How To Make Your First Budget (At Any Income)

Thank u for this. I was about to take out a loan or another credit card to get more money but I will try to budget & stuff envelopes first. I must be more disciplined. So sad I’ve lived most my life spending blindly, financial education is key from an early age.

I like to spend money, I like to treat myself and I like paying without looking at my bank acount. I tried to limit myself, to track my expenses and to have spending categories but that never worked. So when I receive my salary I try to get rid of it fast. At the beginning of each month I pay my loans, bills, I do a grocery shop and I have a set amout that I put away in savings. That way I know that what's left is for me to spend and it might be on going out or getting new clothes or paying for a vacation. If there is money left at the end of the month it goes in savings.

Great video for those wanting to start a budget. For me, the 50/20/30 method fits my needs as I have a fixed monthly income, and it allows me to identify spending habits and then filter out what is necessary and unnecessary spending.

I need to do the money diary. I'm pretty financially responsible, but my income and expenses are so random. This would help me get an idea and track my cash in/out flows.

I clicked because of the thumbnail. Once it's started I thought it was an add.

This topic is explicitly explained. My understanding grows watching this content. You are great. Nice joining you.

I don't budget, I just don't spend..... I should budget though

just out of curiosity, shouldn't student loans also come under necessary expenses, because if we were cutting out what we could live without, we would still have to pay the loan?

Coming back to this video, I realize I like a mix of both paper (transaction registers I get at the bank), and a Google Sheets spreadsheet that calculates budget percentages, wants/needs, and any exta money that's left over at the end of the month.

I am trying to get back into budgeting as I am leaving my full-time job and headed to a retail job and/or no job for a (hopefully) short period of time (I have a lot of things happening in the beginning of Feb so I planned for a small gap between full-time jobs). I have changed career paths and going back to school, so I will have a bit of a gap for a while before starting my next career. I still had a budget, writing out the bills, making sure they got paid, and saving; however, I would still spend money on random things and I don't account for them. I have a habit of shopping when I am bored. A friend of mine though will be working on accountability and making sure we don't spend $ on things we don't need/can't afford. I will definitely be fighting the urge to do that even more now.

Very informative

I wish I had found this channel years ago

Can you do a video of budgeting apps that work in latin america??!!! please!!

I’m in high school (India, where there’s no scope for part time jobs for people my age because there’s people older who actually need these jobs to make a living) and I’ve been following your channel and lots of other personal finance channels and making notes so I can start off the right way when I’m in college! I’m so happy that I’ve understood the need for frugality and it’s effects on my life. I’m very excited to get older and manage my finances! I know I might be sounding very naïve but it is what it is! If anyone has any sugggestions for me, please reply to this comment.

Great video to help people get started budgeting!

Great Series!

YNAB (You Need a Budget) has helped me finally understand how to budget and I’ve stuck with it for 3 months now. It has helped me feel much less panicked and stressed while facing a salary cut and potential upcoming job loss.

I’m already loving this series!!!!!! TFD! You guys just keep getting better and better! Thank you~~ I don’t know about anybody else but I really appreciate all the info you guys put out.

Thanks TFD, I need these tips.

I started writing down where my money was going because of corona, more time, less work. Very interesting! Last year I used to spend a substantial sum every month on clothes. This year, not much opportunity for shopping so far, and - big surprise, I found that I didn’t need a new little dress every so often. Looking at last years sums really made me wonder what I could have done with that money. Just looking at the figures can really help you reconsider what you’re spending on and if you really do need all those things.

Thanks for this! Budgeting is often seen as a way to save more money, but for me, it really helped me to learn to spend it. I'm typically very frugal and try to spend as little as possible. I found that if I was careful, I was able to afford horseback riding lessons (a lifelong dream) a few months of the year while still saving. It's a huge relief to know if you're meeting your saving goals, instead of categorizing every splurge as bad.

A cool tip I found online: you can use Google Forms to create an expense tracker and then have the form automatically export to a Google Sheet so it's nice and itemized with the date of the entry attached. My tracker has the amount I spent, the general category of the purchase, the method of payment, and a notes section. It automatically updates one of the pages on the budget I created so it's easy for me to reconcile at the end of the day or week. It's pretty neat!

envelope method is a lifesaver for me. Helped me to return my debt in 2 years, and now I'm even excited to deposit!

So far the first 3 videos in this series have a lot of good advice for those who are able to work during school consistently. My income generally comes from short term work coming in all at once, or the grading/TAing I do that only covers groceries. I had significant savings going into college but I have to travel to and from and have other expenses out of my control. I know that's why I saved, but I won't have a way to change this until I'm out of college. What advice do you have for college students who mostly get income in chunks?

My biggest issue is eating out (delivery). I dont have any room in my budget for this but I still do it and then it's becoming debt. :( When I was renting I was able to afford it but now I have a mortgage (as a single person) and need to drastically adjust my lifestyle.

*already spent 3 months tracking my income, yet cannot find pattern. It fluctuates... one month we need new couch (old couch is unsalvageable), one month my bro asking to lend him money, one month buying hygiene supplies for COVID-19.. sigh

yes! thank you for this! 😄

Anyone else totally into the fact that the video progress bar perfectly lines up with Chelsea's dining bench during close ups?

I did pen-and-paper budgeting for a while. Excel sheets never worked for me, because I would set them and forget them lol Now, I use budgeting software (YNAB) and I feel very in control of my finances.

Very well edited 👍🏽👍🏽

The Budget Mom.

At the start of this year, I set up a Google Sheet based on advice from the TFD blog and although this year has been unpredictable for income and expenses, seeing for just couple of months where all my money was going (and how much of it I saved when I wasn't able to dine out with friends multiple times a week) showed me a lot about my lifestyle, what I value, and how I can slowly start to alter my financial habits. (Maybe when it's safe to visit restaurants again, only one or two "dine out" meals per week, for example, because that's the easiest way to get a bunch of busy students together for social time.)

To get out of debt I’ve been sending 50% to debt and the other 50% of my income goes for all my needs and wants, as well as small sinking funds. Now that I’m debt free, I hope to be at around 40-50% savings, 50% needs and wants.

I have no income coming in (technically unemployed), and currently no bills other then food expenses (strange situation - room and board and everything is provided for me; I just work to maintain the space).

Nice tips on budgeting. Something we should learat any income or age.

Can you do any money advice for disabled people?

How do you budget if you have an extremely variable income? As a college student I’m often working different part time jobs throughout the year and I often don’t know how many hours I’m going to get, and my paycheck is different almost every week.

Even though I’ve been budgeting for a long time, your videos also have great, sound advice. I recently ended my employment and had to go back into my budget and figure out what was absolutely necessary for me. I’m also a grad student. Wondering if you had any tips for calculating your budget for loans or for budgeting when your income varies each month?

How do you handle the envelope method if lots of your payments go through your bank account, like the occasional exercise class or online orders?

I use the zero-based budgeting method and the envelop method! I don't spend a lot of my income yet because I do still have my parent financially supporting me, but I do pay for most of my personal spending (phone bill, my business needs, entertainment, any donation I make or other investments, snacks) and started taking on bigger responsibilities ( life insurance bills) and I realize that I unexpectedly tend to spend a lot on snacks/fast food and (before the current pndemic) dates. So I starting to use the envelope method specifically for those dates and food, the rest of my purchases are usually recurring so it works best for me at the moment! So far I have kept under-budget :)

How is it possible to spend more than you've earned/borrowed/more money than you actually have? If you don't have the money in your account or as cash, how can you spend it? If I tried to buy something and I was out of money in my account, the transaction would be declined. If I was paying cash, if I didn't have enough, the seller/cashier/whoever just wouldn't give me whatever I was trying to buy. I'm always so confused when people talk about spending more than you have. How do you do that? I feel this must be a stupid question because I see people talking about this all the time, but how is it possible??

I haven't had any income for months

as a freshman in community college, this is extremely helpful. thank you so much chelsea and tfd!

I like the information density of this video (and this kind of video). I don't have the patience to sit through long podcast-like chit chat videos.

Make a list of your values. Write down what matters to you and then put your values in order.

Set your goals.

Determine your income.
Determine your expenses.
Create your budget.