As a former journalism major of Towson University, I have grown quite accustomed to the ins-and-outs of the world of WordPress. Every class meant a new blog, video, byline, biography, hook, and three creative-intensive months of my life. While difficult, the end results were almost always worth the struggle, and I reflect back to some of the copy as my strongest work yet.
One blog that I am particularly fond of is a “do-it-yourself” budget/shopping guide circa my junior year spring semester… aptly named Stylishly Smart. Over the course of three months, I gave advice on how to build and live off of a budget of your own creation. This site also saw the birth of my favorite “Favorite Things” posts. Close to my heart, I still reference this site when I am struggling to find the words I desperately want to say, knowing that if I could knock it out of the park with a subject as foreign to me as saving over spending, I can certainly string together a few sentences about nail polish.
So, in celebration of Stylishly Smart, I wanted to share with you all the post I am most proud. If nothing else, you will learn that I can certainly talk the talk when it comes to saving money, even if I can’t walk the walk.
Guidelines for a Girl Who Likes to Break the Rules
I was recently inspired by an article I read on cnnmoney.com that aimed to teach its readers how to make and live off of a budget. However their guidelines weren’t all that applicable to my life, as it was directed towards readers who are older, wiser and have more fiscal responsibilities than I do. So I decided to create a new set of instructions for how to manage your money and why, with the hope that these instructions would resonate better with broke, busy college students who are still learning how not to indulge and the importance of acting like an adult when it really matters.
1. Rules are unavoidable if you can’t say no.
If you are like me, and can pretty much always find something to buy, when you want to buy something, just to buy something, then you know monitoring your money is the only way of staying under shopping control.
2. The easiest way to follow a set of rules is to tailor them to best fit your lifestyle.
Start keeping a list of everything you spend your money on and how much it costs.
Additionally, create a set of categories (rent and bills, groceries, food and beverages, entertainment, clothing, etc.) to characterize all of the ways you spend your money and then rank those categories based on level of importance. Highlight the items on your list in colors specified to each category to see exactly how your money is being spent.
By having your purchase history color-coded in front of your face, it should help you curb purchases in certain categories (clothing, beauty) and save extra money for purchases in more important categories (bills, groceries.)
3. Don’t let budgeting run your life.
It is important to pay attention to how you are spending your money, but budgets are meant to be used as general guidelines for your life, not hard and fast rules for controlling your bank account. If you start becoming too afraid to spring for the fresh over canned vegetables because the canned vegetables are cheaper, it might be time to reevaluate.
5. Don’t stop keeping track of your spending just because you are getting a handle on it.
Its easy to let your spending habits become out of control if you stop paying attention. Remember, it has already happened once before, which is why you started budgeting in the first place.
6. Spending more than what you have in your bank account is NEVER a good idea.
You are not obligated to spend your entire paycheck every time you deposit it into your bank account. Having savings built up is a good thing.
7. Buying what you need is always more important than buying what you want.
Necessities first. Always.
8. It’s okay to indulge.
Living off of a budget is easier than expected if you let yourself buy luxury items every once in awhile. Instead of shopping every week just for the thrill of always wearing new clothing, save your leftover cash flow for something worthy of your hard earned money. It doesn’t even have to be a big, expensive purchase, but you will enjoy it much more when shopping is a special occasion not a regular occurrence.
Now to the big question… does all of this really make a difference? At the end of the day, you are capable of spending your money however you want, and regardless of the rules you set for yourself, no one but you can stop you from breaking them. But I like to think about it this way: If I spend my money however I want, whenever I want, I am not going to be able to afford that leather jacket from UK clothing import AllSaints Spitalfields that I have been dying to add to my wardrobe, and will instead be shopping in the clearance section at Walmart. Although shopping at Walmart has its perks- I love a good blue light special- in the long run my wardrobe will benefit much more from a quality leather jacket then one made of polyurethane.
Thanks to the guidelines I have set for myself, I can confidently attempt to keep track of when I spend and when I save, and the next time I venture out into the wonderful world of retail, I will feel prepared to smartly navigate through all of the sales and bargains that lie ahead.
écrivez la vie 