Budget In Fun: Creating Space For Joy When Building Your Budget
By: Emma Widmer
The word “budget” may evoke feelings of stress, lack of control, avoidance, self-consciousness, or straight-up awkwardness. For many reasons, money is not a topic that most of us want to talk about. However, I am here to tell you that budgets do not have to be about restricting and spoiling all of your fun by telling you all the ways you can’t spend your money. They are quite the contrary. They provide freedom to know exactly how to maximize your resources to reach your goals and live your life financially guilt-free! Whatever your financial situation, there are some basic principles that can help you to manage your money in a way that it will serve you and for you to serve others.
First, it doesn’t matter how much you make, you need a budget. Learning to steward your money well isn’t something that gets easier when you start getting a “real paycheck”. In fact, the more you have, the more complicated it is, so developing strong habits now will only help you in the future. But what does this look like? Here are a few simple steps to help you to build your first budget:
List All of Your Expenses
Write out ALL your expenses, starting with the fixed and nonnegotiable expenses such as rent, loan or tuition payments, car insurance, phone bill, club or sorority dues, etc. I would highly encourage you to include a tithe or 10% donation into this category. Then continue with your variable and negotiable expenses such as food, gas, subscriptions, fun spending, gifts, etc. Everything you spend money on must fit into one of your categories. After it’s all written out, rank them in order of priority. You may have bills that are due every month, every semester, or just once a year. There is some flexibility in the way you divide out your monthly or biweekly expenses, especially if you need to factor in that you make a large amount of your income in the summer; but just start by getting it all written out.
Budget Zero
Work backwards from your paycheck giving every single cent a job. Start with your income and subtract your expenses starting with your highest priority expenses. If you make a different amount each paycheck you can also use a combination of percentages and fixed numbers.
An important aspect of Zero-Based Budgeting is that at the end of making your budget the differences between your income and expenses must be zero. If after entering all your expenses it is negative, that’s when you start looking at your lowest priority expenses. What can be eliminated or reduced to decrease your overall spending? Alternatively, if you have money left at the end that doesn’t have a place, you can decide what you would like to increase. Maybe you want a little more flexibility in your monthly fun spending money, put more money toward saving for a new car, or if you are paying on debts, this is the perfect opportunity to pour extra into your payments to pay them off quicker. As I was meeting with a financial advisor, he asked what the purpose of one of my accounts was. I simply answered, “Just to have,” and was quickly reminded that is not why we save. I needed to give it a purpose, if even as broad as Big Life Event Fund such as a car, future home, wedding, etc. This was a great reminder that money is not something to stash away and grasp tightly, which can be an easy mindset to slip into. Instead, money is a tool and therefore it needs a job. So, as you are building your budget, give every cent a purpose and a place. Now please hear me, this does not mean that at the end of every pay period you have spent every cent.
This is also the time to build in funds for things that are important to you, including things that are just fun! For me this looks like Fun Spending to use on fresh flowers, a latte, artwork, etc. as well as Travel and Gift Giving funds. Part of building a budget is making something that is sustainable and simple to follow. By including these funds, if I go for a dinner out with friends or book a weekend trip, I don’t feel guilty that I should be saving that money for something else because I had set it aside for that particular purpose. Restriction is not sustainable in the long term. So by building in a cushion for things that are fun and spark joy, I’m not dipping into my other categories like paying off my loans or saving for a car when I feel the impulse to by a bouquet of flowers (it happens).
Once you have built your original budget, build a framework to track all your expenses – and I mean ALL of your expenses. It doesn’t help if you make a budget but don’t follow it! There is a ton of cute spreadsheet templates for free or on Etsy, but I have found the simpler mine is, the more I use it. I use Google Sheets because I can access it from my phone and enter my expenses in real time, immediately after I buy something. Then at the end of every week or pay period, go through your bank and credit card statements to make sure it matches your expense tracker and always make sure to pay your full credit card balance each month. It’s a simple way to make sure you are starting off financially on a good foot while you are young. At the beginning of starting a new budget, I would suggest checking-in at the end of every week to make sure you are staying on track. When you first build your budget, remember that you might need to adjust after trying it for a few months. Try as much as you can to stick to the numbers you originally set, but if there is a category you are consistently overspending in and underspending in another, you can adjust how you allocate your funds. If you are consistently overspending everywhere, you may need to address your spending habits and make some adjustments to your lifestyle choices. Remember, sustainability is the key!
Cultivate A Heart Posture of Generosity
When you are in college or beginning a new career, especially if you are working with a modest paycheck, the last thing you might want to be thinking about is giving your money away. However, I would encourage you to make the first thing on your expense list be a tithe or charitable donation. As a Christian, I know all that I have is first and foremost a gift from the Lord and with that I honor him by giving back my first 10% of my earnings to the church. This may look different for you and your faith journey; however, by starting the practice of giving out of whatever amount you have, you will form yourself into a person that gives freely and openly, cultivating the virtue of generosity and openhandedness before the Lord. The things of this world are fleeting. Although we are called to be good stewards and be responsible with our material possessions, including our finances, clutching to them will not bring us any satisfaction or joy. Additionally, I would urge you to build in a Gift Giving fund. One of my top love languages is gifts, so this is a higher priority in my budget. Things such as Christmas, birthdays, weddings, and baby and bridal shower gifts, can add up quickly. By setting aside a little bit every month it mediates the stress that can come when several of these happen at once and gives an idea of what amount is reasonable for your financial situation. While that $200 stroller would be a lovely gift, if it’s not in your budget to do so, find something that is meaningful while still respecting the pocketbook or go in on a group gift.
Snowball Your Debts
Let’s talk loans. As daunting as it may seem, consistency and a little forethought go a long way when it comes to paying off debts. I found that creating a plan and mapping out my loans in advance helped me to know exactly what my financial responsibilities were before I started to spiral into thinking I will always be broke.
My first tip is to create a snowball plan. This is the idea that you make minimum payments on all of your debts and put all extra money toward your smallest one. Then after that is paid off, you combine what you were paying on that loan with the minimum payment of your next smallest, so on and so forth. I included a template and tutorial for you to give you a general idea of what this looks like. You can play around with different amounts of extra payments to see how to realistically optimize when you will be debt free!
Secondly, do not wait until right before your first payment is due to see how much it is or to start paying on it. Oftentimes, loans won’t make your first payment due until several months after they have started accruing interest. Start paying as soon as you have the means will save you months of interest. Also, building it into your budget first will hurt a lot less than trying to work it in three, four, or six months into your first job.
While this is just scratching the surface, I hope this inspires you and makes you feel more equipped to manage your finances responsibly to reduce stress and cultivate joy! I am always willing to chat (I seriously love spreadsheets) or walk through any questions you may have about getting started. You know where to find me!
Emma Widmer | ‘24
Emma graduated from Hillsdale in 2024 after studying Art and Biology. You can usually find her working in the Student Activities Office, wandering the world foods aisle, or attempting to make friends with the closest animal. She has a deep passion for nature, strong coffee, kind people, and joyfully gathering over good food and drinks. When not working, you can find her painting, knitting, planning her next travel adventure, or perfecting her baking skills.
