When I first tried to save, it seemed very easy because everything was relatively priced. And I wasn’t buying anything that would cost a lot of money. At that age, I was buying small ticket purchase items like food, electronics, necessities, cosmetics, personal accessories.
However, when I started to get into hobbies that required a bit of money, I realized that I would have to keep a bit of money aside as these items would cost anywhere between $100-200. I could no longer grab these items on my current income. I had to wait for a couple weeks for when I get paid. This is Why I created a budget.
What I did was:
1. Find out my income: I did this by checking out my bank statements. You can also do this by checking with your employer. They will be able to provide you with a paystub that you can use to check how many hours you worked for the dollar amount. Or you paystub can tell you your salary.
If it is a salary, you will have to change and lower your units. Hourly is pretty simple to calculate. But if you want to save money daily, I would calculate how much money I’m able to spend a week. I do this by taking my salary after tax, dividing it by 52 to get the amount I make per week. This is my income per week which is VERY important.
2. Find out your Bills: Another term for this is operating cost. This is all of the stuff you need to live a comfortable life. Notice I will use these type of business terms, because in a sense you are turning your budget into a company. Finding out your bills is important because you want to know how much money you are giving away per week.
Your bills include, electricity, water, housing/rental, phones, television, internet. These are all services that you are paying for to have a standard of living.
3. Find out how much you save: You do this buy subtracting your pre-taxed income by your bills. This is your take home money at the end of the day.
These tips will help you save money. However this is the first step to finance. This is not enough to meet your goals quickly. You must learn something called, investing. Then afterwards, depending on your risk tolerance, how much you want in life, trading or opening a business.