Graduated 2 years ago, advice for budgeting please?

JillyH6

I graduated 2 years ago and started working full-time straightaway. Does anyone have any general budgeting tips please? E.g for food, travel etc.. I'm living in London and 50% of my salary goes on rent and bills, is this fairly normal?! Thanks

lovehackney

Unfortunately half your income going on rent and bills as a graduate is normal for London!
I would suggest doing an SOA (statement of affairs). This will help you budget for everything, even things like Christmas which obviously don't happen every month. I've found this to be the most effective way of budgeting, as just thinking of things like food, travel, bills etc., leaves you exposed to those one-offs, or less frequent events (haircuts, holidays etc.)

Get in to the habit of saving enough for these events each month - so if you spend £120 at Christmas, you need to save £10 a month. Save a little extra to cover any emergencies, et voila!

You just need to be disciplined to put the money away each month. I'm assuming you don't have any debts? (beyond student loan?)

frugaldad

Keeping a recorded track of your monthly expenses in a spreadsheet with formulas that allows you to see plainly how much you earn, against what your monthly overheads are would be my suggestion. I use this and it gives you a plain view on the disposable income that you do have.

When you know what money you do have left that isn't being spent on your overheads, make sure you put at lease some of it away in a savings account or something to avoid spending it. Another thing I do is think very carefully about what I buy and where I buy it from. Remember there are loads of great places to get a variety of high quality consumer goods at a fraction of the cost you might pay else where like https://www.qdstores.co.uk. I love this place it has such a variety, but it also helps to make you feel like you can spend some money without feeling guilty.

I hope that helps, happy saving!