New budget in a new country

Today we’re talking about budgets and more specifically, the slight struggle I’m going through with estimating how to budget for a new life in a new country.

I know Canada and the U.S. are similar, but they aren’t the same, which means things can either cost more or less here than what I paid in Canada.

Before we start, since we’re speaking of budgets, check this out:

Via Best Article

Anyway back to me and my USA budget. 🙂

Coming up with a preliminary budget is not easy, especially if you are moving to another country and you aren’t sure about how much things will cost.

How can you estimate categories like car insurance, when even in Canada, paying insurance in Quebec differs from paying it in Ontario?

(For the record, it’s cheaper in Quebec to have car insurance, I paid about $300 a year, when it’s $300 a month in Ontario)

So here are my preliminary budget categories and numbers:

(Click on it to make it larger)

Frankly, it’s still a crapshoot.

I mean, the personal spending of $150 is laughable to me, just because for the year of 2011, I’ve ONLY been spending on personal things.. and not very frugally, I might add. 😛

Travel is in the savings somewhere, but again, I don’t know where/if/when I will be traveling for pleasure during my year of working.

I need to get back on track to building net worth, and I am hoping I will work so much that my free time will be cut down and I won’t be tempted to spend.. 🙂

I am hoping to come out UNDER $2000 at the end of it all, but I need to prepare for the worst.

I will also have a fixed income/salary, which means I can’t la-dee-dah with my budget the way I did before.

UPDATE: Thanks to Kevin from Thousandaire, I am looking at about $100 a month for car insurance, give or take. Maybe cheaper. That’s really good news… $1200/year is doable and more painful than $300/year but.. meh. 🙂

Can someone in the U.S., around Texas preferably, please look over my numbers?

I don’t know how much things cost, so your insight would be helpful!

About the Author

Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver. I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year. Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about my story here, or visit my other blog: The Everyday Minimalist.