#FREE HOUSEHOLD BUDGET CALCULATOR FREE#

That's how much you should have to get yourself through three months of no income. Take this budget, subtract your fun money and savings costs from your take home pay, then multiply it by three. The recommendation is to take ten percent of your take home and use it for savings. It's tempting to treat yo'self when you get your first few months of paychecks, but you need to look at how much you need to spend each month to get by and save enough for at least two month's worth. But paying your credit cards down has two other benefits: you'll shoot your credit score back up by keeping your utilized credit under 35 percent and you'll simultaneously have an emergency fund to dip into.Īnd speaking of which, savings. Banks absolutely love it when you pay them off and immediately rack them back up again, paying those fees every month.

#FREE HOUSEHOLD BUDGET CALCULATOR FREE#

Pay off your damn credit cards and get some emergency savings.Ĭredit cards are not free money - at least not for you. Despite the junk older folks like to talk about those damned irresponsible millennials with their emojis and snap tweets, we're actually a fairly fiscally responsible bunch. This is the area of our budget that differs the most from the usual ones you'll find. This budget is a general guideline for the average college graduate, while acknowledging that there are no unbreakable rules - you're allowed to tweak the ratios, as long as you keep in mind that something's got to give somewhere. The problem with this approach is its rigidity and the fact that it doesn't address the concerns that recent college graduates have, like crippling student loan debt.Īfter all, how much sense does it really make to put your money into a money market account yielding a 1.5 percent return when you've got a private loan accruing at 12 percent? Or to invest in your 401k when your company only matches two percent?Īctually, you should absolutely always do that because it's free money, but you get the point.

This is stuff like dining out, gas, and shopping that you can't always set an exact budget for. Flexible Spending - Keep your flex spending that changes from month to month (and your fun money) to no more than 30 percent of your take home cash.Financial Goals - Put at least 20 percent of your take home pay toward important loan payments, retirement, or building your financial security.We're talking subscriptions to Netflix, rent, gym memberships, insurance, and anything else that you can rely on hitting your bank account on a regular basis. Fixed Costs - These costs are predictable and won't change, unless you cancel them.If you're not familiar with how it works, it goes a little something like this: Our budget is more or less a variation on the tried-and-true 50/20/30 rule that allows for the flexibility and priorities that a recent college graduate has. Sometimes, you might need to live under a staircase in order to afford that Nimbus 2000.īut here are two other statistics about millennials financial planning from that same study: one in three says they spend money budgeted for other things on themselves and one quarter says financial anxiety makes them bill weekly or monthly.Īnd there's simply no need for that - check out our instant college grad budget to get your money and mind right. If you have a devastatingly expensive gaming habit, then you might sacrifice a few meals out for high-speed internet and a revolving door of video games. It's a tradeoff - hence, you have to trade something. In a walkable city, your transportation costs will be lower while your rent is higher, and with no student loan debt you've got more flexibility for saving and investing. Ok, real talk - you probably spend too much money, even if you're part of the one in four surveyed millennials who thinks they're a 'highly disciplined' financial planner.īut budgets are tricksy, and it's rare to find one that fits a recent college grad instead of a well-established family - and individual circumstances and priorities vary fairly broadly even within the generation.

Free household budget calculator