I think budgeting and practical finances should be taught at multiple stages throughout a student’s life. I thought I knew the general idea but didn’t appreciate how much neglecting it would set me back.
What is your process for budgeting? As a starting point this article lists a few methods.
I use zero based budgeting where every dollar is assigned a purpose. I don’t end up sticking exactly to the plan, but I do keep a spreadsheet which lists my current balances and all expected expenses, so I can see my future balance and avoid going in the red. A couple times a month I cross off expenses which have been paid and update the balance. This is especially helpful to me because a big portion of my income is irregular month to month.
I don’t really budget, I live alone, and make enough money to support myself and live a decent life.
But I do have a few rules:
I will never set up any kind of subscription, be it media (HBO, Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal), apps (Flightradar24, Vesselfinder), games (Geoguessr). What I will do is buy prepaid cards with credit for those services, and activate them for a set period of time, but I will never buy into a recurring charge for a service, I have seen too many people ruining their economy with subscriptions being a big contributer.
I seldom give into impulse buying expensive stuff, but if I have the money and can afford it I am not against buying quallity even if it more expensive at first.
I don’t accept a seller or sales system stressing me out to buy as fast as possible, I can and have just walked away when I felt uncomfortable with how fast the sale if being pushed, I want to have time to think about if this thing is worth it for that price and if I need it now before I buy it.