Separate your financial goals into short-term (less than a year), medium-term (one to five years), and long-term (over five years) goals. For example, suppose you have a medium-term goal of saving a $4,500 down payment for a car you want to purchase when you graduate from college in three years. This gives you 36 months to save for the down payment. Therefore, you must save $125 per month ($4,500 / 36 months = $125 per month). This goal is specific: You are saving for the car. This goal is measurable: You know you want to save $4,500. This goal is achievable: You know you need $125 per month. This goal is relevant: You are going to need a car. This goal is time-framed: You have 36 months to save.

For example, if you wish to be able to purchase a $200,000 home, you would need to save $20,000 ($200,000 x . 10 = $20,000).

First, determine your monthly expenses and how much you want to put aside for savings. After your other finances are in order, you can determine how much you want to give to charity. You can make a monthly or annual pledge to the charity of your choice. If you need help determining an amount to give, try the Charity Navigator tool. It analyzes your income and tax bracket to calculate a reasonable amount to give. [9] X Research source

You can do the calculation yourself by looking at your pay stub. Suppose each week you earn $250 after taxes and you work the same number of hours each week. Multiply this amount by the number of weeks in a month to get your monthly income ($250 x 4 = $1,000). If you work a different number of hours every week and your net income is different every week, calculate your average monthly salary. For example, suppose over a three month period, you earned $850, $800 and $900. Add up the total ($850 + $800 + $900 = $2,550). Divide by 3 to get the average monthly amount ($2,750 / 3 = $850). For budgeting purposes, use $850 per month.

For example, suppose the semester is 5 months long and you receive $10,000 per semester in student loans. First, subtract non-recurring fees such as books, tuition and fees. Then divide the remaining amount by 5 to get the monthly amount you can live off of. So if after one-time expense you have $5,000 remaining, you will have $1,000 per month for living expense ($5,000 / 5 = $1,000).

Continue to plan for your “wants” once you’ve determined your “needs. " Even on an irregular income, budgeting doesn’t end once you’ve figured out how to cover your baseline expenses. When you find you have a surplus amount of money, decide how you want to spend it. Do you want to save a portion and divide up the rest between dining out and seeing a movie? Careful planning can help prevent you from blowing any additional earnings.

Fixed needs are necessary expenses that remain the same month after month. These include rent or your phone bill. [14] X Expert Source Samantha Gorelick, CFP®Financial Planner Expert Interview. 6 May 2020. Variable needs are necessary expenses that may fluctuate from month to month. These include gas for your car and food. Wants are nonessential expenses. These are things you could do without if you had to. These include take out coffee, cable and entertainment.

For example, suppose in a given month you will earn $2,000 from working and receive $250 in child support payments. Your total income for the month will be $2,250 ($2,000 + $250 = $2,250). Total up all of your expenses for the month. First list your fixed expenses. Suppose your rent is $850 and your phone is $250. Then total up your variable needs. Say you estimate $500 for groceries and $310 for gas and $200 for household utilities (such as electricity and water). Then list your expenses in your “wants” category. Suppose you’d like to get take-out coffee every morning for $3. 00 per day, for a total of $90 ($3. 00 x 30 days = $90), and you want to go out with friends twice per month for $75 per evening, for a total of $150 ($75 x 2 = $150). Total everything up for a grand total of $2350. Compare your income and expenses. In this case, your income of $2,250 is $100 less than your projected expenses of $2,350. You are going to have to identify ways to cut expenses to stay within budget.

Review your expenses out of your “wants” category to find any unusually high numbers. These may be the things in which you are overindulging. For each of these items, set a reasonable monthly limit to help you stay within your budget. For example, suppose you realize that $90 per month is just too much to spend on coffee. Try setting a monthly limit on the amount you will spend on take-out coffee. So, allow yourself to buy that latte twice per week, reducing your monthly expense to $24 per month ($3. 00 x 2 days x 4 weeks = $24). This will save you $66 per month ($90 - $24 = $66). Then, plan to go out with friends once instead of twice, and then just have them over for an inexpensive potluck dinner one night instead of going out. Now your entertainment expense is only $75 instead of $150, for a savings of $75 ($150 - $75 = $75). By managing these “wants,” you reduce your monthly expenses by $141 ($66 + $75 = $141). This will reduce your total monthly expenses to $2,209 ($2,350 - $141 = $2,209). This is more than enough to keep your expenses within budget. If reducing your wants weren’t enough, you would then look into reducing your variable needs, such as walking instead of driving to save on gas or clipping coupons to reduce grocery expenses. If you still needed to reduce expenses after that, you would look into how you can reduce your fixed expenses in the long term. For example, you may need to find less expensive housing.

If you have some money left over at the end of the month, consider how you could make it grow. Index funds, certificates of deposits (CD’s) and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA’s) are simple investment strategies for beginning investors. [21] X Research source

Mint is available online and as an app. It allows you to create a budget and track your expenses. You can also sign up for alerts for unusual account charges. It gives advice for reducing expenses and saving money. You also get access to your credit score and tips for how to improve it. [22] X Research source Budget Tracker is an online tool that allows you to keep track of all of your transactions and bank accounts from your computer. Track all of your accounts from one screen. Sync your transactions by importing them or inputting them manually. Keep track of your paychecks and other sources of income. [23] X Research source