How Budgeting Helped Me Save 2000$ a Month

Summary

The author describes how budgeting helped them save over $2000 a month by tracking expenses, especially on social activities.

Abstract

The article titled "How Budgeting Helped Me Save $2000 a Month!" details the personal finance journey of the author, who realized the significant impact of budgeting on their monthly savings. Initially spending excessively on social activities like dining out and entertainment, especially during summer months with friends visiting, the author faced a setback in their savings rate. By monitoring their spending habits, the author identified that a majority of their budget was being consumed by food and drink expenses. The revelation led to a more disciplined approach to budgeting, balancing a social life with financial goals. The author emphasizes the difficulty of adhering to a budget in social settings but shares that simple changes, such as opting for cheaper food options or being honest about budget constraints, have been effective. The article concludes with an invitation for readers to engage with the content and follow the author for more tips on saving, investing, and expat living in Europe.

Opinions

The author believes that tracking expenses is crucial for personal finance management.
They acknowledge the challenge of maintaining a budget while being social, particularly when friends are not committed to budgeting.
The author admits that it can be embarrassing to stick to a budget when peers are not.
They advocate for finding a balance between enjoying a social life and being financially responsible.
The author values honesty in situations where budget constraints necessitate saying no to certain social activities.
They suggest that small adjustments in spending can lead to significant savings over time.
The author promotes the idea of budgeting for leisure activities to ensure savings goals are met.

How Budgeting Helped Me Save $2000 a Month!

Budgeting is hard but for sure it pays off!

I genuinely believe that by tracking your expenses and understanding where the money is going is essential for your personal finance.

Not focusing on the ultimate goal for budgeting (this can be different for each one of us), the immediate result is that you will find you spend a lot of money on something or on a few things really.

In my case and being a rather social people, having a weekly routine of going out, having a few drinks and often eating at restaurants is not very friendly for your monthly budget.

During the summer months and having friends visiting me in Luxembourg, you end up losing your discipline for a few days. Going from town to town, includes lunch, snacks and possibly a dinner outside.

Well, no surprise about what happened after!

Shocking was the fact that when adding up all the small drinks, quick dinners and take away food in these months I ended up spending more than 2000$ a month. I could not believe I have spent so much on food!

For sure this was completely killing my savings rate!

For many people (including me) is hard to say no sometimes (not only hard but can be embarrassing) and be disciplined when you have a budget to follow. You have to think that most likely your friends keep on living paycheck by paycheck without actually committing to numbers. Our social life makes it easy to just follow the crowd instead of sticking to our plan right?

Sometimes simple tricks as grabbing some food for the way or just joining your friends for a coffee instead of for a meal helps with the money saving.

Today I leave some room on my budget for social events but I became way more disciplined and I try to find ways to have the balance, keep my savings rate while still having a social life.

And if I have to say no, I am open and simply let the honesty speak the words…

“it’s out of my budget!”

If you liked this article be sure to leave your comment below and follow me on Medium. I usually post about saving tips, investing and a bit of my experience as an expat in Europe.

If you like my content, please check my other stories:

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. Always do your own research when investing.

How Budgeting Helped Me Save $2000 a Month!

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