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Ditched the 50/30/20 rule after 16 months, went all in on a zero dollar budget
Everyone in this sub seems to love the 50/30/20 split. I used it too, from March 2022 through June 2023. But my rent in Austin eats 48 percent of my take home, so that plan was laughable from day one. I kept forcing wants into a 20 percent sliver and feeling guilty about groceries. Last summer I switched to a zero dollar budget where every single dollar has a job before the month starts. I assign my fixed bills first, then savings, then leftover goes to variable stuff like food and gas. It feels way more honest for my actual life. The first month was a pain with tracking every coffee, but now I know where my cash lands by the 5th. Has anyone else here dumped the percentage methods because their housing costs just made them pointless?
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spencer_owens5818d ago
Zero based budgeting saved my sanity too. Rent was 51 percent of my pay in Denver so the 50/30/20 thing just made me feel like a failure every month. What worked for me was doing it in a plain notebook first, not an app, because apps want you to link everything and then you spend two hours fixing categories. I write down every bill on the 1st, then groceries and gas, and whatever is left is mine to blow or save, no guilt. The coffee tracking gets old fast but after 2 months you just know your numbers, like I know I spend about 90 bucks on food a week. Try giving yourself a small "whatever" pile at the end too, keeps you from quitting.
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