Good Morning DINKS. I recently had a financial break through regarding my personal spending and my budget. Over the past 6 months I have been tracking my personal spending in hopes of learning to live on less and save some extra money every week. On an average I spend approximately $200 per week which includes buying supplies for the household, groceries, personal spending, eating out, as well as buying snacks and coffee while I am at work.
I decided to try a 6 month ban on my personal spending of all non essential items. I am going to learn to live on less and not spend any money on clothes, bath and beauty products, perfume, music, DVDs, movies, or Wii Games. Essential items for the household and daily living necessities such as groceries are definitely ok, but for the next 6 months I am going to live without any luxuries. There is no particular reason why I am trying to spend less other than to see if I can actually do it. Also, if I spend less money I can save more money.
I am hoping that my 6 month personal spending ban lowers my weekly spending to $150 per week. My $150 per week budget will include spending approximately $100 on groceries $20 on food and snacks and an extra $30 for household items. I am really not concerned about where the $150 goes or how I spend it, I am only concerned about sticking to the overall budget of $150 per week.
This has been my exact problem in the past. Before I came up with my new plan for my budget I was always trying to micro manage my budget. I was trying to control my personal spending by tracking every single cent that I earned and that I spent. Then I had a budget revelation. I realized that I should start to macro manage my budget instead of trying to micro manage it. At the end of the week it doesn’t really matter how much I spend on groceries and how much I spend on snacks; all that matters is how much I spend overall each week.
If I can get my overall spending down to only $150 per week and then maybe down to $125 per week (although I don’t think that will ever happen) I will be living off of only one pay check per month. I will then be able to save one entire pay check each and every month that is a lot of savings.
I can afford to spend $200 per week but for some reason it seems like $200 is a lot of money to spend in only 7 days. So from now on I am going to try and cut my spending down by $50 per week. If I can save at least $50 per week it can add up to an extra savings of $2600 per year. There is no particular reason why I want to save an extra $50 per week other than the fact that it seems like $2600 per year could be better used towards something else, other than snacks and coffee.
Photo by Jolly UK
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
I’m not banning any ‘extra’ expenses for months, but I am really careful with them. in the past 2 years I was able to save more than in my entire life, just by not wasting money on any whim.
I wish you a great year and best of luck with the plan. :)
That sounds like a really good plan!
We allow ourselves $500 in “extra” expenses every month. We’re already at almost $300 and it’s Jan 3? let’s see if we can stick to it!
Thanks Dojo, I appreciate the support. My friends and my boyfriend don’t understand it, but I just want to try something that I have never done before….and it will help me save money by not spending carelessly!
Good luck!!! Haha I think I received enough bath/body products and gift cards for xmas that me January spending will definitely be less!!!
This is the exact same method I use for my budget. I started with $300 every 2 weeks for my spending money. That includes entertainment, food, gas for my car, haircuts, etc. As of 1/1/12 I cut it down to $280 every 2 weeks. It is crazy how much more that $10 less per week makes me think about purchases. My goal is to go down another $10 per week by 7/1/12.
Good Luck!
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