Living on a budget!

I am a student and have a tight budget.

This is the first month I am not working, but I tried to save up some money so I won't have to find a job until feb or march. I have 400€ a month to spend at the moment. That's 573$. I spend 429$ on my rent, electricity, telephone and internet.
And I use 114$a month for groceries and Momo.
I have an extra wallet in which I put 28$ a week and I try hard not to go over that money.

I think it really helps to keep the grocery money seperate. This way I am not tempted to spend this money on anything else but groceries.
I try to think of a couple of meals that I want to eat during the week and then I just go shopping once a week, usually on mondays. I used to go more often and without a plan for the week which made me spend way more.
I think planning ahead is important! Oh and NEVER go grocery shopping when you are hungry. That just makes us buy even more!!

I don't go out much. I am not a person who enjoys parties much, which probably has saved me a couple hundret dollars in my life already! I like to have friends over to cook together, watch a movie or just talk, play games, go for walks etc. When I go to the movies I do that on tuesdays! That is movie day over here and it saves quite a bit of money.

I also don't believe in going out to eat more than twice a month (well at least not as long as you don't have as much money). Mostly I dont even eat out once a month bc I love to cook, it's cheaper and I am sure healthier.

I do not have car! Now thats a HUGE money saver right there! I don't need one bc in Germany the bus and train system is amazing. No one really needs a car to get to other places. If I want to visit my parents, I jump into a train and I get there pretty quick. I also think its better for the environment if not everyone owns a car. I do plan on having a car one day, but I want it to run with natural gas. My friend just got that done with her car. She used to spend over 50€ to fill up her car and now only 17€ and its better for the environment. So that could save money too.



Well right now that's all I can think of. I might add on to this post!



Oh I also saved money in making many christmas gifts myself! :)