Namaste Y'all!

      Happy almost fall! We feel like the semester has barely started but the first set of exams is already upon us. This is the first time we both have been in school since starting this blog so this is all new territory for us. Please bear with us while we figure out how to balance everything!
       
        Today we thought we would share our experiences with budgeting while in school. Cee and I have never budgeted before and have always been irresponsible in our spending habits. We finally decided enough is enough and planned out a monthly budget for all of our expenses. Since we are living independently from our parents, we thought this would be a great opportunity to build our budgeting skills and finally be more responsible with money.

      The first step in planning our budget was to map out what we had to buy on a regular basis. We broke our budget down into the following items

             1. Rent- Thankfully our apartment is all bills paid so we didn't have to add anything else for this section
             2. Groceries ($50)- Groceries has been a little tricky and we are still figuring out how much to allot for this section and how to cut down on costs. Cee and I live together so we share our groceries. We have been grocery shopping every 2 weeks and that has helped us pre-plan our meals.
             3. Gas ($50) - Both Cee and I have our own cars but we try to carpool as often as possible to cut down costs on gas.
            4. Eating out ($30)- Putting a limit on how much we can spend on eating out has probably been the most efficient part of our budgeting. We used to eat out several times a month, but now we plan 1-2 meals a month based on whether we go to a fast food place or more expensive restaurant.
          5. Miscellaneous ($40)- We allotted a small amount for unexpected expenses that may come up or any activities or events that we attend.  This accounts for movies, events, gifts, and any other items like cosmetics or the occasional mani/pedi to spoil ourselves.
          6. Clothing ($250)- While the previous 5 sections are for a monthly budget, we're total suckers for clothing and all things fashion so we can't completely give up shopping. Furthermore, since we're  experimenting with the wardrobe capsule, we decided to allocate a seasonal budget for each capsule. We decided to put aside $250 for every season for everything including clothing, shoes, and accessories. Since we aren't starting from a completely clean slate most of our budget will go toward trendy pieces and a few items that we might need to add to our wardrobe for each season. We love to shop on a budget so whenever we see great deals for something that we think we'll get a lot of use out of for the next season, we go ahead and buy it and save it until that season comes around while still keeping account of its expense in the budget. (Ess' complete fall wardrobe is coming soon to the blog so stay tuned!)



Tips and what we have learned so far:

A. Always look at home to steal anything from your parents before you go out and buy it. I sincerely believe it's an important part of life to "borrow" the occasional Tupperware, china, or screwdriver from the parents.
B. It is a long learning curve so don't be disheartened if you go over budget occasionally.
C.Inviting friends over for dinner is more economic and will likely result in a healthier meal for everyone.
D. Shopping for clothing after the season ended will save you a ton of money. Times like this would be ideal for purchasing staple, timeless pieces like a classic trench coat, boots, etc.
E. Overestimate when budgeting for the first time, it's always better to feel like you spend less than being disappointed if you end up overspending on your budget. Keep track of your monthly expenses and adjust your budget accordingly.
F. Shopping at stores like Aldi for groceries and price matching at other stores will save money in the long run.


This blog has been a way for us to share our lives with you and budgeting is a big part of our journey right now. The biggest takeaway from this is "Adulting" is hard y'all. It has been frustrating to not be able to get Starbucks every day or just stop in at Target and pick up a bunch of stuff that I don't REALLY need but feel like I do. But at the end of the month when we see that we stayed within our budget it feels better than that cup of Starbucks we missed out on. This post has been a lot different than our previously posted content, but we hope you find it helpful. We want our blog to be more than just pretty clothes and frolicking in nice lighting so it's our first attempt at branching out into a broader blog.

Signing off,
Cee and Ess