by Dina 54 Comments
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You’ve covered the basics and the extras, but now what do you do with your salary of $30,000 a year? You plan for the future, of course, and you can definitely do that and still take care of bills on a smaller salary. You can still save for emergency funds, retirement, and even yearly vacations if you do some planning and saving.
The best way to save money on any budget is to create a zero-balance budget. To do this you simply write out every single thing you need to budget for. An example of a zero-balance budget would look like the following:
Rent $600
Utilities $200
Groceries $350
Car insurance $100
Car payment $350
Gas Money $150
Spending $150
Cell Phone $75
Cable/Internet $125
Total: $2,100
You too can budget living on $30,000 a year
If you bring home $2,500 a month, though, you have $400 left over. What do you do with that? You stick it in savings and pretend you don’t have it! That’s how you make your expenses and your income equal zero and create an effective zero-balanced budget. By doing this, you don’t allow yourself to blow through your money and have nothing left to show for it.
One of the best ways to save money for the future aside for the zero-balance budget is to divide the remaining amounts into sections. For instance, if you have $400 left over, and you want to save money for a vacation, put some in an emergency fund, and put some toward a savings account, you divide it up.
20 percent of your remaining funds go to the emergency fund- $80.
20 percent goes to the vacation- $80.
The rest goes to the savings plan- $260.
This uses up all of your remaining $400 so that you have it all allotted to something.
Now you can save for multiple things at once and stick to a zero-balance budget. It really doesn’t matter how much you save, as long as you save any extra that you have so that it doesn’t just go to frivolous things and then you have nothing to show for your hard work. A smaller budget doesn’t have to hinder you from saving and being responsible with your future and your money. You can live on $30000 a year!
Do you write out a budget every month?
Check out my other budgeting articles. Can you live on $30,000, Painless Ways to Trim your Budget, 52 weeks of saving money, How to clothe your family on a budget
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Great tips. It’s so easy to just blow through our money when we know we have a little extra. What we tend to forget about is retirement, and what we’ll need down the line.
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I forgot to mention that the average retirement age keeps getting older and older, because we DON’T budget well, which leaves us forced to work longer and longer.
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Dinathat is so true Ben! Sadly, most people do not prepare for retirement. At this stage we could still live another 30 years past retirement too.
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- Jaime
We used to budget monthly, but we’ve been slack the past several months. Since my husband and I get paid only once a month, it’s a bit easier to see where money has to go every month. I may have to sit down with him tonight and do a budget for August.
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My husband is possibly getting a small raise here shortly and we’re already planning that instead of just using that as “go wild money” we’re going to save it. We’re already planning to open a savings account when he gets it.
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This is a great post,we do our best to save all we can and make sure we do not have unnecessary costs going out.
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- Shop with Me Mama (Kim)
LOVE this post and I am bookmarking this to show my hubby!! Love how you break it all down, that is nice to see.
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- Robin Rue
I love this, but I know I could never do it. I like my little luxuries like cable and getting my nails done 🙂
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- Rachael
Dave Ramsey teaches this. I love his book, Total Money Makeover.
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- gaynycdad
Instead of a budget I made my hubby get a night job!
Just kidding, we do not budget, but thankfully are finally able to save some money!Reply
- Pam
We definitely budget. Between regular expenses and medical bills, we have to make the most of our money.
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- The Harried Mom
I don’t write an actual budget out, but I know what our expenses are and what our intake is. We always try to take a little out and put it in savings. We automatically have money taken out each month for the kids college funds/529.
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- Krystal
I need to write a budget! It’s so important to stay on track.
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- Carly Anderson (@lipglosscrayons)
My husband and I just started writing a budget out tonight, actually. This is my first time ever hearing of a zero-balance budget.
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- aordinarylife
I really should budget better. It’s something I am trying to work on. Great tips!
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- mickey coutts (@ahelicoptermom)
I’d love to get to the point where we can implement a system like this. Right now, we’ve had some unexpected costs and are trying to get back on track.
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- Beth@KCMompreneurs
Everyone should have a budget. Unfortunately we have been in survival mode since we got married. Boo!!
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We have a budget. It is so great to have a plan. It is the unexpected that throws us off now and then.
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- Bekki
I just took a class on budgeting and learned a lot. You tips helped me too so now to put all that knowledge together and start saving!
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I don’t, but I should. I do realize the value of seeing where your money is going on paper.
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- yumeating
For the last few years we have not been very good about a budget because we were both in school and once we paid bills we did not have any extra money. Now that we have both graduated and are in need of paying off some debt again along with those school loans we’ll have to set up a budget so that money isn’t being wasted.
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I can’t imagine living on 30K a year. My mortgage alone is $14,376, so that wouldn’t leave very much for food, utilities, etc.
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- Dina
Wow!!! My mortgage is $5800. Whew I know I live in a fairly low cost of living area though.
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- Shell Things (@shellthings)
We do write out a budget every month. Your rent is super cheap! I don’t live in an expensive area, but it’s near impossible to find anything that cheap!
This is amazing. I really need to revamp my budget!
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- lisamc7
If something ever happened to my husband or I and we couldn’t work, this is where we would be with a family of 6. Thanks for sharing this!
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- Christie
You’re so organized! I love these money saving tips
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We do a budget every year. That way we can adjust based on pay increases or decreases.
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- Debbie L.
My hubby is a great saver – I love sales and coupons. Together we make a great team
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These are great tips. I’ve only just started writing a budget every single month when I realized that I wasn’t saving as much as I liked. Since starting a budget, I have been able to save more consistently.
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It is so important to have a budget! Thanks for keeping it real and sharing your budget and living tips. It can be done!
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- mommart
I do not write out a budget each month. But I do keep track of my expenditures and try to stay within my means.
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- thechattymomma
This is great advice for some areas. The concept can work anywhere though.
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- Ann B (@AnnBac9)
No, I do not write out a budget but I really should, I spend way too much on groceries and take out.
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- Dawn McAlexander Crawford
These are some really great tips! I think no matter how much money you make, you should always be able to survive on the minimal amount each year in case of an emergency or a laid off job!
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- Liz Mays
I always put my money into savings first so then I don’t feel like I’m missing out. I’ve built up a pretty cozy nest egg that way.
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- Brett
We rarely write out a budget. We definitely save and talk about what we’re spending.
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- Marina MommySnippets
Great budgeting tips. We use a budget often.
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- Jennifer
Great tips but our rent and utilities are a LOT more so it’s harder to get a budget going in our situation.
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This is something we are striving to do. My husband had to take a new job (making less) and I am scaling back to part time. Thank you!
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- Amanda
This is a great post. I’m sure this can help a lot of people. I live outside of the DC area and it’s very expensive. While this wouldn’t work for us, it’s a good start at a budget.
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Great budgeting on $30,000. It can be done, when we had three kids we lived on one budget and were great budget-ters.
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- StacieinAtlanta
A budget does make a difference. If you’ve never done it, you eyes will be opened. You will be amazed at where your money has been going.
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- Shannon Gosney
That’s a great budget. I wish our rent was $600 a month. In California, it’s closer to $1300.
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- creatingcookingandkiddos
This is a really great plan! Thanks for the tips!
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- Bev
Do you need have medical insurance or bills? We pay almost $800 a month for medical for our family.
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- Melissa M. Miller
I use a spreadsheet that has become my holy grail! It not only allow me to set a budget, but allows me to track my daily spending to see where there are areas of opportunity.
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- al
you need to mention single people only without children and where would one find 600 a month for rent??? and 200 a month for utilities??? Is this gross wages of 30K a year or take home?
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- Dina
I’m a property manager of 15 homes/apartments in my area. I have one rented right now at 590. The utilities there are right at 200. I’m sure it’s not like that in california. We are in Tn lower cost of living I guess.
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- Jessica Powell
wow its fascinating seeing budgets from overseas, $600 a Month for rent!!! In some places of Australia you’d pay that a week…. We live in a cheaper area of Australia, and we pay $350 a week ><
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- Melissa McCarthy
Eeeek. My budget scares me. I’m in my early 30s and work with a woman who is at retirement age; however, she is going to keep working for financial reasons. She’s been giving me advice on what she and her husband have not done and what I should be doing. So, here I am finding articles on budgeting better. Thanks for sharing this. Great tips here.
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- carm
We’ve never budget, but have been frugal for 30+ years. We are retired and our pension is $37,000 a year for the two of us. Using Craigslist, knowing when/where to penny pinch, and NOT “keeping up with the Jones” (or our very wealthy relatives) we do very well. Purging and downsizing helps too. Paying off the house before retirement was the biggest relief. Know everyone has a different situation, but living simple has it’s perks.
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- Dina
You are so right! It’s all about lifestyle & priorities. Paying off our home is our number 1 goal!
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If I make 30K a year I will not have a monthly take home of 2500 a month. My take home is about 1600 or 1700. Also where am I going to find a place to rent for $600 a month? Also you for got some important things such as paying tithing to your church and savings.
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