It all comes down to money. A lot of people on the DCP talk about how they feel they never have enough money, but coming in with a budget can help prevent you from breaking the bank.
There are many different ways to budget and what works for you may not work for someone else or vice versa. Budgeting all depends on what your priorities are, how much money you're coming in with, and how you want to spend your time on the DCP. That means everyone will be different. If you're new to budgeting I'll lay out how I plan to budget while I'm on the DCP to give you a starting point.
I am a big fan of the 50-30-20 rule when it comes to budgeting. For those of you who don't know the 50-30-20 rule lays out what percentage of your income should be used for different types of things. Under this rule, 50% of your income should go towards the essentials, these are rent, bills, groceries, etc. The things you need to survive. Next, 30% of your income should go towards your wants, such as eating out, going to the movies, etc. The things that make life enjoyable. Finally, 20% of your income should go into your savings.
I really like the 50-30-20 rule because it allows me to make a clear distinction of how much should be going towards what. And it allows me to clearly see my paycheck in terms of what I can do throughout my week. For example, I know on this rule I can't afford to eat out every day of the week, so it prevents me from scheduling dinner with friends multiple times a week because I know I can't afford that. Instead I may have dinner out once and then any other time I want to hang out with friends I opt for activities that are free.
Additionally, the 50-30-20 rule can be adjusted to fit your needs.
If you're still in school and don't need to be saving up money, then you can cut down on the percentage of each paycheck you save up. Or if you know you're living somewhere cheaper and don't need to allocate 50% of your paycheck to essentials they you can move it to a different category. The 50-30-20 rule is just a rule of thumb and it can be adjusted to whatever works for you.
For me I plan to stick to the 50-30-20 rule pretty closely while on my DCP because ya girl got student loans rolling in and that's always a fun time. I also don't plan on living in the cheapest housing options available to DCPers, so 50% of my income should suffice covering a more expensive rent.
Additionally, I find it helpful to write down my budget because I am a very visual learner. You can do this monthly or bi-weekly or weekly, whatever works for you. While on my DCP I will probably choose to budget weekly. The sheet can be as simple or complex as you'd like it to be. You can download budgeting sheets from Google, make your own in Word or Excel, or keep it in a bullet journal. Again it's just a good way to keep track of your money. Happy budgeting folks!
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