Budget &

ExpenseBy: Cathay Wang

Housin

g After doing a bunch of research and

calculating, I decided to rent instead of

buying. Renting would cost a lot less than

buying. Less amount due each month, no

need of buying furniture, don’t need to

worry about repairing anything, and in my

case, utilities and internet costs are also

included in the rent. I really like this place

because, first of all, it looks really nice and

the rent is really nice (only 750!),

especially with it’s locations and

everything it has to offer. The location is in

Vancouver which is where I think I’ll be

working in. It’s also a penthouse suite,

which is a bonus! And the view is fantastic!

Car

Paym

entCar payments include leasing and gas money. I

chose to drive a car over taking public transport

because personally, I don’t like the feeling of going

on a bus or skytrain during the rush hours of the

day, or first thing in the morning and list thing of

the day, Not only it will waste a lot of my time, it

also creates a bad mood for me, and make me feel

exhausted after. So I chose to drive my own car,

this gives me a lot more freedom in where I want to

o and when. I really like this car. It’s a Subaru car,

which doesn’t cost a lot but also looks really good.

Leasing would save me a lot of money comparing

to buying and paying the mortgage. Leasing allows

me to get a better car with a much lower price. It

also allows me to get the newest and my favorite

car whenever my lease contract is over. And for

gas, I have a $200 budget set every month. I think

that would be enough since I would live near where

I am working at.

Food a

nd

Gro

cerie

s Food expenses include

groceries and dinning outside.

I went shopping online for food

on Thrifty Foods for a month,

and spent $319.72. The budget

I had for grocery shopping was

$250 but found it unrealistic

while I was shopping. The costs

of all the meat products

completely blew my mind, they

were a lot more expensive

than what I thought they would

be. A piece of beef would cost

$10 while chicken beast would

cost me $20. $250 would be

enough without snacks and

with very little meat, which

would be pretty unrealistic for

me ;). I also planned $100

every month for eating

outside. $25 every week is

pretty good for me!

Communication

For m

y phone p

lan, I ch

ose

Telu

s. Afte

r com

parin

g w

ith

seve

ral o

ther m

obile

com

panie

s

I found Te

lus th

e b

est fi

t for m

e.

This p

hone p

lan in

cludes

unlim

ited n

atio

nw

ide ca

lling,

texting, a

nd h

as 1

GB

of d

ata

that I ca

n u

se e

very m

onth

. I

will h

ave

no h

om

e p

hone

beca

use

there

is no n

eed to

have

two livin

g a

lone. A

nd I

won’t n

eed th

at m

uch

data

since

I alre

ady h

ave

inte

rnet a

t

hom

e.

Ente

rtaim

ent

A lot of different things are included under the

Entertainment category, Netflix, going out with

friends, gift savings and my vacation savings. All

expense for these things will be calculated as a

part of my entertainment money. I ordered a

regular set of Netflix, instead of buying TV

programs, I think the regular set will be enough for

me since the quality of the TV shows (whether it is

HD or ultra HD..) affects me. Netflix will save me a

lot of money than buying a set of TV program from

a company. I put $100 aside for going out with

friends every month. I don’t think I will be going to

very fancy places with my friends often, and I think

$25 every week going out with friends is enough.

This $100 may or may not include dinning, since I

have $100 for eating out every month already.

Ente

rtain

ment

$20 w

ill go in

to m

y gift sa

vings e

very m

onth

. I

don’t th

ink I w

ill be n

eedin

g it e

very m

onth

,

and so

I will h

ave

a sa

vings ju

st for b

uyin

g

gifts, a

nd I w

ill also

have

the ch

oice

of g

ettin

g

a ve

ry nice

gift, a

nd m

ayb

e b

uyin

g a

more

cost w

ise o

ne

. $100 w

ill go in

to m

y trave

l

savin

gs. I th

ink %

100 w

ill be e

nough sin

ce I

will b

e sa

ving $

1200 e

very ye

ar, a

nd I th

ink

that w

ould

be g

ood fo

r goin

g so

mew

here

for

vaca

tion. I m

ay ch

oose

to n

ot g

o e

very ye

ar,

so th

en I w

ill have

more

choice

s and m

oney

freedom

the n

ext year

.

Clo

thin

g a

nd

Pers

onal I

tem

s

I spent roughly $100 on buying

supplies such as soap, shampoo,

kitchen cleaning, and paper

towels. One common things

about these things is that they

all come in very large amounts

which I think will be enough for

me to use in about 2-3 months.

Which means I will only need

half of the $100 I spent each

month. Because I probably will

not need to buy these things

every month, I will probably

need a very small part of the list

every month, I have a $30-50

budget for buying these things.

For clothing, I set a $100

budget. I can buy 6-8 casual and

daily wear with it, 4-5 nicer

pieces, or 1-2 fairly good ones,

or a pair of nice shoes every

month. And I think that will be

enough for me to spend on

clothing. The of the money of

this category will be spent on

little things to fulfill my wants,

decorations, accessories, cups,

frames, pictures, etc.

Flexible

money &

Em

erg

ency S

avin

gs

I will be creating an emergency saving incase accidents

happens, need extra money to pay back a credit card

or person (then I will need to think about it and change

my budgets), repairing something, and things like that.

$200 is not very little every month, but there are lots

and lots of different kinds of emergencies in real life,

especially when I am in my early 30s or late 20s. And

this money will come in handy, or save me from a very

bad situation.

There will be $50 set aside every month

as a flexible money that can be spent in

any over budget category. I think $50

will be enough since I did over estimate

most of the costs of things and put a

little extra in every budget.

Savi

ngs

After taking away all my spending, I have a fairy

large number as my savings each month. It adds up

to 29.5% of my take home money each month.

Because I only need to have about 15-20% of my

take-home money as my savings, the rest 10-15% of

my savings will be used as investments, stocks,

housing investments, and things like that. Having

investments, and making money through it will

allow me to have more freedom in spending money,

increase my savings, and it will also open up many

more chances for my future.

That’s It! Thank you for watching!

That’s what my life will look like in 10-15 years