5 Things You Should Include in Your Budget
As part of our Women’s History Month series, Cinneah (the founder of Flynanced) and I co-hosted a series of incredible roundtable discussions with some of our favorite women in the personal finance space with the goal of fostering rich intersectional conversations around money.
One of the most important parts of our financial lives is our budget or spending plan. For those of you who are maybe just starting your financial journey, or in your first years of independence after graduating from school, or in the first couple of years of working for yourself and making our money, it can be a struggle.
We asked Mykail James aka “The Boujie Budgeter,” what are five things that every 20- something should include in her budget? Here’s what she had to share. (You can watch the full recording of the roundtable discussion, Building a Budget that Loves Your Back, here.)
What to Include In Your Budget:
Because personal finance is so personal, I can’t tell you what makes sense to put in your budget and what specific line items you should always include. It's really up to how you feel and what you value, but I do have some things that I recommend to round out a budget.
INVESTING.
Number one is some type of investing because if we don't include investing into our budget, it doesn't get done. I know that from own experience and from working with other people.
When I first started investing, it was on Acorns with $10 a week. That is $40 a month. And that account grew by the end of the year to over $500, just from $10 a week, because that's how compounding interest works. If you can spare that $10, if you can spare that $5 - do it.
SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY.
People say money doesn't buy happiness. I don’t agree. I have been a lot happier being on a budget and making more money.
Build something into your budget that makes you happy. It can be something big or small. If ice cream makes you happy, buy ice cream! Including small things in your budget to make you happy makes you feel good for staying the course and sticking to your budget.
DONATIONS.
Donations are an investment in the world you want to see. Investing is not only strictly in the stock market. So again, you can take $10 a week and invest it into your favorite nonprofit, 501c(3), a women's shelter.
I'm very passionate about donating, especially to small grassroots organizations, because our dollars really help these organizations continue to do the work that maybe we don't have time to do. Donating our dollars really makes an impact.
INVEST IN YOUR REST.
As women, we have a lot of work to do, and even more specifically as Black women. 80% of black women are the household breadwinners, so we don't have time to waste. We don't have time to sit down and really relax, and that is what's going to kill us. We have to make sure that we invest in some type of rest.
Block out 30 minutes a day to take a nap. Buy a weighted blanket. Buy a good pillow, because a good pillow can really make the difference between good sleep and not good sleep. That makes me feel good the next day when I show up at work.
We might not think about it, but investing in rest is very crucial. It’s critical.
F*CK-IT FUND.
This is a separate savings account from your emergency fund. It’s specifically for when you need to say “F*ck-It.”
Maybe I'm at a party and, you know, pre-Rona, and everybody's tripping and I want to take an Uber, but it's really not in my plan because I just bought gas. But I remember I have the F*ck-It fund and I leave. Make sure you have this.
Next Steps
Make sure you build these five things into your budget
Learn more about Mykail and the ways you can work with her
Watch the full recording of the roundtable discussion, Building a Budget that Loves Your Back, here
About Mykail:
Mykail James aka “The Boujie Budgeter” is the founder of BoujieBudgets.com, an online platform dedicated to teaching Gen Z professionals how to finance their best lives. Upon graduating with her MBA focused in accounting, Mykail became a Certified Financial Literacy instructor. Her teachings use pop-culture references and relatable language to help her audience understand confusing money concepts such as budgeting, saving, and investing.
Follow her on Instagram at @boujiebudgeter.