The Adventures of Alora and Robert: How to live off of $25k a year

Because I work at a Bank I constantly see people struggling with how to makes ends meet without always going into the negative. A lot of people do not know how to budget, or they do not keep a close eye on what they are spending, versus what is in their account. A lot of times we may think we have the money, when in reality we don't. Another issue that a lot of people struggle with is debt. I do have to admit, I have two credit cards with quite a bit to pay off. I lost track of what I had in my account as well. And of course, emergency situations make us rack up our cards as well. My dog seems to always have an issue as soon as I pay off her vet card. I use Care Credit, which allows me 6 months to pay off each visit I go to before I accrue any interest. But anyway, I am going to show how it's possible to make $25,000 annually ($20k after taxes and 401k gets taken out). It's pretty simple, and I usually come out saving about $400 a month. This month excluded :) I need to pay off my credit cards before I put anything into my Savings account!

Rule #1 Always live under your means!! I know I'm not rolling in the money here, but I will never ever spend a ridiculous amount on food, internet, or anything else if I can help it!

Rule #2 As soon as you get paid (I get paid bi-weekly) pay off all the bills that are coming out before the next pay period. Once all that is paid off, subtract what you have left (after bills), from your estimated food and gas money. I spend about $50 every two weeks on food. Once you have set aside money for food and gas, and any other necessity for the month, put the rest towards your debt or into a Savings account.
ex. Bills (566.76) minus Income (754.44) = $187.68 Now subtract est. gas and food money. Mine will be about $100 for the month. That will leave me with $87.68, which will go towards debt.

Rule #3 This one goes along with rule #2. Get all your extra money out of eye's view so you don't feel the need to spend it. Pay off debt or put it away in Savings.

***My bills are split between two peole for the most part. What you see is my portion. My food budget feeds 2 people for two weeks ($50)***

Here's my updated budget

As you can see on my savings plan, the ultimate rewards are reward points I get from my Freedom Card. I get about $15.00 back every statement. I love my reward points! I typically use my card to purchase all of my gas and food, except at Aldi since they only except debit cards, but once I use it on my Freedom Card, I pay down my balance within that day or so. Remember, get your money out of eye's view. If I left that money spent on food/gas sitting in my checking account, I'd think I could still use it.

So today is the beginning of the month for me. I paid half of my bills, and will have to wait until tomorrow to pay the rest due to the websites. I went to the grocery store and went a couple dollars over budget. I bought extras, like breakfast and sandwich items.

I went to Albertson's because they were having an amazing sell on Pork Tenderloin. It was buy one get 3 free. So I got a little over 9lbs. in meat for $18. I also found some Pork Chops that were buy 1 get 1 free, which I only pad $5 for.
*I only go here for meat. I don't like the meat I've bought at Aldi. I just stick to the basics and veggies at Aldi. They had an amazing deal on avocado's at Aldi this week. 1 for .29, where Kroger's is 1 for .70

My receipt from Albertson's was originally $81.00!!!! Then minus my coupon and the in-store promotion it came down to $24.46. I'd say it's an amazing deal. We'll be eating all this meat for a month or two.