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College Connect: Learning about the “B” word – budgeting!

By Emma Diltz

Budgeting is never easy, and it only gets harder by being a college student. Grocery shopping day becomes a necessary evil and a point of stress. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are ways to manage your budget while still being capable to purchasing what you want and need from the store.

The best way to start is by tracking how much you normally spend on what you want and need. This can be done in a couple of different ways. To start, you can just go shopping once and get everything your heart desires and see what the total comes out to, the guess and check method. But that can be a slippery slope. Instead, track what you can actually spend per month. If you have a job, factor in how much you make and separate it into spending categories: fun, bills, and groceries. This can easily be done using an Excel spreadsheet. From there, create itemized lists and decide what you need versus what you want.

Another way to stay on track is to budget per month but plan per week. I go grocery shopping every two weeks and try to spend under $150 every time I go. In order to do this, I plan all my meals, including how often I think I’ll snack and what I’ll want to drink. Luckily, items like butter and seasonings are only a one-time buy. Meal planning also helps to cut down the costs of eating out or ordering in.

I’m a big proponent of the if this, not that game. I have a major sweet tooth, so I’m always tempted by the baked goods and ice cream. I limit myself to one “give-in” item. For example, if I opt for Oreos, I pass on muffins. It gets a lot more difficult with healthy foods, but I’ll decide on sweet potatoes instead of acorn squash, or something of a similar nature so I get the taste without dropping money on both.

I also love lists. I’m a list-maker from way back for everything in my life. It’s just a good feeling to make a list and then getting to cross items off of it. It’s also a great way to stay on budget and on track while grocery shopping. It takes no time to go through the fridge and pantry to see what is missing. This is also key to not buy duplicates.

Wells Fargo offers a list of how to get started on its website, including a way to map your money. You can find it here…

It’s easy to overestimate how much you might need for the next couple of weeks, but by planning a rough estimate of meals and taking stock of what you already have, it can be an easy enough problem to avoid. Making a list on your phone or on a notepad makes a big difference between breaking the bank and staying under budget.

Diltz is a senior studying journalism at the University of Missouri.

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