For the last three months, I’ve been working really hard to reign in my finances and get control of my budget and not feel like I’m going crazy trying to pay bills, save for travel and emergencies and also like…buy groceries. So after quite a bit of trial and error, I think that I’ve finally come up with a good way to budget and save and wanted to share my 10 tips for saving money and not feeling constricted by your budget. This obviously isn’t a “one solution fits all” list, but for people who are in their first “grown-up” job and are starting to get overwhelmed with how to manage their money, these are good places to start.

1. If you have the means, pay off your credit cards. I was in the position where I had about $600 in outstanding credit card debt but almost $1000 in my savings. Once I made the decision to actually have a real budget, I closed my eyes and hit pay on my credit card debt. That $600 zoomed out of my savings and surprisingly I actually felt way better instead of sick that I lost all that savings.
2. Create a spreadsheet. It will help your sanity I promise. Make two sheets, one for tracking all the things you buy broken out by account and another that has your budget. I update my sheets weekly with what I bought, how much it cost, and what the running balance is on the account/card I bought it with. I know it sounds tedious and awful, but it helps to really see what you are buying and when.
3. Now figure out how much your essentials cost. And by essentials, I mean things like rent, utilities, car payments and insurance, student loans, and phone bills. Those things you absolutely have to pay each month. Plan on those things costing about 50% of your take-home pay and make sure to set that aside each month so you can always pay it.
4. To keep my sanity, I set aside $350 for groceries and earmark it as essentials. That way I know that I have about $85 each week to spend on groceries which both gives me peace of mind and a real budget for each time I go to the store.
5. Next, plan on setting aside about 30% of your income for non-essentials. Things like dinner out, bars, shopping…that kind of thing. It will surprise you how much this actually is, but the trick is you have to stick to it. Try to keep your budget in mind each time you swipe your card. If you can’t actually afford those $45 shoes with your October budget, don’t buy them. Just factor them into next month and plan on buying them later when you have the money.
6. Now on to savings, so I commit to saving at least 20% of my pay each month. This may not be feasible for everyone, but it’s a good way to make sure you are setting aside money for those times when your car may unexpectedly break down or you need to take a flight home.
7. Now I recommend thinking about some long term goals. Do you want to take a trip next year? Are you saving for a $300 purse? Or maybe you want to put aside money for holiday presents? Whatever it may be, factor in making a small contribution to those goals each month. You can pull from your savings percentage or your non-essentials percentage, but making these long-term savings goals can help you feel like you are more in control.
8. For these long-term goals, I decided to open two Discover Savings accounts, one for travel and one for home goods that I wanted to buy. Putting money into these accounts each month made me feel like when the time came to buy my $400 tickets to New Orleans or those $250 sheets I had been drooling over, I had the money to do it without risking my car payment.
9. Another tool good for long term savings is Qapital. I just recently started using this savings app and I honestly love it (and no they aren’t paying me to write this). It’s basically a savings app that does the saving for you. It’s a little difficult to explain in a list so here’s a handy link if you are curious about it.

Lastly, be kind to yourself. Sometimes things come up. You have to pay for an exterminator, you go over on your non-essentials budget, you really want tickets to the World Series (GO INDIANS!), or the like. It’s okay if you don’t make your budget goals spot on at first. Heck, I’ve been doing this for three months and still don’t really have a handle on it. But with some work and dedication you can build a budget.