UGHHH BUDGETING. So so so hard, yet so so so necessary! Everyone has to do it. The good, the bad, the ugly. The rich, the poor, the REALLY poor college student who just moved into her apartment (ahem). You get me.

So, let’s talk budgeting. My god, I swear when it has come to decorating my apartment, I’ve turned to Offer Up, an app where people sell their furniture and other stuff for really cheap and practically free! (I got my white super cute couch for free!) But, besides apartment shopping, I’ve really had to budget myself since I needed new furniture and basically everything else from decorating my apartment to groceries and gas!

Here’s my summer budget mantra like so:

1. Write down your monthly expenses
   1. This is so you can keep track of the EXACT number you need to have aside AT LEAST in your checking to cover all the necessities, like so: 
2. Write down your monthly goals (this is beneficial for saving and spending!)
   1. How much you wish to save!
   2. Limiting what you want to buy per month (make it positive to positively impact your life!) (Reading is great for the mind. I love reading and in the summer I have much more time for it so my goal is to read and invest in ONE book every month! I also recommend investing in a GYM MEMBERSHIP, super positive, duh!)
   3. Limit your weaknesses.
      1. I love shopping. I can’t cut shopping out of my life so I like to indulge and still limit myself! FOUR pieces of clothing per month for me allows me to buy ONE piece of clothing per week! Happy me

** Side note: Keep in mind, this Summer Budget Mantra is not for everyone (but it sure as hell should be!) If you want to save more/less than 25% a month then go for it. I just hate living paycheck to paycheck! **

I also recommend the MINT budgeting app because it connects to your bank and allows you to see EXACTLY what you’ve been spending money on and allows you to set budgets so you can see if you’ve passed your budget goal on spending too much on animal fries. (We’ve all been there).

Happy Budgeting!

xx, Bri.

LIFESTYLE REALITY CHECK broke budget LIFESTYLE money