I think budgeting and practical finances should be taught at multiple stages throughout a student’s life. I thought I knew the general idea but didn’t appreciate how much neglecting it would set me back.
What is your process for budgeting? As a starting point this article lists a few methods.
I use zero based budgeting where every dollar is assigned a purpose. I don’t end up sticking exactly to the plan, but I do keep a spreadsheet which lists my current balances and all expected expenses, so I can see my future balance and avoid going in the red. A couple times a month I cross off expenses which have been paid and update the balance. This is especially helpful to me because a big portion of my income is irregular month to month.
At the very basic level, I predict how much money i expect to make in a month. Then subtract all bills and expenses that will definitely occur in the month. The difference is what i have to play with. Most times that extra goes into getting more groceries. Sometimes I can put that extra into my emergency savings which gets drained out more often than i’d like.