Budgeting for the Summer 

With Midterms ending soon and spring semester winding up in the forseeable future, it is very exciting for a lot of us to take a break from school and start our summer jobs and internships! The most important thing you want to do over the summer is making sure you have enough in savings for your next year in school! A good rule of thumb I have followed is to try and have at least $5,000 saved up before school starts up again. In this article I will outline some tips to help you save the most money possible this summer. 

First off, it is extremely important to track all your spending. If you quantify your spending, you will have good understanding of what is coming in and out of your account. Personally, I have a piece of paper on my desk and at the end of every day, I write down what I purchased and how much it cost. At the end of the week, I add up all of my expenses and see what my weekly spending was. I try to spend under $120 a week including gas, groceries, and everything else. 

Second, open up a savings account! The easiest way for me to save money is to open up a savings account and add all of my extra funds to it every paycheck. For example, if my paycheck was $200 and I spent $120 that week, I would then add $80 to my savings account, then rinse and repeat for every paycheck. Obviously, the more you save, the more you can contribute to your savings account, which equates to more money you have saved for next semester. 

Next, I would highly recommend that you spend the beginning of the summer saving up the $5,000 as fast as you can. Once you reach the $5,000 mark then you can use your extra money to go on vacation, buy new clothes for school, etc. The stress of not having enough money near the end of the summer is never a good feeling. 

Lastly, discipline is the biggest determining factor of you meeting your saving goals this summer. The more disciplined you are, the better outcome you will have. It can be surprisingly difficult to say no to your friends when they invite you to eat out or go to the mall, but sometimes you need to build the discipline to stay home! Saving your money is something a lot more people should do more often, so get in the habit of telling your friends no sometimes!

 

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