How To Live On A Budget

The average man, instead of focusing on his mission is a slave to debt and mindless consumerism. If you truly want out of the rat race you need to bank every dollar you have and live below your means. Knowing how to live on a budget is one of your most important adult skills, its what separates the men from the boys. If you want to get your life in order, you need to get on budget.

A basic list of monthly expenses is essential and easy to do, you need to develop a minimalist mindset. First get your rent and food bill as low you can, that means a bachelor aparment and a food bill of no more than $500 a month.

You should be aiming to save 30% of what you make, that means you won’t be going out a lot, or ever. That’s good, while your friends are drinking away their youth you’ll be focusing on your rich future. Here’s how to structure things:

Monthly Expenses

  • Rent/Mortgage
  • Phone
  • Internet
  • Food
  • Haircut
  • Membership Dues
  • Entertainment
  • Vitamins
  • Household Items
  • Transportation
  • Savings

Automate Your Bills

  • Setup automatic payments through your credit card on the following:
  • Phone
  • Internet
  • Memberships
  • Transportation
  • Rent if you can

Using Your Credit Card

  • Use your credit card for all other expenses except for entertainment, I’ve got a travel rewards card and will get a free trip every year
  • This establishes good credit, will earn you points and won’t cost you fees as debit does
  • Pay your credit card off at the end of every month using internet banking
  • For some of you guys you’ll be able to pay your rent with your credit card, my building has that set up for $20 a month, I get more $ in points so it works out

Managing Entertainment Expenses

  • When you go out take only the amount you are willing to spend that night
  • This means you have cash on hand for cabs/tips/cover charge and makes sure you don’t overspend while you’re out

Google Keep

  • Instead of using a tracking service I just have a budget note in Google Keep that I update every quarter
  • My bills and rent are automated, I do my shopping in bulk every quarter for vitamins etc. off Amazon and groceries are the same every week so I don’t need a fancy tracking service
  • There really aren’t many variables I need to track, that’s the key, having everything automated and pre planned like a well oiled machine
   
Will Freemen
I'm a former equities trader and salesman and now fulltime internet entrepreneur. I've been designing lifestyles for men since 2012 based on 100% personal experience. If you like this article feel free to follow RLD on social media to get notified on the latest posts. No spam, ever.

8 Comments

  3. Thanks Will I found this really helpful.

    I’m currently trying to decide if it’s worth it to save 350$ per month by having a roommate. Do you have any thoughts on that? I’m a single guy living in the city..could cramp my style, but the extra money would be sweet obv.

    Thanks.

  4. Awesome. If it was any other expense like a car I would say drop it, but living by yourself is the one thing I would splurge on. With that said it doesn’t have to be that much more expensive, I once lived in a room that must have been 300 square feet, but not having to deal with a roomate interupting your work and annoying you with their disorganization and retardation pays for itself.

  5. Hahaha….!

    First time posting, Will, and I got to say your humor keeps your blogs entertaining;

    “not having to deal with a roomate interupting your work and annoying you with their disorganization and retardation pays for itself”

    …very funny, AND very truthful. That’s the reason I STOPPED living with others, or have others live with me. Like how you talk about “being on a mission”, you don’t have time for the dumb stuff when you are in-motion.

    My problem with budgeting is not revealing ALL of the truth in expenses, and that can be a butt-biter in the near future (for example, yeah, I keep a great body, but I LOVE burgers, fries & pizza, so my food budget is NOT $50/wk like how I routinely plan-out). Gotta keep it realer than that!

    Good point about “mindless consumerism” too. I experience “mindless loaning” from time-to-time for family members KNOWING they ain’t gonna pay back like they say they would…

    So yeah, I think your content relates to me well, and I’ll keep reading because you’re telling the truth! Check out my website too. I’m open to critique.

    WF, you da man,
    RC

  6. Haha thanks man, that’s it exactly, you don’t have time for regular people fucking up your shit.

    As for budget, food is my weakness too, I just accepted that I spend more money on food than everyone else and added the real numbers to the budget.

    As for your family, drop those motherfuckers like a hot potato or tell them no, any man who borrows and doesn’t repay isn’t worth your time.

    I’ll have a look player, thanks for the kind words and all the best (although, I’d see if you can get a straight.com instead of the wix site).

  7. Hey, i like your video and all of your content, but could you explain why its important to save money?

    I mean, buying a house is dead, and i think the stock market might crash soon, so why sould i save sll my money when inflation eats 3-4% (and growing) every year?

  8. You have to save money because you need money to live, with no savings you’re a hair away from game over at all times. You want as much protection as possible. You also want to be able to put money into your business, and if its online or service business where you can get insane returns.

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