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Hello! I'm 23 and will start my first real job in February next year. I'm currently single, frugal, and not too tied to any one place yet.

I live in an area where public transit is decent enough to get me to work and back, so I am planning not to have a car for now. I do ride a motorcycle for fun, commuting on nicer days, and for the occasional longer trip. I might get an e-bike to shorten up commute times on less nice days.

Note that I do not have any student debt due to picking a college where I had nearly a full ride (not quite, but youth savings + internships covered the rest).

My personal rule of thumb is a modified version of the 50/30/20 rule that focuses on aggressive investment:

  • Based on after-tax, after employer Roth 401k match income
  • 50% savings/investments
  • 30% needs (basic rent, food to survive, transit, basic wellness)
  • 20% wants (motorcycle stuff, eating out, etc.). I deserve to treat myself somewhat.

"Spending" money is money that I can spend at my discretion, even if it counts for a need. So groceries and transit fares count as spending money, but a gym membership or motorcycle insurance doesn't because those are constant pre-planned expenses.

I'd like your feedback on my model and comparisons between your plans!

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[-] SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip 4 points 23 hours ago

$150/month for base food, for just me. This means no eating out, no "high-end" groceries, and doing the majority of spending at Aldi. Lots of cheap fruits and veggies, cheap chicken nuggets, and rice. With this, I've been able to spend about $30 per week on groceries and have some individual meals cost me under $1.

As for entertainment/vacations/travel, as you can see I have a fairly large $750/mo allocated for this stuff after the motorcycle expenses, and my motorcycle gives me some of the most fun I can have. It can be even used for weekend getaways.

For accessible savings, I have some money stored in CDs that are meant for just that and will allow me to survive for several months. If things get worse, I can sell some stocks.

[-] The_v@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

Rule 1 of budgeting: Never budget for the minimum. It ain't going to happen so don't waste your time. Make it realistic or slightly above where you expect it to be.

Buy good quality food, not expensive food, but quality (not cheap chicken nuggets). You are relying on good health to generate the income. Feed and take care of your body appropriately. The very last thing you want to cheap out on is food.

[-] SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip 1 points 13 hours ago

I'm not sure how budgeting against an empirically realistic value is "budgetting for the minimum." Aldi really is that cheap. Perhaps I can trade my time by swapping the chicken nuggets for raw chicken for the protein.

this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2026
12 points (100.0% liked)

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