Author: engelss

Welcome back! In today’s post we will be discussing how to decorate your apartment or house on a budget. When I moved into my first apartment the first thing I wanted to do was decorate every inch of my room and living room. I quickly found out how expensive it is to decorate your apartment, but that did not stop me. Throughout this post I will be explaining different ways I was able to decorate my apartment without burning a hole in my wallet.

Ask Family and Friends for Decor

The best hack to saving money on decor for your apartment would be to bring decor from your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc houses. Simply asking your family if they have anything they are looking to get rid of or have no use for anymore. Quickly, you will be able to gather a lot of decor. Once you have it all gathered, go through everything and see if you can utilize these items to create a home within your apartment. 

Thrift Stores, Dollar Stores, Garage Sales, Facebook Marketplace

Another hack I would suggest is to try looking for decor in thrift stores, garage sales, Facebook marketplace, or dollar stores. If you are wanting to keep your decor on a budget I would suggest going to these stores before going to more expensive stores. Try and buy used items instead of brand new. This is also a great hack for furniture as well.

Reuse Decorations, Do Not Buy Brand New Decorations for Every New Season

Lastly, I highly recommend reusing your decorations every year. Many people choose to buy all new decorations every holiday season and that can tend to become expensive. Now, if that is what you would like to do there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but if you are on a budget I would highly recommend trying to reuse at least a few decorations to lower the costs of decorations for that year.

These are just a few ideas to think about when you want to start decorating your home whether that be for the holidays or just for fun! Thank you for joining me this week and I hope to have you back next week!

See you soon!!

Welcome back budgeteers! Today we are going to be talking about some tips and tricks for planning vacations and/or trips on a budget! Since Winter Break is right around the corner and Spring Break is not too far after I thought this would be the perfect topic for this week’s post!

Starting off, a big thing to consider when planning a vacation and/or trip is when you will be taking the trip. Now, this sounds very obvious but what I mean by this is to try and not plan your trips during peak vacation times. For example, try to travel during the week and not the weekends. This will be a huge benefit in plane ticket prices and many hotels will not be booked during this time.

Another aspect to consider is how many people you plan on traveling with. It may not seem like it but this will affect how much you spend greatly. The more people that you travel with the lower the hotel costs will be, grocery costs, etc. So when you are planning trips with friends try and get a lot of your friends on board so the trip can be not as big of an expense. 

Next you will want to consider food. This can be a money eater. A huge tip I would give is to go grocery shopping and cut your food expenses in half. Whether you buy groceries before you arrive or after you arrive, this is a great way to save money. You can still go out to eat and enjoy your trip but you do not need to eat out for every single meal because that will end up being one of the biggest expenses during your trip.

These three main aspects that go into planning a trip are huge things to consider. Once, you get these in order and figure out you are set. Now remember, no trip and/or vacation is going to be cheap so try and set aside a small fund a few months leading up to your trip that can help soften the blow a little bit. Come back for next week’s post to see what we have in store for you!

See you soon!!

An aspect of college that many people do not think about is transportation. This is a huge factor in college expenses that kind of stays under the radar because it is something we do everyday and to not think twice about. In this post we will be discussing some different options for transportation and how they may financially affect you and your bank account.

On-Campus Parking Passes

Depending on your college, campuses will usually have multiple parking lots that have specific passes for each lot. Students usually purchase these parking passes for a whole year or whole semester. These passes can be very expensive but you also need to factor in how much you will utilize this pass and how much you will benefit. Larger college campuses typically provide shuttle buses for students to utilize at no extra cost.

On-Campus Shuttle Buses

Utilize your college’s shuttle buses because these are usually no extra charge to students and they usually use their student id as their bus pass. The buses may also drop you off closer to your class building than a parking spot may be. These shuttle buses are also able to transport you to grocery stores or any places you may need to run any errands!

Carpooling

Another way to save money on transportation is to carpool with roommates or classmates. This is more of an uncommon one and harder to utilize because everyone has such different schedules so this is easier to accomplish with people in your major because your classes may line up a little easier. This way you can all contribute to gas prices or parking pass prices and splitting these costs in half.

Bike or Scooter

Lastly, a popular type of transportation that students are using a lot now is either riding your bike or scooter to class. Many students are now purchasing electric scooters or electric bikes especially if they have a long trip from their house off campus or if they have to get across campus in a short amount of time. This is a one time purchase and can be used for most if not all of your college experience saving you the annual or biannual cost for a parking pass.

Some extra tips on saving money on transportation are trying to schedule your classes close together to limit the amount of trips you make to campus and where you live compared to campus will affect how you get to campus. These are just some extra little things to think about that do end up being big factors in your transportation to campus.

Join me next week to discuss traveling and going on vacation in college along with some tips and tricks!

See you soon!!

Welcome back budgeteers! In today’s post we will be discussing the pros and cons of living on campus and vice versa. Now grab your pen and paper and get ready to jot down some notes!

Pros of Living On Campus

• Do not have to pay rent every month, more money in your pocket
• Meal Plan meaning you do not have to buy groceries
• Located on campus so you are able to walk to class or take campus bus, resulting in less gas used

Cons of Living On Campus

• Having to leave during breaks meaning you are paying for a whole semester/year and you are not able to stay the whole semester/year
• Room and board is not cheap, average room and board prices are 
• Paying more for a small amount of space to live in
• Parking pass payment

Pros of Living Off Campus

• Although you pay rent you save money in the long haul because rent is usually cheaper all together compared to room and board
• Paying for a larger living space compared to dorm rooms
• Compared to living on campus, you can stay in your apartment/house during breaks for no extra charge

Cons of Living Off Campus

• Paying rent every month
• Have to buy groceries
• Farther from campus meaning pay more for gas, bus pass, or parking pass

As you can see these lists have varying opinions so when choosing what is the best fit for you make sure to create your own list before deciding whether to live on or off campus. Everyone thrives in different environments and it is best to choose which fits your own personal lifestyle and budget. 

Join me next week for a surprise topic!!

See you soon!

Welcome back budgeteers! Who’s ready to talk about all things Halloween costumes?!

Halloween is right around the corner and it is time to start thinking about what costumes you want to wear. Since it can be a little hard to decide on what to dress up as or who to dress up as I have come prepared with a few simple, easy, and cheap costume ideas for you!

Costumes you can build in your closet:

• Tourist – khakis or jeans, floral shirt or Hawaiian shirt, fanny pack, sunglasses or binoculars 
• Ghost – white sheet
• Cowboy/Cowgirl – flannel, cowboy hat, blue jeans, cowboy boots
• DJ – Sunglasses, headphones, jacket

Costumes you my need to purchase:

• Athlete – jersey and shorts
• Robber – striped shirt, black pants, black shoes, black gloves, black hat, and white bag with “$” on it 
• Cat – all black outfit and cat ears
• Party Animal – any animal print shirt or dress, party hat

Hopefully these ideas helped you find your Halloween costume for this year or at least a few ideas to build off of! Join me next week to discuss the pros and cons of living on and off campus!

See you soon!

Welcome back! Today we are going to be discussing another aspect of your personalized budget, self care products. This can include anything from shampoo to toothpaste to razors, basically anything you might use on a daily/weekly basis. Again, this budget is customized to you so not every budget will look the same especially when it comes to these self care products.

This aspect of your budget can seem a little more difficult to create because there are a lot of fluctuating factors involved in self care products. Take shampoo and conditioner, for example, these products are only bought every few months so you do not need to create space in your budget for them every week/month. An easy way to tackle this issue is to set aside a larger amount than you think you might need. So in the case you do need to buy new shampoo and conditioner you will have enough set aside to purchase them, but if you are not needing any this week/month then you have an extra amount left over that you can put into savings!

Relating back to my last post Wants vs. Needs we also want to try and be selective of what we need and not what we think we might need. This can be a challenge sometimes but in the long run will pay off. So now I challenge you to go back to your budget and add in a “Personal Care Products” section and just start jotting down some products that you personally use like deodorant, toilet paper, face wash, etc. After you have done that, go through and add up how much each of those products are all together. Once you figure out the total you now have a rough estimation for your “Personal Care Products” section on your budget! Like I said before this will fluctuate but as long as you have that original amount set aside you are covered!

Next week I will be talking about last minute Halloween costume ideas!

See you soon!!

Welcome back budgeteers! Today we will be discussing how to budget when it comes to things we need and things we think we need. Now, I think it is okay to treat yourself every once in a while, trust me I do it all the time, but making it a daily/weekly habit may not always be the best option either. So, we will be diving deeper into this topic and decide when you should go ahead and get that coffee or buy that cute sweater!

Looking back to the budget we made together a few posts earlier, you may have noticed I suggested creating a spot for “extra spending money.” This is a spot where you build a fund within your budget for either emergency expenses or for treating yourself to something you have been wanting! Notice how I used the word “build”. We do not want to spend our “extra spending money” every week because then you will never end up actually building up that fund but rather spending it all. The trick for this is to plan ahead and look into events or spending days you may want to go on in the near future. This is what you want to put your “extra spending money” towards. This will motivate you to keep yourself accountable and actually save up the money and not spend it as often.

Of course, it is a little challenging to save a lot of money in the “extra spending money” fund when you have other expenses to take care of first. It may not seem like it but even putting just a small amount in that fund weekly or biweekly can add up quickly. All it takes is keeping yourself accountable and not spending any money in that fund, unless you need it for an emergency of course!

Come back next week to read about factoring personal care products into your budget! 

See you soon!

Welcome back budgeteers! Today we are going to discuss how to maintain your budget when thinking about fluctuating factors in your budget such as grocery shopping! So buckle up because we are off!

Before you start making a grocery list you will first want to create your budget base for your groceries. Once you decide a minimum and maximum you want to spend on groceries then you need to decide where you want to buy your groceries. There are certain grocery stores that tend to be more affordable either for certain items or just more affordable in general. Next, you will want to create your grocery list. When creating this list try and get items that will last longer or create a good amount of leftovers so you can get a bang for your buck. This also will depend heavily on your lifestyle, so you may need to get quick and easy meals to make if you have a heavily packed day. Once you are done creating your list make sure to do a double take and go back through and take out things you may not really need. 

A very useful resource I have found very helpful is grocery pick up. All you have to do is grocery shop online and go pick up your groceries for free! I found this very helpful because I feel like when I am in the physical store I see all of these different options and feel very tempted to buy things I originally did not come for. So, when I use the grocery pick up resource I only purchase what is on my list and nothing more. Of course items like produce I would choose to go to the store and pick them out myself to make sure I find the best options.

So, to wrap things up, you want to figure out your grocery budget, create a list, finalize your list, then go shopping! After a while you will start to find items that may be putting a big dent in your budget so you may choose to swap certain items in and out to start perfecting your budget. Like I have said before, every budget will be personalized to you and your lifestyle, which means it is okay for your budget to change because your life is constantly changing! Next week we will be discussing needs vs. wants! We will dive into prioritizing what we need to survive vs. what we think we might need.

See you soon!

Welcome back to Budget Bible! Last time we were together I started to scrape the tip of the iceberg with budgeting in college and different ways that may look. In this post I am going to discuss how to create your own personal budget based on what your financial goals may look like short term or long term!

So, starting out you are going to want to evaluate your lifestyle. Where do you spend your money? How often do you spend? How could you decrease your spending or find cheaper alternatives? You will want to note all of this down and you may start noticing a pattern. We tend to put a large amount of our money into one or two sources. For example, I spend most of my money on coffee. Now a simple cup of coffee may not seem like that big of a deal but it does put a good dent in my bank account.

Once I started noticing how much money I had been spending I went through my transactions and noted down how much I was spending and where I was spending it. I was eventually able to see how much I was spending on “little” things and realized I needed to start budgeting and spending my money more wisely. I believe it is so important to have a physical budget either on a digital document or a physical document. This helps you visualize your budget a lot easier.

I highly recommend creating a monthly budget because this allows you to plan in advance but not too far ahead so you are still able to make small changes without completely throwing off your savings for the year. First, you are going to want to note down expenses you have to pay for like rent or utilities, basically any type of bills you take care of monthly. Once you have those down then start adding expenses you still need but tend to fluctuate like groceries. After you have your necessary expenses written out, then start adding more personalized items and this can all fall under “extra spending money.” This money can be used for shopping, entertainment, emergency funds, etc. 

When you have these all listed you will want to total up all of your paychecks to see how much you will be making that month. Then take out how much rent, utilities, and groceries will cost you that month. Once that is dispersed you now have a remaining total that you are able to disperse into your “extra spending money.” Now, do not put all of your extra money in this spot because you want to take at least some of your paycheck and put it in your savings account.

Now you have your own personalized budget! This is just a starting point so you are able to add other spaces to disperse your money as you please and make it even more personalized to your lifestyle. Stay tuned for another blog coming your way diving deeper into grocery shopping and finding the best deals! See you then!!