Let me start by sharing this personal budget template that I have provided students (and I use myself). Shout out to my partner, Jackie Cameron, who originally helped me with this template. This gives you a skeleton that has some automatic calculations and gives suggestions of what categories to consider in your budget. For me, some of these numbers were very minimal when I was getting started (e.g., Fun/Hobbies was $100 and I focused on going to free events on weekends). Some of these categories may not be needed if you have parents that are willing/able to take care of certain expenses.

Remember to include all sources of income. This calculator does assume that health insurance is taken out of your gross salary so if that’s not going to be the case for you, then make sure you know your healthcare plan and add it.