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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 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
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