop, and that would be covered by my rent already, so I think my new apartment (moving July 1) will be close enough to actually use that, so I could probably completely cut it out. Savings: $50
For phone, I currently have an iPhone 4 on AT&T and my contract just expired so I'm on month-to-month. I can't at this point give up texting or data, or having a smart phone as I use it a lot. So I'm looking at either adding it on to my parents' plan, who has a family plan on Sprint, or going to Virgin Mobile's new Beyond Talk plan that's $30/mo. For either plan I'd have to buy a completely new phone but I think it'd be worth it in the long run and I can sell my current one to pay towards it. I need to ask my parents how much it would be to get on their plan. Savings: $40+
For my gym membership I'm currently at Gold's which is $30/mo, but we have a Planet Fitness here that just opened up that's $10/mo without a contract. I can get out of my Gold's contract with some work and paying $50, but it could be worth it. The only thing that sucks is that Gold's has free parking and PF doesn't, and both are downtown so I'll have to check that out. Savings: $20
For auto insurance I pay only $300/yr which is incredibly cheap. But I could probably shop around and get cheaper. This is going to go up when I get a motorcycle on it, though, but I can justify that with the fuel savings.
Groceries. This one sucks. I'm into bodybuilding and working out, so I have a fixed meal plan that I eat every day. Unfortunately, this doesn't work well with couponing, which pretty much requires you to tailor your diet around their sales cycles. Also fresh food does not have nearly as many coupons or sales as it should. I seriously need to reevaluate this and haven't done so yet. I'll check around on the forum for tips!
Gas. I live 12 miles from work. I've biked it before. I'm planning on riding a motorcycle which will save on gas because the increased gas mileage. I'm also planning on biking to work more often for the fitness benefits as well as saving on gas.
Xbox Live, Netflix, Misc. I justify these because they're small expenses, and because I don't have cable and this is a great and cheap alternative.
Anyways, that's about all I've come up with for now. Those small changes would net me like $110 in monthly savings for sure, and probably a lot more that I haven't calculated out yet.
I'm always open for tips and this forum looks like a great resource!