Money advice

[beccaboo0421]

I am a 18 year old girl living in texas. My parents are going through a divorce and I am living with the people I nanny for until I can get my own apartment. I work 9-5ish each day and make about 300 a week. I go to school twice a week at night. I need to get a second job but I don't know if anywhere will hire me since my time is so limited. I am paying for everything on my own. Car insurance, phone, gas, clothes, college...everything except room and board and my food.

I need help with a budget but i'm not sure how to start with this. I'm so lost money wise and I don't have much direction. Is there anyone who can help me?

[Financial Maniac]

I am a 18 year old girl living in texas. My parents are going through a divorce and I am living with the people I nanny for until I can get my own apartment. I work 9-5ish each day and make about 300 a week. I go to school twice a week at night. I need to get a second job but I don't know if anywhere will hire me since my time is so limited. I am paying for everything on my own. Car insurance, phone, gas, clothes, college...everything except room and board and my food.

I need help with a budget but i'm not sure how to start with this. I'm so lost money wise and I don't have much direction. Is there anyone who can help me?

Hi there. What are your expenses currently? Please give a detailed view as well as if you are paying for college on a monthly basis or do you have a loan out? Credit card debt included if you do have any and if you don't then great job! Also do you know the cost of an apartment in the area of where you go to school/work? If you can give me that information I think I will be able to help you with a budget.

[maat55]

You might consider babysitting and/or cleaning houses on weekends.

[esb3357]

Thoughts

I have always found lots of babysitting jobs friday and saturday nights. Sittercity.com and care.com are two great places to look for jobs. There are tons of families that are looking for evening sitting. I personally have had great success. I use babysit for my pocket money. I have had great success over the years.

As for you budget. If you post your numbers we would be happy to give some thoughts.

[scubatim84]

I have always found lots of babysitting jobs friday and saturday nights. Sittercity.com and care.com are two great places to look for jobs. There are tons of families that are looking for evening sitting. I personally have had great success. I use babysit for my pocket money. I have had great success over the years.

As for you budget. If you post your numbers we would be happy to give some thoughts.

You know, if there's web sites out there for finding baby sitters and you can get enough work to make a part-time, or even full-time job, out of this then this is a great idea. You can work this around your school schedule and this will help you get into an apartment and get a degree.

As others have said, there's not much we can do to help out without knowing what your monthly expenses are in detail.

[AccountantSalary]

Could you get one or more roommates to cut down on your future living expenses? If you like to write, you can earn some money online at HubPages.com or Squidoo.com.

[mrpaseo]

I am a 18 year old girl living in texas. My parents are going through a divorce and I am living with the people I nanny for until I can get my own apartment. I work 9-5ish each day and make about 300 a week. I go to school twice a week at night. I need to get a second job but I don't know if anywhere will hire me since my time is so limited. I am paying for everything on my own. Car insurance, phone, gas, clothes, college...everything except room and board and my food.

I need help with a budget but i'm not sure how to start with this. I'm so lost money wise and I don't have much direction. Is there anyone who can help me?

Sorry to hear that your parents are separating. That can be tough at any age. It is commendable that you are taking responsibility for yourself and being here you made the right step. The quick down and dirty about budgeting is you write down what you are going to spend your money on BEFORE you get your money. This allows you the ability to change your mind. Most people grow up earning money, receiving money, spending money then trying to figure out why they are out of money before the next pay check.

Write down what you spend your money on i.e. Food, Fuel, Car payment, Clothes etc. Then put a dollar amount next to each category. Your budget should look something like this.

Weekly budget:

Food $100
Fuel $30
Car Payment $100
Car insurance $25
Clothes $20
etc...

You need to figure out how you want to break it down. Most break their budget down to how many times a month they get paid. So, if you are paid weekly, then you need a weekly budget. If you are paid twice a week, then have a budget every two weeks. etc.

Once you have your budget set up, then you need to do your best to stay in your limits that you set. You will most likely find that your budget will need adjustments the first three months to fine tune. For example, if you budget $100 for food but you actually spend $125, then you need to adjust your food up a little. Keep in mind when you build your budget you need to put a name to every dollar. For example:

Weekly income is: $300

Food $100
Fuel $25
Car Payment $100
Car insurance $25
Clothes $25
Emergency fund $25

Your remaining balance is $0

So, if you need $125 for food, then you need to take $25 from somewhere else. In this case, you can not change your car payment and insurance, so you will need to learn to use less gas, spend less on clothes and save less in your emergency fund, so your new budget for the next pay check might look like this:


Weekly income is: $300

Food $125
Fuel $20
Car Payment $100
Car insurance $25
Clothes $20
Emergency fund $10

Your remaining balance is $0

I suggest you read up on Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Universe. You can read most of his stuff for free on line. Many local church's offer the 13 week class but you can learn enough on line for free.

Good luck,
Ray

[beccaboo0421]

Sorry I never replied.
I have been trying to get a budget together and my monthly expenses are kinda all over the place...
I do know this(monthly):
Car insurance: $175
Phone Bill: $30
Food: $80 (about, give or take...really need to cut down on this!!!)
Clothes: $100 or more
For school...it's all up in the air. I have ret to get my finanical aid figured out yet or a payment plan. I have no idea what i'm doing. I applied at a daycare that is open until midnight, I am hoping they call me for an interview. I will look into sittercity and care.com!!! and those websites because i do like to write!!! Thanks!!

[mrpaseo]

Sorry I never replied.
I have been trying to get a budget together and my monthly expenses are kinda all over the place...
I do know this(monthly):
Car insurance: $175
Phone Bill: $30
Food: $80 (about, give or take...really need to cut down on this!!!)
Clothes: $100 or more
For school...it's all up in the air. I have ret to get my finanical aid figured out yet or a payment plan. I have no idea what i'm doing. I applied at a daycare that is open until midnight, I am hoping they call me for an interview. I will look into sittercity and care.com!!! and those websites because i do like to write!!! Thanks!!

You spend more on clothes in a month than food??? I think you need to get your clothes budget under control before your food. $80 a month of food for one is actually pretty good.

We can't make you do anything so if you want to get your financial life under control, you need to take action. Pushing it off will only make matters worse.

Your choice.