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[dynobyke]

Tomorrow, (Saturday) I work 2pm-9pm. Sunday I have off.

I work 28 hours per week average, but I recently requested that they rotate my Sundays so I could go to church with my parents.

I go to school 12 hours per week.
My weekly Schedule looks like this
Monday: 9:30am-12:30pm School
Tuesday: 3pm-9pm Work
Wednesday: 9:30am-12:30pm (daytime class) 6:30-9 (night class) This reminds me, Wednesday night is usually a guaranteed "dinner night out", after night class. I will include this in my budget plan.
Thursday: 3pm-9pm Work
Friday: 6:30pm-9pm night class
Saturday: 11am-7pm
Sunday: 10am-6pm (every other Sunday I have off)

I work in the electronics department at SAM's club. I have a lot of energy on Mondays and Wednesdays, I go to the gym right after I get out. I also run 4 miles at night (around 10pm) at least 3 times a week. Tuesday's and Thursday's energy level varies from week to week, although even if I am tired I still push myself to get out there and run. Saturdays I have energy because Saturday night has that affect on me and I have to keep up with my friends!

A few weeks ago I was helping local people with some of their computer problems at home, making extra money, around $20 per household for about 30 minutes of work. I stopped doing that, because I just didn't have the time to balance everything and still try to be professional about it.

My parents are not struggling to make ends meet, but I definitely plan on paying them back anyway when I am making a respectable amount of money on my own.

Another small expense that I will have to include in my new budget plan: Pets. I have a dwarf rabbit, 2 Chinese dwarf hamsters, a regular "teddy bear" hamster, and a leucistic (not albino, it has regular eye pigmentation instead of purely pink) texas rat snake. I personally pay for all of their food and take care of them myself. Any spare time/energy I have also goes directly to my girlfriend! She is a big reason I also am looking forward to saving up and moving out so we can start a real life together. I have a busy and happy life, it is just lacking in financial experience.

I think I will be alright with the advice everyone has given me so far, give me a few weeks to put my new budget into action. Thanks again everyone.

[maat55]

My daughter graduated college and has been working and paying her way for two years. She has some debt, student loan and car that we want her to payoff as soon as possible. We have asked her to move back to our city and live with us for awhile to pay off her debts.

Living at home at 24 should be for a purpose. Going to school is one of them. You should find ways to earn your stay by mowing the lawn etc.

You need to write down your goals, from finishing school to buying your first house.

You also should learn to manage your spending and saving habits before you jump into CC's or any other credit. As Seeker said, you should ONLY use CC's when you can pay in full every month. You can get a gas only card and build credit with it after you have learn to budget for a good period of time. Saving and getting your degree, should be your main goals now. Good luck.

[Like2Plan]

dynobyke,
Making a budget and sticking to it is a good skill to learn early on.

Since you don't have your money earmarked for anything in particular, how about setting up a Roth IRA? Obviously, it would be good for future retirement and you would be ahead of a lot of your peers in thinking about it. Additionally, if you needed to you could also withdraw the money without penalty if "used to buy, build or rebuild a first home must be used to pay qualified costs for the main home of a first time home buyer who is either yourself, your spouse, or you or your spouse's child, grandchild, parent, or other ancestor" if it is "after the 5–taxable–year period beginning with the first year for which a contribution was made to a Roth IRA set up for you..." Establishing it now will start the clock on the 5-taxable year period.

Topic 428 - Roth IRA Distributions

In addition to saving money for your next residence (first and last rental fee plus damage deposit), you could set aside some money for furnishing your first apartment. I guarantee this would impress your parents. This would be for things that you might currently take for granted, but when you are on your own they are greatly missed. Silverware, sheets, towels, dishes, pots and pans, laundry basket--the list goes on and on.

Trust me--with you thinking ahead and making a plan you are going to find yourself way ahead of the game.

[dynobyke]

Would I set up the Roth IRA account through my own bank, or is that something only specific banks handle? I would like to set one up but don't know where to start or who to talk to.

[disneysteve]

Would I set up the Roth IRA account through my own bank, or is that something only specific banks handle? I would like to set one up but don't know where to start or who to talk to.

A Roth can be opened at almost any financial institution from a bank, credit union, brokerage, mutual fund company, etc. Where you should open the account depends on what type of investments you want to have in the account. Many people like to go with a low-cost mutual fund company like Vanguard, Fidelity or T. Rowe Price. You can go to any of their websites and get all the info you need.

[Like2Plan]

Would I set up the Roth IRA account through my own bank, or is that something only specific banks handle? I would like to set one up but don't know where to start or who to talk to.

As DisneySteve pointed out, you have to tailor the account according to your risk tolerance. Another consideration is the amount of money you plan to put into the account. Some have a minimum required amount to open the account link to Vanguard and there are fees if your account balance is below a certain threshold Fees for Vanguard (There is a $20 per year for each Vanguard fund in which you have a balance under $10,000 in an account, but they will waive the fee if you sign up for their e-service package..)

If you are planning to start out with a smaller amount, some places will waive the account minimum if you sign up for monthly automatic funds transfer (usually a $50.00 minimum) until you have at least reached the minimum.

Finally, most regular banks offer IRAs and pay interest on it. They may or may not have any minimums. A strategy might be to start with a Roth in a bank and then do a direct rollover Direct Rollover) from the bank over to a brokerage account when you have reached the minimum amount to open an account.