Living on one income 101- how to manage your money and still enjoy your 20s

Updated 11/02/2021.

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Good morning, lovely dreamers, and welcome to another money related blog post. Today we want to share a bit of our experience with you, from our travels and our early 20s.   

As a couple in your 20s life should be all fun, roses, parties and so on. Still, sometimes, that's not the case. Sometimes it so happens that life gives you too many lemons and you run out of tequila, so the fun has to stop.

We, Andy and I, used to own a cafe-bar with a tattoo shop in our hometown before deciding to travel and move abroad. We bought it when we were very young, we made a lot of mistakes with it and got stuck because of our lack of experience.

Unfortunately, we learned our lessons when it was too late to do anything about it. We had no more money, we had debt everywhere, including our friends and moms. So, we were forced to close the business and get jobs.

We both worked for multinational companies until something happened and Andy wanted to move to Spain. He was offered a job here, so we quit and moved 3000 km (almost 2000 miles) away from home.

Life was still not easy because he was the only one working while we were there. For me, unfortunately, we couldn't find anything, just a little side work every now and then, as a photographer.

This turned me into a bit of a freak with our organization and money.

Which brings me to out the main idea. I decided to come up with a set of rules, a money managing system so that we could enjoy our life as well as pay our debts and bills on time.

Related:

1. 5 Key money-saving tips you need to learn in your 20s

2. Why you need to Take Control of your Money and How to do it

3. How to save money while shopping – without coupons

But enough with the chit-chatting, let's get to it!

How to better manage your money & still enjoy your 20's

1. Digital "Money envelopes"

The first thing I do when pay-day comes is to divide the money into categories.

In the past, I used to make my own envelopes, for every category - rent, electricity, gas, water, debt, food, and the rest. As you can tell, I used to handle a lot of cash, back in the day. But now, everything is digital, and thank the Universe for that!

Having a categorised payment system is super helpful because you know how much money you have to spend for the rest of the month after everything is taken care of.

2. Bookkeeping

Since we had our first business together, I've made it my side job to have a clear situation of our own money as well, and I write everything down. This is very important especially if you are living with other people in the house as well.

You can keep track of your expenses, and it cuts any discussions that may appear between you and your roommates.

3. Save

Even though it sounds like much work and that you can't possibly save money while still paying debts and with only one income coming in, yes, you can.

One way to save money is to put every small change you get from the stores and markets that are not paper, in a savings box, or jar.

I have been doing this all my life and trust me, the moment it gets full and you change the money, and you see how much you've saved - that is really amazing.

Now because nobody uses cash that often now, especially not since Covid-19 is up and about, there is a thing that I do when paying for shopping.

Through my bank, I set up a system that helps me save every time I shop. It rounds up to the closest full number and the amount between my shopping and that number gets transferred into my savings account.

For example, if my shopping is 135.95£, if you round up you get 140. The difference between 140 and 135.95 is 4.05. That amount is automatically sent into my savings. Neat, right?

Another way to save money that is great if you live in a large house like we used to, or a big apartment with multiple bedrooms, is to split the rent cost with some of your friends. Yes, there are some disadvantages to this, but it's worth it.

4. Side hustle

If you have a skill, make use of it, monetize it. It doesn't even have to be a skill. Some people make good money shopping for others, but if you are good at cleaning, for example, you could clean for your neighbours, for a fair price.

I, for instance, am also a freelance photographer and sometimes I collaborate with artists, bars, DJs and others for a little extra. It can be anything you like to do, that doesn't take much time and effort on your part.

Or better yet, start a blog! Having an online space to share your thoughts and wisdom on a subject can be a lot of fun, and making money blogging is a fun way of earning, trust me. Nothing beats that rush you get when you see that your hard work pays off!

This will help bring in some extra cash and loosen the financial burden that is on the shoulders of the one bringing in the money.

5. Have fun

Yes, learning to manage your money and being an adult takes a lot of responsibility, but let's not forget the relaxation part of all this madness. We're still young, after all.

For fun, we recommend doing something that doesn't involve so much money, like long walks, attending free events (kinda' hard in 2021, but hopefully soon!), hiking and exploring nature in general.

We also love to organise couple's game nights at our place, because it's waay cheaper, and safer now, to buy your booze and mix your cocktails at home.

We only splurge now once in a while, when we order in, and try to be socially responsible while still caring for our local businesses.

Aaaaand that's all for today, lovely dreamers! We hope you enjoyed our tips on how to better manage your money that we shared for today, and if you did, please make sure to share it, pin it, tweet it!

Our question for you is: How do you manage your money?