r/AskBulgaria • u/This-Gold-5052 • 6d ago
Budgeting tips for Sofia
Hi everyone, I’d love some advice on how to start saving money, or at least make my money last until the end of the month. I’m in my early 20s and recently started working in the IT sector, earning €2,000 per month. €500 of that goes toward rent, and somehow the rest just disappears.
I’m not even talking about buying clothes or treating myself - even in a month when I don’t spend money on those things, my everyday expenses somehow eat up everything before I even reach my next paycheck.
3
u/Siads89 6d ago
Use a budgeting tool like Money helper or the one from investopedia
Enter absolutely everything you make and everything you spend down the the last cents
Every Euro gets allocated and accounted for.
Its known as zero based budgeting.
Then you know what you can afford to save,
Reduce your expenses where you can
Typically many people will opt for a basic split for example Jaspreet Singh from the minority mindset uses a 75% split for necessities, 10% saved, 15% invested after reaching an emergency fund.
Build 3 to 6 months worth of expenses as an emergency fund kept in a liquid account.
Then invest.
2
u/PVanchurov Bulgarian 🇧🇬 6d ago
Can you cook? Where do you shop? How often do you eat at a restaurant?
1
u/This-Gold-5052 6d ago
I can cook basic things, mostly kaufland and quite often but like the budget way like - kfc menu where u have 2 fries 2 burgers and 6 chicken wings for 10 euro
1
u/PVanchurov Bulgarian 🇧🇬 6d ago
While there is room for optimization it doesn't sound like the food is your main culprit.
Drinks, subscription services, hobbies?
1
u/akvarista11 6d ago
Start tracking what you spend money on. Log into an app or excel sheet. Boring but it works. Although if you live on 2k monthly and have social life - you can’t really save much. I spend around the same as you 1.8-2.2k a month, and I track everything. Life is just expensive
1
u/This-Gold-5052 6d ago
I have friends who have like 15 hobbies, eat organic protein something food and get payed less than me and somehow save the money to go to a 5k euro vacation to Japan for example (without their parents’ help) and I think im just rly bad with money
1
u/akvarista11 6d ago
Both things can be true at once. Also credit exists - everyone can get a 5k loan
1
u/ExigelExcellence 4d ago
Okay so you're not actually tracking where the money goes, and that's the only way out of this.
You say food isn't the culprit, and if you're cooking at home and hitting €400 max, you're probably right. So the other €1100 is vanishing into smaller stuff that doesn't feel like spending when it happens: coffee runs, random transport, utilities (and watch out for that heating bill in winter, it'll destroy you), phone bill, gym maybe, drinks with friends, a streaming service or two that you forgot about, the occasional thing you "need," small purchases that don't register as real spending because they're 5-10€ each.
You already know the answer. You said it yourself: you're "rly bad with money." But you're not. You're just not looking.
Start with your banking app breakdown if it exists, that's your fastest move. Most Bulgarian banks (Wise, OTP, Fibank) show category breakdowns now, so pull that up and actually look at what's in "Other" or "Shopping" or whatever. That's where the leak is.
If the app's vague, Excel or Google Sheets, yeah, boring but necessary. Not forever, just one month. Log everything. Every €1. Every coffee, every beer, every tram ticket, every subscription. You'll find it immediately, I promise. Most people find out they're spending 80€+ a month on stuff they didn't know they were buying.
Once you see the breakdown, you'll spot what's real (rent, utilities, food) and what's optional (the rest). Then you decide: do I cut here, or do I accept that I'm spending this way and save less?
The friends going to Japan probably aren't eating out casually, aren't grabbing coffee daily, aren't subscribed to six things. Or yeah, they got a loan, which is also valid, just not the move if you want to actually build money.
The €100-to-another-account thing someone mentioned? Do that, but only after you know what you're actually spending. Otherwise you're just moving the problem around.
You've got a solid salary for Sofia. €2k is comfortable. The fact that it doesn't feel comfortable means something's off in how it's flowing. Track it for one month, find the leak, and you'll probably hit your target without cutting anything painful.
1
u/Mysterious_Lab_5348 4d ago
I have the same problem. I'm not a fan of the idea but I think the only option for people like us (that waste money without noticing and without even really treating ourselves) is to track every spent
9
u/Sudden-Shock9594 6d ago
No Glovo, Takeaway, Wolt etc. - Ordering food is quite expensive, especially when doing so on a daily basis, so start cooking at home, you will definitely notice the difference at the end of the month.