ChickSpeak

Three Easy Steps to Getting Your Budget Back on Track 

Along with balancing your school work, a part-time job, social life and of course, making time to sleep, you also find yourself trying to balance your bank account.

Not many of us have parents like Paris and Nicky Hilton’s who seem to supply them with limitless credit cards and cash filled designer hand bags, which in the end might not be such a bad thing. 

For the rest of us, the realities of sticking to a budget face us every day.  We feel it after a night out with friends when we decide to buy one more round. We notice it significantly if we pitch in for a roommate’s birthday gift. And forget it if we just so happen to get a boyfriend who is as strapped as we are and insists we split every tab.

The realities of taking care of our finances are nothing new, and if planned with a bit of thought, a budget can be an easy thing to follow.

1. First of all figure out what your actual income is. Do you have a part time job? Do your parents help you buy sending a monthly check?  Are you working with the money you saved this summer from your job at the beach? Do you hope to replenish it a bit during winter break?  Know what you are working with and then plan from there.

2. Be real about your spending- What are you absolutely responsible for every month? Do you buy your own meals or are you on a meal plan? Is your money yours for just fun things like shopping, nights out and the occasional manicure? Who pays for your cell phone and your iTunes? Or are you covering rent, books and sorority dues?  Once you identify what you absolutely must spend a month you will be in a better place to manage your income.

3. Pay yourself first. It may sound little out of order but pay yourself first. Once you identify exactly what you need for your expenses take the remainder and put aside some for a rainy day. Consider this an investment in yourself and something that will be there when that unexpected cost arises, like a new battery for your car or that spring break trip you are itching to take.

One last piece of advice, think before you spend. If those to die for shoes must come home from the store with you, take a deep breath, call a savvy friend for a second opinion and think it over for a few minutes. More often than not you will be able to live without what seems like a live or die purchase. In the end your healthy bank balance will be proof that you have made the right decision.