$5 Savings Plan

Let's talk money.

I've always been pretty money-conscious. My mom taught me how to save and how to live below our means. 

This past year I tried to follow a $5 savings plan which started the first week of January with $5, and increased every week by $5. At first it was pretty easy. It was such a small amount of my paycheck that I didn't miss it. However, as the months passed, it became harder and harder to put that amount into savings. I was able to save about $3,000 before I had to stop because I couldn't make it work financially. I had to pay rent and my credit card bill, which is a month's worth of gas and a few random expenses, each month.

Being a college student tends to mean that money is pretty tight. At the beginning of the year, I was still living with my mom so I didn't have to worry about the cost of food or pay her rent. In May, I moved in with my boyfriend, so I started paying rent and pitching in on groceries. Things haven't been too tight, and I've been comfortable with were I'm at. I made enough money each month to cover my expenses and still have some money left over.

This past month, I bought a new car. It came with a loan that I need to start paying back in January. With my average monthly income, I could just barely squeak by with my payments. However, my hours are going to be cut back at work this next semester due to a rather spotty class schedule. This means that I have to find another part-time job to pay off my monthly bills without dipping into my savings too much.

In January, I will try to follow the $5 savings plan again; however, I'm changing things up this year. Since I hit a bit of a wall this past year, I've decided to take the initial amount to save and alternate it with the final amount to save. This way I won't be stretched at the end of the year and will have one "easy" week and one "hard" week. I'm excited to see how this goes, and I will update you sometime in the next year!