On Taking Control of my Finances

I’ve spent a lot of time on here talking about the word control. I’ve talked about my faith and my health (here and here), but now I’m adding to another area of my life that needs to have added control — my finances. 

In the past, I have struggled to maintain my finances. I’ve never been in serious trouble or anything, however I really would like to set a budget and work on a savings account. Doing this on a graduate student stipend is never easy, however it is something that I am planning to really work on this year.

When I look at my finances I have a lot that I need to account for — my rent, car payment, insurance, cell phone, electric, cable, internet, and credit card. Add in gas, food, and building a savings, and living on a budget is my only option.

Rather than write out my budget for you all to see (because that would be dreadfully boring) I thought about telling you all my goals related to controlling my finances.

• Set aside $250 per paycheck into my savings account.
• Do not touch savings account unless absolutely necessary — pretend it doesn’t exist.
• Prepay my rent through May with tuition reimbursement money from scholarships.r the day where I’m no longer
• Apply for the Kappa Scholarship to help with finances.
• Take out cash for weekly expenses — only pay with cash to avoid over spending.
• Pay off my credit card this year.

Overall these goals will help me out so much if I can just get control of them! I can’t wait for the day where I’m no longer living on this stipend, but until then if I can at least keep my stress about money down, I’ll survive!