{"id":179,"date":"2014-04-30T22:35:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T22:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vanyelshadow.wordpress.com\/?p=179"},"modified":"2015-06-15T06:37:10","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T06:37:10","slug":"1st-third-budgetspending-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.abyteofcommonsense.com\/?p=179","title":{"rendered":"1st Third Budget\/Spending 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nJanuary<\/th>\nFebruary<\/th>\nMarch<\/th>\nApril<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
No-spend days<\/td>\n\u00a017\/31<\/td>\n18\/28<\/td>\n22\/31<\/td>\n21\/30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fuel<\/td>\n$151.55<\/td>\n$210.00<\/td>\n$25.00<\/td>\n$180.00<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Groceries<\/td>\n$229.09<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n$113.85<\/td>\n$110.80<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kidkid<\/td>\n\u00a0–<\/td>\n$1481.85<\/td>\n$154.87<\/td>\n$10.00<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Yearly<\/td>\nCar rego: $330
\nCar insurance: $626.50<\/td>\n		\u00a0–<\/td>\n\u00a0–<\/td>\n\u00a0–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other<\/td>\n\u00a0$422.27<\/td>\n\u00a0$244.95<\/td>\n\u00a0$1562.67<\/td>\n$262.34<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0$1759.00<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0$1935.90<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0$1856.50<\/strong><\/td>\n $622.81<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Here is a documentation of pretty much every penny I have spent over the last quarter. A bit horrifying don’t you think? I aimed to reduce my spending days, which I achieved, going from spending on 45% of days to spending on 29% of days (can you tell I love math)?<\/p>\n

However, I have failed in reducing what I have spent – it’s gone up every month! And considering that my essentials make up only a tiny amount of that, what went wrong?<\/p>\n

January<\/strong> was my best month. The big expenses here came from my yearly car related things. I had little other spending in comparison, mainly things like $40 for an entry price into a Cherry Picking farm, random food out here and there, and some leftover Christmas costs.<\/p>\n

February<\/strong> was also a low spend month, despite what it looked like. I took a leap into providing Distance Education materials for KK, and that cost me $1301.90. Some ice creams were bought and that was about it.<\/p>\n

March<\/strong> fell apart. There were a number of great deals on Lego, and I snapped up rather a large quantity of it to put in storage for KK’s birthday in May. Additionally, it was GD birthday – the requested present was a surround sound system base priced at $430 + cables. Ouch! GD doesn’t request much though, so I jumped for it and got it at a further discounted price because the model was going out of season. [Note: don’t buy cables from Harvey Norman – they are severely overpriced and you can get better ones from your local computer or electronics store]. If I spend, it’s spend big.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

April <\/strong>Things are awesome this month. I controlled my other spending, and maintained a high level of no-spend days. My biggest spend was petrol.<\/p>\n

The ‘other’ spends included three new pairs of shoes for me, because my old pair are starting to fall apart. I picked them up from DSW online<\/a>, and will still need to pay for postage eventually. I love these shoes though, and I’m on my second pair. I also picked up a new pair of swimmers for $85. Not a bargain, but they are Speedos. My last pair of Speedos that I’ve had since, uh, 2004?? are finally beginning to wear out. I’m pretty sure that’s a good investment.<\/p>\n

For the next month, I’d like to aim at keeping those spending days low, and trying to maintain that super low $$$ amount.<\/p>\n

I’ve included the cost of my psychiatrist visits and prescriptions under ‘other’ even though they are really an essential spend for me. My psychiatrist can cost anywhere between $45-100, and prescriptions are usually $6. ‘Other’ also includes my gym membership (~$70\/month) and DMH and I’s phone plans (~$25\/month).<\/p>\n

Something to note is that I’ve picked up 3-9 hours of casual work a week, on top of my regular income. Technically I guess that means I have more money, but I am squirreling it away for my house buying (which will hopefully happen in July!!)<\/p>\n

What else shall I aim for now? Well, now I have an additional source of income, so that was why I took up the gym membership.\u00a0 I have another 2 birthdays to cater for, including KK’s, which is a dangerous spending time for me. I shouldn’t have any other huge expenses. I’ll continue to aim to reduce spending (no more big purchases!!!) and reduce my spending days further. I’d love to aim for a month of no-spend days, but I know that’s highly unlikely with petrol and psychiatrist visits.<\/p>\n

Has anyone else started tracking their spending habits this year? Share and link with me – let’s try reduce our spending, and save more for those big goals.<\/p>\n

Do people want to see an update of my budget next month? Should I wait until the mid-year mark? Let me know \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January February March April No-spend days \u00a017\/31 18\/28 22\/31 21\/30 Fuel $151.55 $210.00 $25.00 $180.00 Groceries $229.09 – $113.85 $110.80 Kidkid \u00a0– $1481.85 $154.87 $10.00…<\/p>\n

Continue reading1st Third Budget\/Spending 2014<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[17,10],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6nzXS-2T","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":186,"url":"http:\/\/www.abyteofcommonsense.com\/?p=186","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":0},"title":"Thoughts of the week - 22\/06\/2014","date":"June 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"1. Life has progressively gotten more crazy around here in the last month. Hence no posts. 2. I'm continuing to love Pandora. I also rediscovered a love for 'doof doof' thanks to Elli. Damn my neck was sore after doing my dance movez in the car though. 3. I desperately\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Thoughts of the Week"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":634,"url":"http:\/\/www.abyteofcommonsense.com\/?p=634","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":1},"title":"Uber Frugal Month 2017: Days 9-12","date":"January 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"As part of a semi-serious New Year's Resolution (and both of us looking for new jobs), we thought we'd attempt the\u00a0Uber Frugal Month by Mrs. Frugalwoods. It's more me wanting to do this, I manage all of the finances, but\u00a0Eli is also on board. 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