Deliberate Budgeting

Two months ago I started a new job. New job = new income = new BUDGET! :D (yes, I really do get happy about things like budgeting.) I've been pretty stoked about my new budget, and some friends recommended I write a post about it. Voila!

Giving: I figure that if I make more money, I should be giving more money. So I did some thinking. I automatically give 10% of what I make to God. I decided to give an additional 1% to giving through my church (helping the needy locally, humanitarian efforts abroad, supporting missionaries, etc.) and 1% to giving outside my church. For that I chose 2 charities to support: The International Rescue Committee (which helps refugees) and Operation Underground Railroad (which rescues children from sex trafficking). And I made my own scholarship fund! I'm so excited. I found that if I save $20.83/month, I can give a $250 scholarship to a graduating senior from my old high school. I want give it to a first generation college student. I couldn't be more thrilled.

Monthly bills: This category didn't change much for me. I added renter's insurance (probably a good idea to have, and now that I actually have a positive income, I can afford $13.67/month!) and an Audible subscription. Soooo excited to listen to more books!

Everyday expenses: Also stayed about the same. I think that's important. I didn't want my standard of living to change much.

Rainy Day funds: After making a negative income during grad school I'm super excited to be more stable this way!!

• Emergency fund: I calculated out how much money I need for 1-month of frugal living and multiplied that by 6 months. I will have that amount of money saved up by the end of 2017.
• Gifts: I planned out how much I'll spend over a year for siblings/parents/niblings' b-days, mother's day and father's day, Christmas, and bridal/baby showers (only 5 of my friends can get married or have a baby, alright?!), and divided it by 12.
• Car maintenance: (oil changes + annual registration + estimated repairs)/12 months
• Health expenses: estimated co-pays, vitamins, etc.

Savings goals: I'm also super excited about this. It feels really good to know when I can afford what I want.

• Travel: This is my most extravagant category. I'm budgeting to be able to take one international trip and one national trip each year. It's that important to me. 
• Retirement: I am lucky enough that my work pays 14% of my salary into a 401k for me. Which is amazing. It's almost as much as what I should be contributing myself, so I'm pretty much off the hook, but I still invest $100/month into a Roth IRA through Betterment.com. I used to invest with a personal financial advisor, but after reading I Will Teach You to be Rich, I decided to make the switch (financial advisor's costs: 0.75%. Betterment's automated service: 0.35%...which adds up to thousands of dollars by the time I retire.) 
• Pay back Mom and Dad: I'll be out of debt to my parents by the end of 2016. Which is the last debt I have (happy dance!).
• Next car: I'm pretty excited about this one. I've paid off my car loan in April, and I decided that I'm never going to go in debt for a car again. So I'm paying myself a car loan now, and I'll have enough to get a new car in 5 years (when my current car is 10 years old). The other day I took my car to the dealer for a service, and they tried to get me to upgrade. I was tempted for half a second, but this plan helped me stick to my guns. So far I'm keeping this money in Prosper.com. Prosper is a peer-to-peer lending service like Lending Club. Basically I divide my money into different $25 chunks and invest that tiny bit into a lot of different loans. Prosper helps me vet the borrowers so I can allocate my risk appropriately. Let me tell you, it feels amazing to be lending money to people who earn twice as much money as I do. Wabaam!
• House downpayment: Yep. I'm saving up for a house. The plan is to have 5% in 3 years. I have part of this in Betterment (25% stocks 75% bonds allocation) and part in Prosper. Maybe when it gets closer I'll keep some in the bank too. Oh, my bank is pretty cool. I did some research and found one that gives me 1.6%. Which is a heck of a lot better than the (I kid you not) 0.015% interest I was getting at my old credit union.

And that's it! I have like $11 unaccounted for with this current budget. I've thought about putting it to my future kids' tuition in a Betterment account. For now, I'm pretty happy with this plan. Do you keep a budget? What part are you most excited about?