#Adulting with State Farm: Next Door
By: Mariah McGhee
Tribal affiliation: Yankton Sioux
Major: Business Entrepeneurship
My name is Mariah McGhee and I am a sophomore at Arizona State University. I received a full-ride scholarship from the True Sioux Hope Foundation and I am studying Business Entrepreneurship. I am a full-time student and work 20 hours a week at the Center for Indian Education. Working while in school really helps me to not have to stress about money. I have always been good about knowing how much money I am able to spend, but budgeting as a college student is a different story.
As a college student, a lot can change within a year. Last year I was a freshman who lived in a dorm and had a meal plan. Now I live in an apartment that is paid for by my scholarship, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have to worry about other expenses. I now buy and cook my own meals, which means I make weekend trips to the grocery store for meals that’ll last me throughout the week. I also care for a puppy and commute to campus with my car, which means that every now and then, an oil change or a vet visit can sneak up on me. Also, I’m a teenage girl and I like to shop… a lot.
Budgeting is trial and error, you cannot know exactly how much you will spend in a month, a week or even in a day. Expenses come up and when they do, you want to be sure you have more than enough money to support yourself. I am from South Dakota, so I cannot go to my parent’s house on weekends to get free meals. It wasn’t until Coach John from State Farm Next Door mentioned “non-monthly expenses” and provided budgeting info where I was able to be even more mindful in my savings.
“Non-monthly expenses” are expenses that don’t happen every single month, yet are expenses that you know will eventually happen. For me, buying plane tickets to go home is considered such an expense because I do not go home a lot, maybe two times a semester. I try to buy my tickets months in advance to get them as cheap as possible and they’re usually around $200 to $300 roundtrip. Other common examples you may want to set money aside for could be regular car maintenance or annual pet visits like I mentioned above.
Using some simple, straight forward budgeting tools provided by Coach John, I followed these steps on how to be mindful about non-monthly expenses and include them in my budget:
College students, save + download + print this simple budgeting worksheet to keep your expenses in mind!
Take advantage of more worksheets and online classes on financial education at State Farm Next Door’s website.
