Hey, guys. As you can tell by the title, I am sharing my college monthly budget. This is a very taboo subject, but I think it’s important to talk about finances. Being able to read other blogger’s budgets has taught me so much about managing money and I want to do the same for other students like me.

To preface this, I am self-employed, so my income fluctuates a lot. On average, I think my income is probably higher than most college students, but I don’t work regular hours so there are some months where I make a lot less than most college students. After two years of self-employment, months like that are (thankfully) less frequent, but they still happen. I also want to preface that I don’t make money from this blog. It’s something I do for fun that I actually spend money to do rather than earn it, so I’m not one of those bloggers who’s websites fund their life.

And as a general disclaimer, I’m not posting this to be insensitive or to brag. This is my real budget and I’m sharing it in order to give other incoming college students an idea of how my budget is structured. I know college students who spend more than me and students who spend less than me, so this is not a one size fit all. It’s just an example.

So without further ado, here is my budget.

//My College Budget//

//Rent: $471.80

I am living in a dorm this year. Dorms are infamously known for being more expensive than apartment rent, which is why I originally planned on renting an apartment this year. I told myself that the only reason I would move to a dorm would be if I found one that is cheaper than rent at an apartment.

Needless to say, I found one. The dorm costs $2,349 per semester, so roughly $472 per month. I actually took out a student loan at the beginning of the semester because there wasn’t a monthly payment plan. My mom told me to pay for housing out of pocket using my savings and my dad told to take out a loan and pay it off after I graduate in the 6-months grace period where I’m not charged interest.

I took a piece out of both of their advice and decided to treat the loan like rent. I divided the loan amount by five (August to December) and will pay it off piece by piece over the next few months. The good thing about this process is that it will help build my credit and there won’t be a huge dip in my savings account.

Because I’m living in a dorm, I won’t have to pay for utilities. It’s already included in the housing fee. Here are some things are included:

Electricity
Water
Internet
Cable (I don’t have a T.V. so it doesn’t matter)
Bathroom Cleaning – I live in a suite, so there are two rooms with four girls and one bathroom in the middle. Once a week, custodians come in to clean our bathrooms so we don’t have to. They even restock the toilet paper, so we don’t need to steal any from our parents’ houses (haha).
Etc.

//Gas: $100

I drive back home every Friday and come back to the dorm on Sundays. This is in part because of work and mostly because my brother has autism. My mom needs my help with him and he misses me a lot. I miss him a lot too. I’ll talk more about that transition soon, but the point is that I wouldn’t be driving home that often if I didn’t have a sibling with special needs.

It takes a little over an hour to get home, so I spend about 10 hours each month just driving in between places. Plus the hours spent driving for work, once or twice during the school week (I normally take the shuttle bus), and my parents using my car on weekends adds up. Gas prices in Georgia are pretty cheap compared to other states, so I doubt I’ll spend more than $100 on gas per month. I’m sure my parents will fill my gas tank sometimes, so I could budget for around $50, but I want to set aside enough pay for everything just in case.

//Groceries+ Eating Out: $50

My mom packs me a week’s worth of lunch and dinner every week, which is something I’m very grateful for. I can cook (cooking is 75% knowing how to read and 25% basic culinary knowledge like using a knife and turning on the stove), but my mom meal prepping for me has saved me a lot of time and energy.

I was about to get a meal plan, but meal plans are ridiculously expensive and my dad told me that my mom would end up cooking food for me anyway. I kept telling him that I could cook, but he was very adamant that I I focus on studying. He was right. Within the first week, I knew that I would’ve been too exhausted to cook, so I’m so glad my mom can and wants to cook for me.

Now that I’ve gone on that long tangent, I’ll get to the point. This means that I don’t have to pay for groceries. At least not big stuff. I buy bananas for breakfast and snacks to eat throughout the month, but the bulk of what would’ve been my food spending is covered.

I lumped in eating out and groceries together because I think they fall under the “food” category. In the future, they’ll probably be separate. Eating out usually costs $7-$10 at nicer restaurants and $2-$5 at fast food places, so I’ll probably spend around $15 for groceries and $35 on eating out.

I may not spend it all each month. This category is more about how much money I’m willing to spend on eating out without feeling guilty.

//Printing: $5

I’m taking two lab classes this semester, so I have to print out lots of lab worksheets every week. Printing is really cheap at my college, but I’m budgeting $5 per month for essays and other assignments. I didn’t plan on “Printing” being a category, but after seeing how many times I went to the printing center last month, I realized that it necessary to add it.

//Household Supplies: $20

These are things like shampoo, hand soap, dish soap, etc. Items that I will buy once every few months. I’ll probably get paper towels and kleenex from my parents’ house. I don’t need to steal toilet paper because the cleaning ladies leave extra in the bathroom every week. The leftover money won’t roll over to the next month because I don’t think I’ll need it. It’ll go into savings.

//Fun Fund: $30

These are for things like movie tickets, roller skating, live shows, etc. Things that I do with friends or family for fun that don’t constitute eating out. Any money I don’t spend in this category will roll over to the next month.

//My “Whatever” Fund:$25

I’ve mentioned before in other posts that I experience nerve-wracking guilt whenever I spend money. I always think, “This money I just spent could’ve gone to travel savings or rent.” This is a good thing in many ways in that I think a lot about my purchases, but that isn’t a healthy mindset to have about money. I’m much more comfortable with spending money on things like Broadway show tickets or eating out with a friend.

To combat this anxiety, I’m using what Lydia Lois calls her “Whatever Fund.” She says that it’s harder to keep a budget when you can’t spend money on fun things just for you. I completely agree with her and I think this will help me be okay with buying things like washi tape from Amazon or books to add to my collection.

//Miscellaneous: $20

This category is for “just in case” stuff because I’m sure there will be some months where I’ll need something that wasn’t planned for my budget. For example, I had an exam a few weeks ago and I needed a 4-function calculator. That wasn’t a planned expense. I literally bought it the morning of the test (Irresponsible, I know).

Before I wrote my budget for this semester, I looked at my expenses from the first month of school and realized that I needed some wiggle room for the unexpected. That’s what this category is for.

//Giving: $10

I almost forgot about this category. I think most university students do. College students are told that we’re broke so often that we forget how much we can afford and what we actually spend money on (even with student loans). When I lived at home in my Freshman and Sophomore year, I didn’t really have a set budget because I never had to think about paying for rent or groceries. I had everything I needed and only allotted some money for going out occasionally. Even though I could afford to donate a few dollars to a charity each month, I didn’t because I had always assumed that as a college student, I don’t have the ability to even though I did.

After I finished writing this post, I set it aside before rereading it. I started thinking about generosity for some reason and realized that I forgot to put charity in my budget. The thing is that my income fluctuates, so I need to save money to supplement the months I don’t make enough, like last month when my cousins came and I was too busy to work.

I also don’t think I’m financially stable enough to give 10% of my income, so I started thinking. What is an amount of money that I will barely notice is gone, but will still make a difference? I decided on $10 for now. That feels like such a low number because whenever I think of monthly donations, I think of people who donate hundreds of dollars each month. I don’t think most people do that, but that’s always what we hear about when it comes to charity and donations. $10 is how I’m starting. I think that it’s a realistic amount for me to donate monthly as a college student without feeling a pinch.

I haven’t decided what charities yet, but I think it’ll change each month.

That makes a total of $731.80.

The rest of my income goes into savings. I’m not using the 50/30/20 rule of budgeting because I think that method gives you permission to spend more money than you need to. If you multiply your income by .30 for fun spending, you’re going to end up spending all that money. I want to save as much money as I can for the future (grad school, travel, apartment furniture, etc.), which is why I’m trying to save at least 25% (if not more) of my income each month.

And I’m most likely not going over $731.80 in a month. That is the maximum amount of money I am willing to spend. There will certainly be months where I don’t eat out or drive as much. That doesn’t mean I have to spend money at a restaurant at the end of the month. Don’t spend all the money in your budget just because you can. You can put the leftover money into savings or let it roll over to the next month.

There are categories missing in this budget because my parents pay for things like my phone bill, car insurance, and medical expenses. That is usually the case for many college students and I am grateful for their help.

I hope this post was helpful to you and I guess that’s it for now. Thanks for reading.

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2 thoughts on “My College Budget Under $750”

Christian says:

September 21, 2018 at 11:35 pm

I love this!!! I need to figure something out for a budget. Thanks for a biseline and the advice. ?

Jordan says:

September 22, 2018 at 4:12 pm

This was an awesome one to read! I struggle as a college student with my budget and trying to figure out what is good for me. So thanks for the good start to doing it!