New Month, New Goal! This month I am focusing on my finances and planning ahead. I have always been a person who plans everything, but I could never get in the routine of planning my finances. I thought I would share my plans for how I’m going to budget this year.

I budget by month. I add up what I’ll be paid for the month, and then add up my bills. Subtracting the bills I have, that leaves me with my ‘leftover’ money. A great thing to do is to check and see if your job can put a certain percent of your paycheck into a different account. I plan to put 10% of each paycheck into my savings account. Once I pay off my debt, that number will grow. I got this marble planner from Homegoods to write down any events happening that month that might cost money so I can add that to my bills list. This helps me see out the month and figure out how much I can save that month. By figuring that out, it sets a goal for me which makes me more motivated to reach it.

Another way I plan to save is to cut out the extra things I buy and do not need. This doesn’t mean I can’t have shopping trips, but I need to limit what I’m spending money on. For example, I’ve always gotten Starbucks every morning. My latte costs about $4.70. Multiply that by 365 and that’s about $1,700, and that’s if I don’t get a pastry with it! That’s ac crazy amount of money to spend just on lattes. However, I do need caffeine to survive my days at the office. Instead of buying Starbucks, I buy my own matcha power and milk, and together it costs $180 for the year. Look at that difference.

Another way to save is by giving yourself a weekly spending money budget. It’s easy to spend money, we can all agree on that. If it’s all in your checking account, you’re more likely to buy that candy bar. By giving yourself a limit each week, you’ll think harder about what you want to spend your money on. I’m going to start putting a limit of $200 spending a week and see how that goes (wish me luck…).

Also, here’s another work outfit for you guys! This is my favorite one I’ve posted yet!

Outfit Details: 

Hope you enjoyed these tips or enjoyed reading how I plan to improve my savings/get out of debt.

January Goal Update: I ended up doing a plant-based diet with my boyfriend for the month of January to detox our bodies. It went pretty well! Anyone who knows me knows it is a huge change for me to switch to plant-based. This diet helped me feel better and more awake, which was super important when starting my new job! Would you be interested in a post about plant-based diets? Maybe I could do some recipe posts? Let me know in the comments below!

I hope you all are having a fantastic February!

xox

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