Let’s Talk About Budgeting

Leah Woodruff Student Contributor, Central Washington University

Madeline Darling Student Contributor, Central Washington University

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CWU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Money. It’s a topic many people try their hardest to avoid, but the harsh reality is that it is a major struggle for a lot of people, especially college students. Growing up, my dad made sure that my sister and I knew how important it was to have financial stability and to be able to achieve it, as well as, work through the rough patches while in school and later down the road in life.

I recently came across a video in my YouTube subscription box that I had scrolled passed called “How to save $10,000 from scratch | budgeting, personal finances, and saving in college!” from King’s College student Michelle Reed who I have been watching for almost 5 years, and it really hits this topic home.

Here is an easy break down of the first few things she covers in her video:

Face the Facts:

The first thing Michelle says is to face the facts of your spending habits. Track your spending for a month so you learn where your money is going and where you tend to spend the most money.

Budget:

When you learn where your money is going, now you can assign amounts of money for each of your spending categories. This is the best way to stay ORGANIZED.

Decide Saving Percentage:

If you are able, set aside a percent of your earnings, this can slowly add up over time. It is also important to create an emergency fund for the unexpected events in life.

Visualize Your Goals:

It is easier to save money if you have a goal in mind of what you are saving towards. Michelle mentions using Pinterest or creating a vision board of what your saving end goal is.

Eliminate Urges:

It can take time to gain and develop self-control when it comes to spending money. To decrease unnecessary spending do small things like leave your debit card at home, tell your friends you don’t want to spend money and have them help keep you accountable, or even have no spending days.

Make sure to check out the whole video here (she even provides the budgeting excel sheets that she uses!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zde0-1nUbBU&t=600s

Michelle’s Channel for other great videos: Click Here

HCXO