Since this blog originally began to encourage y'all to set goals, it is time to actually talk about one.
Recently, Jay had become more involved with his budget (thank God!). So, in an effort to help him manage his money, without an income (except loans... he is a physical therapy grad student), we came up with a few rules.
First, he has a few items that obviously don't change, i.e. rent, utilities, tuition and computing expenses. In our household we spend between $60 and $80 a week on groceries. We alternate who pays, so on a month to month basis we each budget about $175 for groceries.
Now, for the fun money. Jay is good about his money in the sense that he would never run his checking account under $100. He is bad about his money when it comes to the things that cost a dollar or two and everything social. A nice example would be the $80 he spent on food at school (i.e. french fries and soda) in a week and half. Oh, and by the way, he does take his lunch everyday.
As a rule of thumb, he now has $5 to spend each weekday and $50 on the weekend.
To cut back on his small purchases, we went to the grocery store and bought him a case of soda and snacks to leave in his locker at school (less than $20 vs. $80). And, we talked about how it s fine to accompany someone to Starbucks while studying or in-between classes, but three trips a day is a bit obsessive.
I will keep y'all updated on how Project Jay Budgeting goes. But I think he is pretty motivated, as he wants to save his leftover money for an iPhone.
How do you budget your coffee/soda/french fry runs?
