Spend-Free Days

Yes, it has been a long long time since I posted last. I have no excuses for being so slack (again) and I am not sure 'losing my blogging mojo' is the reason either. I have been very busy though, working on the house and garden.

Which brings me to the topic of today's post. I have dipped into our savings a bit too much lately and I need to rein in my spending. As you can imagine after buying the house, moving in, making repairs, laying turf, making the back garden and the odd furniture purchase, our savings are at a bare minimum. This makes me nervous. Christmas is just around the corner, the car needs servicing and there is bound to be something else around the house that needs repairing.

Some reasons for my spending lately - vintage school chairs picked up at Cobbitty Markets.

Ideally, I would like six months of essential living expenses in savings and we will slowly work back up to this. At a minimum, I feel comfortable with three months - as this is the waiting period for our income protection.

So, to get me in the spirit of reducing my spending, I am going to have two spend free days per week.

Another equally valid reason - My new toy shelf. Hopefully my lounge room will remain tidy for a bit longer.

Why spend free days?

I first heard of this idea from Frugal Trenches and I find it an excellent way to reinforce healthy finance habits.

• Firstly, you have to plan your spending. You have to anticipate when you will run out of milk and plan to buy some on a spend day.


• It also minimises impulse buys. If you want something and it is a spend free day you have to wait at least til the next day to buy it. Often you realise you don't really want/need the item and don't buy it.


• I seem to spend a lot less over the week with a couple of spend free days. When ever I go to the supermarket I always end up spending $30-$50 on a handful of items. By reducing the amount of times I go to the supermarket, I am buying less products and therefore spending less.


• It also helps you to remember your goals. I find that doing when I do the budget for the month it takes about 3-4 days after that for the motivation to wane and I forget about the budget and begin to increase my spending. By spacing out spend-free days, I am continually reminded to stay on budget and I remain motivated.

So, if you are trying to keep to your budget but are finding it hard, why not have a go at one spend free day a week?

Give Me the Cash

I spoke about our bare bones budget here. Over the weekend our pay period began so I thought I would talk about what we do to keep to our budget.

Making a budget is easy – it’s keeping to it that is the hard part. Our biggest weakness is the cards. We pay off our credit card each month but we often eat into our savings to do so. I think this is because when you hand over a card for credit or EFTPOS it is like you aren’t really paying for the item because there isn’t any actual cash.

To fix this we went cash.

At the beginning of the pay month I withdraw out enough cash for the month and then come home and divide it into envelopes. Our categories are: groceries, petrol, Mr Berry’s money and my money. These are the main categories that can be variable. Things like bills, insurances etc are usually paid automatically and are pretty much set each month. For anything else, we discuss it before hand and look at our budget; this also stops impulse purchases.

It takes discipline to not spend all the cash within a week. Mr Berry and I go about this in different ways. Mr Berry divides his money into weekly amounts and leaves the rest at home. I have all my money at home and just take it when I need it. I always know how much I have and monitor my spending so it is spread over the month. Use whatever method works for you – the important thing is that it works.

And for The Great Water and Electricity Challenge I started yesterday, here are today’s readings:

7am this morning (Monday 17/11/08)

	Yesterday's Reading	Today's Reading	Usage
Electricity	72524	72535	11 kwh
Off Peak Hot Water	50774	50784	10 kwh
Water	1499.461	1499.9145	0.4535 kl
Gas	4573	4573	0

I did use the gas yesterday for about 5 mins on the stove but it obviously wasn’t enough to turn the meter.

Staying on Track

First a note from my garden....
My first strawberry harvest!

They were absolutely delicious. Even Miss Berry noticed them ripening and every time we went outside she tried to rip them off to eat them. Well, we finally did.


I find it a constant battle to stay on track with my goals. They are not goals I have been forced to make, and I do not resent trying to meet the goals; in fact I enjoy the process. It seems there is always something that is trying to tempt you away from them, especially in a society that screams the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.

Lately my spending has started to slip. I find I am looking at shop windows or ads and thinking ‘I really do need a whizz-bang automatic apple corer and look it’s only $150 – bargain!’ Of course I haven’t actually seen a whizz-bang automatic apple corer but you get the idea. I don’t always continue with the thought and buy something but I have done it a few times too many.

I don’t think falling off track temporarily is a failure. Recognising that you are slipping is something to be proud of in itself but ignoring it won’t get you closer to your goals.

What are my goals?

I have broad goals (long term) and then more detailed goals (short and medium term) that help me to achieve my broad goals. My broad goals are:

• Not have any debt (achieved in July this year).
• Live a simple, frugal life that is environmentally sustainable.
• Save money for a very large deposit and all cost associated with purchasing a family home.
• Purchase a family home that is not a McMansion but has enough space inside to accommodate a growing family and has more yard than house.
• Make sure my family and I are healthy, exercise regularly and are not overweight.
• Be happy and enjoy my life.

My detailed goals are things like our budget and saving plan, the vegie garden or always sourcing second hand items instead of buying brand new things. These are the goals that need constant thought and attention; the broad goals will take care of themselves if I keep my eye on the detailed goals.

I think it is this principle that people (myself included) forget about and then wonder why they are not getting anywhere. It is useless to have goals, record them in a lovely inspiring way, forget about them and then wonder why you haven’t crossed any off a week later. I am going to sound very high and mighty but I think this attitude reflects what we are like as a society now. We want everything immediately without having to put any effort or sacrafice into it. This immediate gratification is one of the reasons for household debt being so high, and why a lot of people are struggling with huge mortgages. As I said earlier, this post is about me getting off track, not other people so I am now stepping down from the aforementioned animal.

Enough talking about not meeting goals – it’s time to do something about it. I hope that this blog will help remind me of my goals. I will also monitor my spending habits more than I usually do and this will begin with recording everything I buy each day. This is an excellent exercise for those trying to budget. By writing everything down you can see exactly where your money goes. Hopefully, these two steps can get things rolling again.