Finding My Way...My spending plan

Before I created my budget, I had to determine what it is I value and what I want from my finances. I know that I am a person that does not like to skimp on luxury. If I want something, I will make a way for it to happen. I value comfort and don't like to compromise that for anything. Knowing this, I knew my budget had to accommodate for living at my level of comfort.

What I want from my finances is automation. I don't want to use my debit card or checking account much because if something happens, I don't want to risk my paycheck being messed with (for example overdraft/service fees or identity theft). I would like to use my credit cards to pay for food and gas and pay off the card in full each pay period. I say each pay period instead of each month in order to keep the balances low since my limits are not that high. I will leave my retail store cards alone. Using credit cards will also help me to track my spending more on Mint.com.

So with all that being said, here is my proposed budget. I may be over and there will be new categories because of my new puppy. During March, I will track my expenses and try to stay as close to this as possible. In April, I will revise this as I see fit.

Income
After taxes, health insurance, union dues, and retirement, my salary is $1195 bimonthly.

Expenses

• $800 Rent and Savings: My rent is $725 a month, but I need to decorate my apartment and begin saving for a home. Each pay period I will put $400 in my Capital One Money Market Account. I will pay my rent from this account and anything remaining will be for decorating and savings. Purchasing a home is not my priority right now, so these savings will be very small. I'm not worried about spending all the extra money for decorating because I really don't have time to look for anything and when I do I never see anything I like.
• $20 Renter's Insurance: This is set up by a company through the teacher's union. This is automatically drafted from my checking account each month.
• $100 Debt Payments: I will use the snowball method to pay my credit card debt until I receive my student refund check. After that, I will have this money transferred to my Way 2 Save account each month. The savings will be used for car repairs, medical expenses, and gifts.
• $60 Auto Gas: I takes around $15 to fill up my tank.
• $250 Food and Household Supplies: I combined these two because I always purchase them together.
• $230 Electric: This is based off of my bill recently. I don't like to be cold, so I will just have to deal with paying this much until summer.
• $100 Cable and Internet: This will actually be around $60 for 5 months because of a special I ordered. Once I get a new TV I might cut out the cable.
• $120 Home and Cell Phone: Both are with T-Mobile. My apartment blocks out cell phone reception of all carriers so I needed a home line. My cell costs the most while my home is only $10 per month.
• $18 Cancer Insurance: This is kind of like a different type of disability insurance. Plus, they will pay me $50 for each routine checkup.
• $164 Car Insurance: This is divided up for the June 30th payment.
• $35 Washer and Dryer Rental: I'm going to purchase my own one day, but until then I'll keep renting.
• $100 Miscellaneous: This is for entertainment, personal items, and beauty items. This will be withdrawn each month.

Total Remaining: $393. This will be placed in a high yield savings account.

So that is it. This plan allows me to live comfortably while still being able to save. I'm a little tired now so the spreadsheet will come later in the week.

Good night!