25, full time student. Need help creating a budget to get my life together
I’m not sure if this is the right place to do this, but I am in need of guidance. As the title states, I am a full time grad student in desperate need of a budget. I still live at home in NYC and I have another year before graduation. I was never taught how to budget. I’ve saved a little money here and there, but never a substantial amount that would allow me to be self sufficient. My main goal is to save some money to go towards moving out and living with my partner within the next 2-3 years, in addition to paying off my credit card debt and eventually my student loans.
I work part time making $20 an hour, but I work about 20 hours a week or less depending on how much time I need to devote to my program. My monthly income fluctuates, but I would said it is anywhere between $1000-1200 a month. I know it is not a whole lot to work with. I tried finding some side hustles/part time jobs, but no one can accommodate my schedule. I did get work study from my school ($2.5k per semester), so hopefully that will make a bit of a difference.
I have about $3.5k in credit card debit and about $25k in student loans.
I opened a hysa earlier this year to start an emergency fund. I current have about $1k in there right now because I had work less due to my summer coursework. I started a 401k with my job, but the percentage is not a lot (roughly $20-30 per paycheck).
I don’t pay rent, but I buy my own groceries and pay for the streaming services for my family. I would say groceries is about $100 a week and the other services I pay for is about $150 for the month. I take public transportation and that is usually around $20-35 dollar a week. No car at the moment. I also have to start paying for my own health insurance by the end of this year, so that’s another thing I have to figure out. Sometimes I have to build things for school but I would consider it a miscellaneous expense maybe $50-75 a month.
I plan on cooking more at home, cutting back on eating out/uber, and doing cheaper things when I see my friends. Just reducing my overall spending.
I don’t know where to start or how to really make my situation better. I would greatly appreciate any help you may have to offer. If additional information is needed to better understand my situation, I will gladly provide it. And I apologize in advance if this is not allowed or if I’m asking dumb questions.