Life Lessons Of A College Grad: Budgeting

Your college days may seem like a million years away now you have ventured into the real life world of work, rent, and bills. The closeted nature of college allows you to focus on your studies, loans can be taken out to cover your financial wants and needs, and the stresses and strains of everyday life seem far away. Now that you’ve graduated, you’ve quickly realized that your parents weren’t kidding when they said you would have to learn quickly to adapt to the pace of life after college. But you are managing to keep up, and you think that everything is in order. You are renting a nice pad down town with friends, you have just secured your first graduate job, and you are learning to cook a meal that isn’t the typical student fare.

Although you seem to be adapting to life outside of a college dorm, you may feel like you are treading water and barely doing enough to stay afloat. You have debts to repay and a whole host of new outgoings that didn’t exist six weeks ago. Take a look at this guide to budgeting and making your newfound financial freedom a less daunting prospect.

The First Paycheck

When that initial monthly salary finds its way into your bank account, you may find yourself staring at it for a little while and taking pleasure in seeing so much money. The responsibility that goes with having a financially rewarding position cannot be underestimated. How are you going to use this money wisely?

Before you do anything else with the cash, make a list of non-negotiable outgoings. These are things like rent, bills and loan repayments. Trips to the cinema or meals at the local barbeque joint don’t cut it. Consider how you can make any of these payments more efficient. By venturing onto a site like https://consolidatestudent.loan you’ll be able to see a swathe of options that allow you to combine your multiple student loans into one monthly repayment. By doing this, you’ll be making budgeting simpler and it will be easier to see where your money is going.

Savings

Once all of your expenditure is accounted for, you’ll be left with your disposable income. This is yours to spend as you wish. It pays to consider how much of this remaining lump sum you will dedicate to savings each month. Although you may not have anything specific that you are saving for, by putting away a regular amount each month, you will soon see a savings pot building up. This will motivate you to continue saving and will see you falling into sound financial habits. Whatever is left over at this point is your true disposable income and can be spent on leisure or social activities.

Keep your budget in a spreadsheet, using a free template like the one at https://www.spreadsheet123.com. Make sure it is as simple as possible with headings such as net salary, expenditure, debt repayment, savings and leftover. It is this leftover money that you can spend monthly on whatever you wish.

Budgeting is not an easy task even for the most financially savvy of people. By keeping your budget as simple as possible, you will feel more comfortable with your finances and fall into a healthy and manageable financial routine.