[A War You Cannot Win]

Greetings gents.

As the title states. I'm not good with money. I would like to budget my income so I maximize the amount I have saved up by the time my active duty service ends. I figure it's either this or start working in the oil sands when I get out.

My income: 1700 dollars a month (lolololzzzz). I get to two paychecks of roughly 850 dollars bi monthly.

My bills: 450 dollars on the first of every month goes towards my car and insurance. Then around the middle of my month, I pay 120 dollars for my cell phone bill.

Entertainment: I'm not the type of the guy that always has to be out doing things. I'm working like a dog during the week, then just drinking and reading books on the weekends, so I won't need an extravagant entertainment budget.

Food: I get food for free 3 times a day at the chow hall, but I also like to buy my own food because there's noway I will be able to reach 200g of protein a day otherwise.

So after taking away my bills, I have about 1150 dollars left per month.



Please, help me.

[RichieP]

Download an app for the envelope method for what you want to spend on food and entertainment. I like EEBA, but there are others.

Make "envelopes" for Food and Entertainment. Put the amount in that you're willing to spend each week. Every time you spend something on food or entertainment, enter it into the relevant folder.

Virtual envelopes are great because all you have to do is tap in what you spend, and it shows you what you've got left for the week in that envelope.

Also if you have a savings target, set up a separate account for it and transfer the money as soon as you get your paycheck (or even better, set up automated payments)

That said, no method will ever override your splurging if you throw caution to the wind and just spend / dont record. But the virtual envelope method is the easiest way to get all the good effects of tracking working in your favor.

[anamericaninbangkok]

iExpenseit...only you can control your money, we're not Mommies here and it sounds like you need to man up and keep track of all your expenses.

[j r]

You might want to reconsider paying more than a quarter of your income on a car.

[R Smoov]

Shit, i wish I had the money you was banking a month. But anyways, a good method of budgeting that I got from my friend WestCoast is to do a 33% method.

33% Living Wages (Bills, car payment, etc)
33% Lifestyle (Clothes, gym, etc)
33% Imvestments (stock. etc)

Based on your bills, it might be a higher percentage then the rest, but you'll be able to use the rest of that money on the other two and you'll be set straight.

Also about the cellphone bill. That shit is way too high. Do you know what type of cellphone carrier you have? Because it sounds like you're on a contract with someone. The best way to handle this is to either call them and complain until they give you a discount.

Or you can buy yourself an unlocked phone and get a carrier such as RedPocket and reduce that bill. So far I use RedPocket and I only have to pay $30 a month with that bill.

[Anaguma]

I'm assuming you are US military and teens/early 20s. If so, you are doing pretty good.
Get a checking account at PenFed and have your paychecks deposited directly to your checking: https://www.penfed.org/Savings-Accounts-Overview/
Then set aside $400 each month into your savings as emergency funds. Don't touch those unless you have to.
Open a Roth IRA account and deposit $400 a month into that too. That will be for your retirement. At the end of each year, dump all of the accumulated money in the Roth into the SPY index.

PenFed will give you a lot of benefits as military/former military that normal people will not have access to, such as incredibly good loan rates, tax and financial services, and so on, so when you get out, you will be in much better shape than most grads could hope for.

[A War You Cannot Win]

Thank you for the help.

The wallet app and the Penfed app is good shit. Exactly what I needed. Much obliged.

[jimukr104]

I am in Penfed. USAA i think better.
Cellphone bill is WAY WAY to high. If you live on base Not sure why you even need that much minutes or data but you can go down to a 40 dollar plan.Be sure to take college classes and such while enlisted. There is no reason NOT to almost have a BA when you leave. Then use your GI bill to get masters,etc.

[bacon]

120 dollar cell phone bill is 7% of your take home. That seems crazy high as a percentage of your income.

You could also save up and buy a car in cash so you have no more car payments.

[j r]

If you're active duty, start paying into your TSP. Uncle Sam will match up to 6 percent. And that's free money.

[FretDancer]

Check out Live Expenses for iOS to track your Income and Expenses. You can select reports by expense/income categories to get a good idea of where your money is going.

[Leo]

Check out Mint.com

To trim down your cell phone bill, sign up with Google Voice, Callcentric or even Skype and if you have a smartphone use the GV app or Talkatone.

To get your protein at lower cost, find the thread on here about cheap/inexpensive protein sources.

[chyamor]

I pay $35 for unlimited voice, data and text via sprint prepaid / $2 skype. There is a thread that mentions it

[Jaydublin]

Do you? I'm sure there is a recruiter in the local area.

(06-17-2013 07:50 AM)Rosca Wrote:  

Shit, i wish I had the money you was banking a month. But anyways, a good method of budgeting that I got from my friend WestCoast is to do a 33% method.

33% Living Wages (Bills, car payment, etc)
33% Lifestyle (Clothes, gym, etc)
33% Imvestments (stock. etc)

Based on your bills, it might be a higher percentage then the rest, but you'll be able to use the rest of that money on the other two and you'll be set straight.

Also about the cellphone bill. That shit is way too high. Do you know what type of cellphone carrier you have? Because it sounds like you're on a contract with someone. The best way to handle this is to either call them and complain until they give you a discount.

Or you can buy yourself an unlocked phone and get a carrier such as RedPocket and reduce that bill. So far I use RedPocket and I only have to pay $30 a month with that bill.

[PoosyWrecker]

(06-17-2013 03:01 AM)A War You Cannot Win Wrote:  

I figure it's either this or start working in the oil sands when I get out.
Please, help me.

Buy a Glock 19 every year under the military program for $400 bucks and flip it when you get out for $550+ cash. Don't shoot them, not like you could afford to do so anyways with the new CA ammo tax.

Take all the free CLEP and DSST exams you can to get more out of your GI Bill and to minimize time spent in liberal arts classes (whose professors despise you) when you're in college. Those tests now cost me $120 ea per day when they used to be free.

When ETS move to Houston and join reserve unit or TX Army Natl Guard to get free tuition at Houston Comm College enrolled in Petro Eng A.S., you can still pull post 9/11 and pell/fafsa and possibly unemployment simultaneously if you get work where you're paid under the table

I think they also have this program where you can enlist as an officer candidate and do your drills as a cadet in training instead of a joe. You will get paid like 1/4 of your current MC wage for 1/10 of time spent in uniform.

Alternatively, re-up and spend another 4 years in the hell on earth known as post-war garrison while getting paid many times less than what you'd make in the oilfields.

[AntiTrace]

Wait, are you in the military?

Because I have seen you post some incredibly anti-military stuff. Not just "mad at the big military for abusing me" stuff, but straight up "Uncle sam stole my girlfriend, murdered my pet goldfish, shit in my sink, and farted in my general direction" type stuff.

[w00t]

Some simple tips from Napoleon Hill on saving money.

Put away 20% of your income in a savings account.
Save up every coins and small change in a jar, it really adds up over time. I put all my coins from my wallet in a jar at the end of the day, like everything it becomes a habit.

To watch your spendings just write it down. Oldschool pen & paper is enough you dont need fancy apps. then see where you can lower your spendings. Saving money really isnt rocket science! Do you really need an expensive car or can you use public transportation? Do you really need 120 dollars a month for phone payments (I pay maybe 5 bucks a month)? What the hell are you spending over a 1000 dollars a month on if you get food for free and dont even go out much?

[Clyde]

Off the bat. I would call your cell phone company up and let them know you are in the armed services. There has to be a discount for government employees. 15% off will bring your bill down to 102. You just put $200 back in your pocket. Which you could put into a CD.

[Wreckingball]

At 120$ a month, that phone better give you some nice blowjobs. is that price even normal in the US? Seems like robbery to me.

Grab a notebook and a pencil/pen. Make a rough estimate of where you are spending your money. Divide into categories. See what is essential, see what is not, where you think you are "throwing" money away.
Be in control of yourself, think if you really need what you're buying before actually doing it.