July is done and dusted, and I got to pretend to be a 'real adult' that has my life together - beyond my finances. Writing this blog for almost two years may have given the misguided impression that I'm organised, but beyond the dollars in my bank account I still act like a teenager whose just gotten out of home. Hence, this six months of building good habits while building dollars.Adulting
July was originally supposed to be a month of Actually Cleaning My Kitchen, however early in the month I attended a seminar where they told me the secret to not being horribly tired all the time is to stop snoozing the alarm in the morning.
While I got in about a week of clean kitchen, the idea of not being horrendously tired was far more appealing. For the first week it was great, but I think it was a trick. The second week wasn't as great, but I must confess that my new routine of snoozing once (to allow time for a morning cuddle) feels much better than snoozing for over an hour.
I think what is missing from getting up when the alarm goes off is the qualifier that you actually need to go to bed at a decent hour. When I was younger I thought that sleeping was a waste of time. As an adult I love sleep, yet somehow I seem to be getting less of it.
July Adulting: Success mostly
For August I'll be going back to the Actually Cleaning My Kitchen. However, because I'm not a real adult, I'm just pretending, I'll be aiming to have a clean kitchen three nights a week. This way I can have lazy nights as well as achieving things.
But, because I know what I'm like, I need to set what nights those are. If I just said 'three nights' then I could just keep saying 'tomorrow night'. Therefore, Sunday, Monday and Thursday will be clean nights.
Savings
So how did the first month of saving and rebuilding my cash reserves go? Prepare to be underwhelming.
I've said a few times that I love using credit cards, and getting rewards points to get cheap flights. However in June I prepaid my bills so that I could meet a minimum spend. Which means that despite having a relatively low spend month, I had to pay the massive credit card bill. Next month should look much nicer.
The interesting part is that I started Saving to Spend back in April, and it's going well. This month I put aside another $250 to spend on big things I want. Most of the money put aside this month was towards getting a new toilet (so exciting) but I also set some money aside for a PlayStation 4, a blueberry hedge, some new safety gear and started saving for a trip to Canada.
I listed this money as an expense, so when I finally do spend it, I won't need to record it as an expense. This will help my brain, which refuses to accept spending lots in one go, as well as spreading the spending out and keeping my average spending from spiking based on a single expense.
Expenses
For the sake of curiosity, here's what I spent in July.
| Category | Spent | Budgeted | 12 Month Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home | $1,006.07 | $1,312.50 | $1,373.69 (down $2.22) |
| Most of this 'spend' is actually putting money aside for new things. Cash towards a toilet, a quail pen and a blueberry hedge. | |||
| Investment Property | $1,557.03 | $1,166.67 | $1,248.84 (down $45.02) |
| Paid the water bill and the mortgage. | |||
| Personal Bills | $151.60 | $151.60 | $148.47 (up $0.39) |
| Nothing exciting, just trucking along. | |||
| Groceries | $234.94 | $200.00 | $199.45 (down $0.15) |
| $25 was put towards my quail cage and blueberry hedge. The rest of this spend is just me enjoying chocolate and sweets. With all the eggs I get from my egg-mpire now, my lunches have gotten both cheaper, and more interesting. Did you know you can fry an egg on a sandwich toaster... | |||
| Pets | $36.32 | $29.00 | $41.72 (up $1.75) |
| I build a double decker quail pen! Well, I bought the material for it. I've been slowly putting it together for most of the month and it's nearly done. I need to spend a little more money on painting it, and putting together a good feeding and watering system. I also brought in $5 with egg sales - which is a good start considering it's still technically winter. | |||
| Roller Derby | $101.45 | $150.00 | $211.85 (down $5.48) |
| I paid for my accommodations for my last trip and started putting aside money for new safety gear. | |||
| Travelling | $50 | $100.00 | $4.17 (up $4.17) |
| Next year I'm going to Canada! I figured I better start putting money aside. | |||
| Other | $259.01 | $157.25 | $254.40 (up $21.58) |
| Most of this is spending while I was in Darwin at the end of June / start of July. I also bought a few books and put some money aside for a Playstation. Definitely time to cut back on drinking though, I found myself with a glass of wine in hand more nights than not. | |||
| Total | $3,013.32 | $3,267.02 | $3,482.58 (down $24.98) |
| Somehow, despite putting aside $250 for future spending and spending a few days interstate, this is a nice low spend month. Fingers crossed to keeping costs low and bringing FIRE closer. | |||
