Reflections for 28 years

Thirty years is creeping up on me, but I'm not there yet!! I recently turned twenty-eight, and while it's not thirty yet, I definitely feel like a Real Proper Adult(tm) now. Turning eighteen was an entire decade ago. I've been living out of home for five years, and I've been working in a #ProperJob for seven.

In honour of my 28 spins around the sun, it's time to reflect on the good, the bad, and the future.

Financial Gratitude

Starting early

From my first paycheck I've been careful with my money. I have charts going back years tracking my growing net worth. It may have started slowly, but those early years set me up really well.

Brown bagged lunches

It might not be exciting, but brown bagging lunches is such a big thing. It flows over into how I cook at nights as well, meaning that I save time and money by cooking big cheap meals at home. And I'm constantly learning new things because there is only so many times I can eat pasta bake.

This blog

I started this blog over a Christmas break when I was feeling sorry for myself that Fiery Millenials was doing better than me. I think she still is, but having this blog has let me set goals, hold myself (mostly) to them, and let me met lots of wonderful people.

Buying a bike and selling my car

When I moved out of my parents home I dusted off my unused $600 mountain bike and rode it everywhere. A few short months later I sold my car. Over four years I estimate that I've saved almost $15,000 on car expenses, as well as being super fit from my daily rides. No gym membership required!

The house I bought

After four years we're moving out, but I am so very grateful for the house I bought. It was $60k under where I'd been looking, and a completely different build. It was (and still is) decorated in grandma pastels. It wasn't a flashy new construction, but it's solid. In four years it has grown 20% in value, and while we've outgrown it, my little 90 square metre house was a perfect place to start my adult life.

Financial Regrets

Skipping that trip to Japan

My number one regret in the last decade that would have cost me money is not going to Japan. My roller derby league was invited to a tournament where they played two teams from Japan, and a team from Copenhagen, and I didn't go because of money. I had the money, I was just being 'frugal'. 
No. I wasn't frugal. I was a straight up idiot.
If you're reading this, wondering if you should do that thing that will ruin your savings goal but will literally never happen again do it!! In the words of the young people of the day, yeet that goal right out the window. Go. Be free. Do the exciting thing. Experience life.

Starting early

Yes, I said I'm grateful that I started early, but I also regret it. I've never taken a spontaneous trip. I've never gone out drinking at a karaoke bar and woken up broke but smiling from having the best night. I've never impulse bought a cool toy, or started a stupid hobby on a whim. Maybe if I had, those things would be on this list instead. But I never had a wild phase (ignoring the teenage years when I had no money anyway) and I feel like I missed out on that.
Maybe I'll be that crazy granny going wild on the cruise ships one day...

Not choosing my career

I work in IT. It pays great. It's generally pretty interesting. But I didn't choose this. If I had chose my career, I'd be a vet. Or a surgeon. However I just fell sideways into IT because a friend helped my get a job with her... true story. I climbed the ladder from there, but it's pure chance that I work where I do.
My long-long term plans post-FIRE include studying again. I don't think I'll ever become a surgeon, or a vet, but I am interested in testing the waters of those careers later in life.

Purchasing a house

While I love my house, I do have some regret for purchasing a house at all. When Mr. FIRE and I first moved in, we said we'd move to Canada in three years. That would have been the end of 2017. Here it is, in 2019, and I haven't moved. In fact, we just bought another house 10 minutes down the road.
We still talk about moving overseas, or interstate. Part of me doesn't want to go because we're tied down to property, but if I'm honest, a bigger part of me is scared to leave this life I've built.

Side-Hustling my way out of free time

My biggest financial regret is the crappy little side hustles I've done over the years. in 2015 I had a second job as an online admin / writer that paid terribly and ate up all my free time. In 2016 I was writing 500word articles for $5 a piece. During that time I was writing two articles a week for this blog. I was tired and my relationship with my partner suffered. In 2017 and 2018 I was on so many committees for my roller derby league I was barely home. In 2019 I'm trying to ease back, but I've become so used to being busy all the time, it's been difficult. 

Really great memories

Camper vanning around Tasmania

The first thing that sprang to mind as a great memory was our camper van trip around Tasmania. I was just a few short months out of knee surgery and hobbling a lot. I also got ridiculously sick at one point and struggling to breathe through the snot. It was still the best trip ever. Being able to pull up anywhere, cook dinner and sleep in the back of the van was amazing. Not having a toilet wasn't so great... but I've definitely caught the bug. As far as I'm concerned, it's the best way to travel.

The birth of Baby Tempest

No, I'm not a parent. Well, not a human parent. One of my chickens was hatched in my own backyard. There is something pretty wonderful about watching an animal grow from a teeny tiny handful of fluff to a bossy knee high monster. It's even more amazing that one day she was just an egg, and a month later she was an entire creature. Tempest is still with me five years later, and the healthiest, coolest bird I've ever had.

Roller Derby Successes

So many things to go here. My very first tournament I played for the C-Team. My team came second and we got piled on by the A and B teams shouting 'we're number 2'. We were happier than the winners. My home team has won four seasons. I scored the winning points in a game once. I 'married' my best friend in Roller Derby style, and we renewed our vows this year. I've travelled to every state in the country (except WA... soon!) and I represent my state at the top level for my sport. It's pretty great.

In jokes with my gaming friends

If you ever come to our house there are two things you need to know. Mr. FIRE cheats, and he takes too long to make a decision. You'll also learn there are many games Mr. FIRE and I can't play together because we fight. My gamer group has seen (and can quote) every episode of Red Dwarf, knows every piece of Monty Python, and still shouts 'Too Soon!' if you make jokes about Reavers putting their spears through the Wash.
We are a group of tragic nerds. It's pretty great.

Lunch on the top of a tiny rock spire in Alligator Gorge

This is a small specific time. But one of my happy memories from the last decade is hiking an 18km trail with Mr. FIRE, and stopping at lunch on top of a tiny rock spire where I could barely move to have lunch. Why did we sit there? Dunno. But it was pretty, the sun was shining, and the sandwiches - while very basic - were delicious because we were so hungry. It was a small thing, but it was lovely.

Future Happiness Goals

Lift more weights

As I mentioned back in my spiel on maintaining motivation, I once did strength training every day and I felt great for it. But I struggled to maintain it, and fell out of the habit. I want to get back into the habit of lifting weights at least 2-3 times a week. Not only will I feel better, but heading towards my thirties I want to keep my body as healthy as I can.

Spend more time with friends and family

Long term I want to retire, but I don't want to be alone and boring when that happens. Which means I need to start cultivating friendships outside of roller derby. I plan to set up a regular family dinner (e.g. the third Thursday of the month.. or something) and well as making semi-regular friend plans.

Inspired by All About Balance and The Joyful Frugalista I've invited everyone over for a $5 potluck dinner. Fingers crossed it works! My friends are dubious.

Create more

Things I enjoy creating include blog posts (like this one!), let's play YouTube videos, food, beer, rough woodwork (think planter boxes) and the occasional bit of knitting. One day I want to make soap. I don't have a specific goal, but I know that making things makes me feel fulfilled, so I'm just reminding myself to keep creating.

Be a better partner

When Mr. FIRE and I moved in together we promised not to be those people who live together, and grunt at each other when we pass in hallways. We have become those people. We always eat breakfast and dinner together, but we also glue our eyes to screens while doing so (Kindles for breakfast, TV for dinner). 

While we aren't in a bad place yet, I don't want to let things slide. We also drink coffee together every weekend morning, and we're planning to ban screens during that hour.

Dog!

It's time. It's time to start plotting and scheming what life looks like with a dog. I hope to bring home a dog over the 2019 Christmas break (when I can take a couple of weeks at home to settle them in) - or maybe 2020 Easter - again, when I can take some leave and settle our pupper in. Between now and then we need to set a budget for our doggo, and check our housing a lifestyle situation.

Personally, I want a huge dog. A Great Dane with paws as big as my face.

January 2019 Update - All those houses

Happy New Year!! and guess what? Happy New House!! 2019 is going to be a weird new year with so many changes.

January was a whirlwind of a month, I can't believe it's over and it's almost mid-February. This post is much later than I wanted it to be. In fact, this is the second time I've written this post because blogger decided to lose the whole thing, thanks Blogger.

On top of that, January was a crazy month because roller derby started again and I trained 24 hours between the 9th and the 29th, then headed of to a 3 day camp. On top of that work ramped up for the start of the year, and oh, did I mention Mr. FIRE and I bought a house!

My initial set of goals for 2019 included investing a lot of money, saving even more, and getting my current house ready to rent out while we looked for a new place. Then in January we saw a property we'd already looked at and passed over for being too expensive was back on the market 8% lower than the original asking price. We then put in a lowball offer another 6% under that (a crazy 14% under the original asking price) and they accepted it!!

Suddenly, we have houses to deal with. We have settlement on the 1st of March, and want to have our current home up for rent by the 1st of April. There isn't a massive amount of pre-move work to do at the new place besides painting. There is a massive amount of work to do at our current place. To compound this issue, it's the start of the derby season and I. am. busy.

With that in mind, my goals for this year are still a bit up in the air, but I have got two locked in.

Investing Goal: $110,000 in Vanguard

I'm starting the year with just under $80,000 and aiming for $110,000 by the end of the year. This isn't a huge goal, and $30,000 in a year would normally be easy (in the Year of Investing I put aside $36,000) however I'm not sure what kind of money I'm going to end up spending on the properties, or how long it will take to find a tenant. So I'm sticking to a goal that I know I can achieve.

Spending Goal: Under Control!

This is a simple request, from me to me. Simple to ask, hard to do. I want all my non-house expenses under budget. That's not much to ask right?

I'm not asking for the house expenses to be under budget because, A. not even sure what budget is just yet. I have a ball park idea, but not confirmed numbers. and B. with the renovation works, we're going to be spending more in the next 3 months than we would normally spend in a year. Okay maybe not that bad, but it's going to be expensive. Mostly the painting.

Bonus Goal, if we can: $10,000 worth of an Asia focused ETF

If things go my way, and if my finances play along, I'd like to purchase a chunk of the Asian markets. I have been watching, and while I don't have any concrete evidence, I'm starting to feel like the superpower that is the US of A might not be the biggest economic power in the next decade. I currently own a mix of Vanguard International Shares (which is mostly US, then Japan) and a lot of Australia. I feel like this missing piece is the rest of the Asian markets. While I don't need it, I'll feel a lot more comfortable if I diversify across the globe some more.

However, given everything else going on, this is a bonus goal. We'll see what happens across the year.

January Results

These goals took most of the month to pin down, so my spending is... a bit out of control. I admit I spent too much on video games. Firstly though, savings and investing...

Investments

January

Vanguard

Opening Balance: $78,424.57

Deposit: $1,900
Dividends: $1,214.86
Market Gains: $1,289.12
Current Balance: $82,828.55

Woah! The markets bounced back with a vengeance and I am so crazy far ahead of where I need to be!

Expenses

For the sake of curiosity, here's what I spent in January, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$1,415.55	$1,318	$1,343.19 (up $36.09)
The bills arrived! But also I've started putting aside money to do all the pre-rental works I want to get done. Prepare to watch this number skyrocket! Also, this will be getting labelled Investment Property #2 soon. I should find fun names for them...
Investment Property	$1,622.84	$1,190.83	$1,356.92 (up $41.92)
I said there had been no bills for two months, well now they're here. Half of them, I have another big bill coming up in February.
Personal Bills	$126.60	$126.67	$140.04 (down $1.70)
The stock standard usual.. nothing to see here. Then my health insurance will go up in a month or two - Happy New Year *eyeroll*
Groceries	$113.08	$190	$202.61 (down $6.95)
Most of the reason this is low is because I was using the gift card I paid for back in December. Without it the cost would have come in around $170, still under budget.
Pets	$23.20	$50	$63.12 (up $1.02)
After Decembers vet emergency it was nice to have a quiet month - all I paid for was food. I need to sell more eggs though.
Roller Derby	$76.70	$175	$219.67 (down $11.26)
The year has started, but my first set of fees don't come out till February. Still I paid for a trip to camp, put some money aside for a new helmet, and forked out for new knee-pads. Because safety gear is much cheaper than surgery.
Travelling	$110	$122.50	$57.50 (up $9.17)
Next year I'm hoping to go to Canada! With the house purchase, Mr. FIRE and I have wisely postponed any Canada plans. However we are considering another trip to Tasmania, maybe New Zealand. We'll see :)
Comfort Food	$8.90	$40	$50.64 (down $0.51)
I split this out in November and it's amazing how much measuring something changes it. From spending an average of $50 per month, I just spent $8.90 - which was one beer. Go me.
Other	$430.00	$187.00	$269 (up $6.83)
Unfortunately my video card in my computer went up in smoke - literally. It was a hand-me-down card and one of the components burned out. It was a very small bit of fire, followed by some smoke and a $275 replacement. Outside of that I bought a couple more games (Kingdom Hearts 3!!!) and did some necessary underwear shopping (exciting).
Total	$3,962.87	$3,400	$3,703.04 (up $74.58)
Ouch. Not a good time. $3,000 of this spend was from the houses, but I was over on a lot of the other categories too. Not a good start considering my goal for the year of bringing my expenses back down under the budget lines...

Skip boring side hustles and monetise your hobbies

Side Hustles have become all the rage in the last few years. Whether it's caused by stagnating wages, lack of attachment to our careers, a desire to earn more, or dipping the toe into self-employment, the rates of side hustles are rising. To go with it are rising stress levels are we find ourselves working eight hours a day at our regular job, and another 2-3 hours on our side hustles.

For many people side hustles equal burnout. It means less time on our hobbies, less time with our friends and family, and less time recharging doing nothing.

Still keen to side hustle? The trick is in your choices.

Everyday I'm hustlin'

I have a crazy idea. I think that every single person reading this is already doing something they can make money from. That something might not be the next Google (heck, it probably isn't) but it is worth $20 a month, you just need to slap a price tag on it and do some quick advertising. 

If you want it to be the next Google, then you're going to have to put in some serious effort and thinking about what your market niche is, how to price it, and how to advertise it. 

However, if you want to start today, all you need is a lick of courage and a dash of inspiration.

Okay, sales pitch aside - I'm not going to sell you anything - here's a list of ways that I could be making money from things I already do. 

Hustle life

The Great Outdoors

Do you like hiking? Do you like dogs? I love both of these things. There are people out there who have built businesses out of taking peoples dogs on hikes! This isn't your regular boring 20 minute jaunt around the neighbourhood. We're talking adventure!

You can make a few dollars walking dogs around your neighbourhood if that's your jam, but you can do even better with adventures. Tom and his dog Captain do adventures for $29 an hour per dog, and take up to six dogs on each adventure. That's $174 per trip! In his case, the dogs are collected in the van, then taken walking (off-lead!) through national parks, playing in fields, and jumping in lakes.

You could get started with minimal outlay, get some seat covers for the car, a bag full of treats, some collapsible water bowls and you're set. The dog owner can supply leashes, and any walking harness their dog might use.

Maybe you aren't comfortable taking that risk with other peoples dogs - you could be a tour guide instead! Finding dog friendly spaces can be difficult, so people will be willing to pay for you to lead a hike through dog friendly places, especially if you can show them your favourite watering holes.

Don't like dogs? Do it without them. National Parks run their own hiking tours, but there is nothing stopping you advertising yourself as a guide and making some new friends along the way - just make sure you aren't misleading people about your qualifications.

Of course, not everyone likes other people. If exploring the great outdoors is your alone time, and you don't want to interrupt that, maybe you could capture it instead. Videography and Photography aren't easy, and they definitely won't give you the same cash-in-hand experience, but it's an avenue you can explore.

Create It, Sell It

If you're already creating things, odds are you could sell those things. I don't just mean bead bracelets on etsy (although that can be lucrative if that's your jam). There are many many forms of creating, and many different ways of doing it.

If you like drawing, you don't need to draw photo-realistic art on commission to make money from it. Perhaps you like doing goofy, snarky cartoons? You could list those on RedBubble, offer it up as a sticker, on a mug, or a t-shirt.

If you love photography, it's not all wedding photography and maternity shoots. You can list your snaps on Shutterstock, Alamy or iStock. While you'll get paid more to go to an event, or do a specific shoot, you can generate passive income through sales - just list it and wait for the royalties to roll in.

I won't pretend selling art is easy, but if you already create these things just for fun, there are ways you can sell them. 

Growing a money tree

The obvious one here is to grow and sell fruits and vegetables. However since that's obvious, let's skip to some other ideas.

If you have half a green thumb, you can propagate plants and sell the sprouts. Let me open by saying I am terrible at gardening. I cannot grow anything from seed, ever. My chickens are better at growing seeds than I am (in fact, half my plants come from the seeds they didn't eat that have sprouted).

However, even I and my lack of seed raising skill can propagate plants. If you have a tomato plant, you can cut off all the sucker shoots when their 10-15cm, stick them in a pot of dirt and have another plant in a couple of weeks. The same trick works for most perennials herbs, raspberries and other vine plants. If you're growing strawberries you can split out the runners. 

Anything that you can propagate, you can sell and since it didn't cost you anything, it's all profit.

Of course, if you're terrible at plants you can still turn a profit from and empty patch of dirt. Chickens are wonderfully easy to raise and lay an egg a day. You can cut down the feed costs by collecting kitchen scraps, or even collecting scraps from your local cafe. At the moment four chickens cost me less than $15 a month to feed, and lay over 80 eggs a month. If I sold all the eggs I could turn a $20 profit each month, but I like eggs and I tend to eat them myself.

If you're really truly terrible in the garden and don't want to raise animals, you could still make money from compost. Simply mound up your kitchen scraps and throw your shredded newspapers and bills on top. Flip it over once a month, and when it's nice and crumbly throw it in a bag.

Okay, admittedly that last one won't make you much money. But this isn't a list of the Most Profitable Side Hustles. This is a list of all the ways you could make a bit of money from things you're already doing. If you're already gardening, there are ways you could be making some money from that. If you hate gardening... don't pick this.

Video Games

Lastly, just to prove there is potential money in everything, you could be making money from playing video games! With either YouTube or Twitch you can stream yourself playing video games for the whole world to see, and to pay you for! In terms or start up costs, all you need is a microphone and (optionally) a webcam. As an easier option, you can just buy a gaming headset, or use one you already have. All the software you need is available free online to set up, stream and edit videos.

While you're starting out you won't see much success, but even small youtube channels can make $5-$10 for a 20 minute video with minimal editing. You can have a look at the (estimated) numbers here: https://influencermarketinghub.com/youtube-money-calculator/

Hustlin' smarter, not harder

Maybe some of these things resonate with you, maybe they don't. The point is that to launch a side hustle you don't need to fire up Google and search for a listicle of the 'highest paying side hustles', or '20 coolest side hustles'. Your time is valuable, and rather than trading time for money, I encourage you to find a way to make money with the things you're doing for free.

Admittedly you can make more money with a dedicated side hustle. But you could also fail and flop terribly at a side hustle that cost you money to set up and you didn't enjoy.

Worst case? You don't make any money. When you were already knitting, playing video games, hiking, drawing, snapping photos... what have you lost?

Maintaining Motivation : New Years and Beyond

Credit: Lazy Photo Dad

The start of a fresh new year fills everyone with energy. We make plans, set ambitious goals, and say we'll do better than last year. We'll go to the gym, we'll save more money, we'll spend more time with friends and family, and less time brainless on the couch watching reruns.

For the first couple of weeks, we stick to those goals. We're filled with fire, enthusiasm, and energy. The excitement of something new keeps us going. But as the weeks pass, and we return to work after the Christmas break, our fire burns out. It's easy to fall back into a rut, and our goals fall by the wayside.


With motivation flagging it's easy to put your goals aside, to tell yourself to that you dreamed too big. The good news is, motivation is only part of the puzzle. At first we do well at our goals because we're motivated. We're excited and we push ourselves to succeed every day. But we aren't full of endless energy and it's irrational to think we are.

In fact, we are lazy creatures of habit. Even the most exciting things can become dull if we do them day after day. As human beings, we get excited about variety, but when we run out of energy we fall back into routine. Rather than expecting this to lead to failure, it is in fact the direct path to success.

Get excited

In 2017 I was recovering from an ACL reconstruction. The injury itself happened in 2016, but it is such a large injury that I was not fully cleared until a full year later. After my last meeting with the surgeon I was excited to get fit again.

I picked up an exercise program online, as well as heading back to roller derby and I decided to get back into running. Two nights a week I went a running, every morning before work I busted out a 15 minute exercise routine (different each day) and when I got home from work I'd do another 10 minute garage workout. On top of that I was back at roller derby - I wasn't playing contact, but I was skating twice a week.

I was in the excitement phase of new goals. Every moment I had to spare I was stacking in new exercises, and I was feeling great. I even started changing up my diet.

Your financial health works just like your physical health. Many people would have started 2019 with goals to save more money. At the start of the year you're excited. You skip buying coffee, brown bag your lunch, and cut off a magazine subscription. Maybe you start Meatless Mondays and analyse the Dollars to Fun ratio of every activity you do.

Just like every who sets goals at the start of the year, I was keen to do my absolute best. I devoted time and energy, physical and mental, to making myself the fittest I could be. Even on a 40degree day I would work out in my garage upon arriving home. I quickly double the length of that get home strength routine.

Unsurprisingly, this wasn't maintainable.

Battling boredom and burn out

After just a couple of weeks, I dropped the running program. I was already riding to and from work each day, doing a strength routine at night, and balance / strength in the morning. To add to that, I was still doing Yoga as a recovery method for my knee - which was repaired, but fatigued easily.

A few weeks after that, I wasn't doing yoga anymore. After getting home from work, doing my get-home-routine, making dinner, and watching a TV show with Mr. FIRE, it would already be 8:30pm. To do yoga as well, we needed to start by 9:30 - which meant a measly hour each night to relax.

Burn out hits all of us because when we're excited we do too much. When something is new, it's easy to want to spend all our time on it. Unsurprisingly, when something is done for hours every day it can lose it's excitement value, but it also muscles out other things that are important.

When we start tracking our finances, and saving money it's exciting. Especially if you were an overspender and suddenly find yourself with all this money you didn't even realise you were wasting. But quickly we start to miss the things, and despite all the tricks in the book, saving and watching numbers becomes boring.

When struggling with your new years goals, it's important to understand that burnout is normal. Rather than giving up entirely, let burnout show you how much you need to scale back.

Success through systems

While the initial excitement of a goal will help you come up with ways to chase it, burnout will help you throw away the excess. However, we don't want to throw our goals out entirely.

After a few months, I was still riding to work daily. I kept up the morning workout - having gotten it down to just ten minutes - and I kept doing the get-home-routine. The part that kept these alive was habit. 

I had a system. I didn't stop to think about whether I would work out in the morning - the alarm went off, I got out of bed, and I did it. Generally yawning the whole way through. Every day when I got home from work, I dropped to the ground and started doing pushups in my garage - I didn't even step in the house.

The triggers for chasing our goals can't simply be motivation, but a system. 

If you are trying to save more, don't keep trying to motivate yourself to spend less. Instead, set a system when you immediately transfer money into a savings account on payday. Make sure it's an account where you can't immediately access the money. Even better, invest it directly into something like Raiz (previously known as Acorns) or RateSetter where you can't immediately get the money back for impulse buys.The system does the work for you, and you reap the benefits.

Want to spend more time with a partner, or friends? Don't say 'we'll catch up once a week' - tell yourself that every Friday is date night. The first Thursday of every month is Friends Night Out. Then make sure everyone else knows this to - build a system and stick to it. If no one can make it to Friends Night in January, make sure they know about it for February.

Habits are formed, and success is easy 

Once you have these habits and systems in place, you don't work at your goals anymore. They happen on their own. In January and February in 2017 I was working out constantly and thinking and planning about getting fitter all the time. Through March and April, I got bored, I put my systems in place, and I did things without even thinking. In September I glanced in the mirror and noticed I had the best muscle definition of my life. 

Success didn't happen when I was chasing it, but when I'd built a system that had me nurturing those goals every day.

In the same way, I opened a First Home Saver account in my teenage years. This was an Australian Government incentive where they would pay you a 17% bonus on any money invested, up to a certain amount. To get the full incentive you needed to deposit $5,000 a year, or $96.15 a week. I set up an automated transfer and forgot about it until three years later, when I withdrew almost $20,000.

Learn your systems, and don't break them

I leave you with a word of warning - every system needs maintenance. Most importantly though, every system has an on-switch. Your systems for success aren't a perpetual motion machine, and they won't keep going if you neglect them.

Skipping a day or two may seem harmless, but each skip weakens the systems. If you stop exercising because you have a cold, when you start again it's almost (but not quite) like building the habit from scratch. Thankfully systems are easier to revive than to build, but reviving them is work, which is frustrating when you had a no-effort system in place.

Secondly, learn what the go-button is for your system, and don't break it. My afternoon workouts were done in the garage, using weight plates and a yoga mat for comfort. In early 2018 Mr. FIRE decided he also wanted to get fit, and moved the workout gear inside the house where they were easier to use. Within a week, my routine was gone - rather than working out when I got home, I would come inside and greet Mr FIRE. Somehow, time would whirl away, and I wouldn't get to my workouts. I didn't pick up the routine again for another 6 months.

Lastly, tie your habits to something you can't miss. For example, if you tell yourself you will exercise at 6pm, and get home at 6:15pm then the moment is gone. However if you're workouts are tied to 'when I get home from work' then you can guarantee you'll exercise every day - at least until you take holidays, or hit the dream of Financial Independence.

Adult Goals: December 2018

2018 is done and dusted. The last six months of setting adult goals and trying to make better habits
was, well it was interesting.

The second half of December was a great recharge with Christmas holidays. I fell off the adulting goals bandwagon, but I kept my finances in line and I caught up on my sleep for the first time all year.

Adulting

The December goal was body maintenance, specifically yoga. I did not do yoga. At all. For the first half of December I was on the ball with my physio exercises, then I went on annual leave. I don't think I left my house for the first week. At first resting was wonderful, but then I found myself awake at 2am because I had so much energy and my legs wouldnt stop twitching.

Lesson learned, I spent the rest of the month taking gentle walkies, and going for a ride every couple of days. Sleep was easy to find again.

December Adulting: Fail-ish

For 2019 - I need to start up a whole new set of goals. The share market is doing strange things, I honestly don't know if we're lining up for a bear market, or if the current drop is just shenanigans. I'm well versed in emotional survival for market crashes, but it makes it hard to set goals - if the value is going to drop, then I can't set goals for a huge growth. If it does grow, then I don't want to set my goals to low. If you have any ideas, drop them in the comments, because I'm stumped at the moment.

Savings

Six months done and dusted, goals not met. Oh well. We set ambitious goals for a target to chase.

Let's look at the goal numbers, then the overall pictures. I wanted to add $1,000 to my cash cushion each month. Instead I only managed to put aside $613 per month.

For fun numbers, next to that, I also invested $14,600. For the last half of 2018 I successfully squirrelled away $18,280 per month, which works out to 43% of my income.

I might not have met my goals here, but I'm going to take a moment to step back and look at that. I read articles every day encouraging people to save 10% of their income. Articles praising people for saving $50 a month. Stories of people who are greatful they have saved $5,000 in a year.

I am not going to shame those people and tell them they should do better, or work harder. In the last few months it's becoming clearer and clearer how strange, and how privileged I am to be chasing FIRE. There are many people out there who struggle. I am not going to complain that I only saved and invested $3,000 a month. Instead, I'm grateful for all the pieces in my life that have come together to make it possible.

Expenses

For the sake of curiosity, here's what I spent in December, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$961.78	$1,318	$1,307.10 (down $20.67)
No bills! Booyah.
Investment Property	$767.60	$1,190.83	$1,315.00 (up $7.46)
Two months in a row of no bills, this is lovely, and spooky. I checked, I didn't miss anything
Personal Bills	$126.60	$126.67	$142.10 (down $1.69)
The stock standard usual.. nothing to see here
Groceries	$192.14	$190	$209.56 (up $3.76)
So last month I spent $100 on a gift card for groceries, and I completely forgot to take it to the store. For a whole month. Shame on me, so much shame.
Pets	$210.43	$50	$62.10 (up $14.62)
My poor FIREcat had an upset stomach. For three days. My little fat fluffball didn't eat for three days, so off to the vet we went. I paid $210 for some antibiotics, an anti-nausea shot, and for the vet to tell me that yes, she is fat. It was worth being reassured that she was okay, and with some gentle coaxing I got her eating again. She's yelling at me for dinner as I type this, so she's a-okay.
Roller Derby	$35	$175	$230.93 (up $2.89)
Basically Nothing! I spent a little money for a shared picnic dinner party, and put money aside for safety gear that I'll buy in January, using Afterpay to get the most bang for my buck.
Travelling	$110	$122.50	$48.33 (up $9.16)
Next year I'm hoping to go to Canada! I figured I better start putting money aside.
Comfort Food	$29.50	$40	$51.15 (down $15.13)
I split this out in November and having this category visible helped a lot. Even with Christmas, I kept this spending where I wanted it. Mostly by buying ingredients and making my own snacks
Other	$242.53	$187.00	$262.17 (up $2)
What can I say, it was Christmas! I bought all the Kingdom Hearts games for myself, and a headset so that I can play games with the volume up and chat to friends without annoying Mr. FIRE. I also spent a bit on presents, but my friends and family have long agreed that presence is a present, so we only give small things - like homemade pickled eggs.
Total	$2,675.58	$3,400	$3,628.46 (up $2.44)
Look at that magic number!! Surely i's a trick? After all, I gifted myself a higher budget for Christmas. The numbers are mostly low because I didn't pay any bills this month, that's always nice.

Merry Christmas to me! Lifting the budget

Once upon a time I decided I wanted to retire early just like Mr. Money Mustache. I was convinced I would get my spending down below $30k a year, and have hundreds of thousands saved by the time I ticked over 30.

I was sure I would be a DIY queen, and flip houses like Mr. 1500. I'd make amazing food like Mr Tako, and retire to the countryside like the Frugalwoods.

Alas, as I sit here at (almost) 28, it is clear that these things take longer than anticipated. If I want to kick my FIRE into overdrive, I should be cutting back costs so I can save and invest more.

Instead, my Christmas gift to myself is permission to spend more.

In what might be seen as a frugal fail, I think it's time to cut myself a bit of slack, and loosen the purse strings. There are a few reasons why...

Inflation

Firstly, let's talk inflation, specifically Consumer Price Inflation. We're all affected by this, and it's a strange economic phenomenon where the exact same loaf of bread that used to cost me $3.40 a loaf is now costing me $3.50. It's the baffling part where my energy efficient changes haven't made a dent in my power bill, despite my usage rates having dropped by 15%. It's seeing clothes on special that cost more than you paid for them at full price five years ago.

There are many reasons why inflation happens (and if you want to dig into it, you can start here) but for the sake of this post let's just agree that it does happen. It's the reason most employers give you a small pay rise every year - so that you can maintain the same lifestyle. 

For the last three years inflation has fluctuated between 1% and 2%, mostly towards the upper end. This means that something that cost you $100 three years ago will probably cost you $106 now. Or on the flip side, spending $100 now should get you the same product as spending $94 three years ago.

Putting this into perspective, three years ago I set my budget for $40,000 a year. That same amount of money now only buys me $37,650 worth of goods.

Business Expenses

Once upon a time I strove to do just as well as the personal finance gurus. MMM and family lived on $30,000 a year in the early days of his journey, and Mr 1500 planned for his family of four to live on $40,000 a year. The first thing I noticed about this was a significant difference in living costs between Australia and the US. The second thing I noticed was that this didn't include business expenses. However, given that I was just spending for myself, and not for a family, surely I could reach those levels.

Here I stand three years later to say that maybe that was ambitious. However, it's not because I lack self control (I just spend a week debating with myself the value of spending $7.50 on a video game that was on super special). It's because I'm trying to cover the costs of an investment property with that money, including $8,500 a year in interest repayments.

The biggest expense in the Holy Trinity of Big Expenses is housing, and I'm paying for two of them! In fact, my annual budget is $15,000 for house number 1 (that we live in), another $15,000 for house number two (that I rent out) and a measly $10,000 left over for myself - that needs to cover medical, groceries, my phone bill, and still have some left to Have A Life.

Reductions in costs

But, wait! I hear you saying. If my biggest expense is paying two mortgages, then surely over three years since setting a $40k budget, my interest repayments have reduced as I paid down the principal. I am paying principal and interest on my loan, but I'm only paying the minimum, because I'm a firm believer in using the equity in your home to build wealth elsewhere. 

As an employee of the bank, I enjoy fee free loans and I've taken full advantage by restructuring my loans twice, and pulling out as much equity as I can. Coupled with that, while the Reserve Bank interest rates have not changed, all the major banks have snuck their interest rates up in the last couple of years. As a result, I paid $732 interest in October 2016, and $708 in October 2018 - a whopping reduction of twenty-four dollars!! Wow! A whole $288 over the year.

Except remember that according to my (very rough) inflation calculations above, my spending power has reduced from $40,000 to $37,650. I'm down $2,350 in spending power, but up $288 in interest savings!! That's... not brilliant.

Life is calling

Here though, we come to the crux of the issue. Life is calling me. I can throw up all the numbers I want, and I can come up with inventive ways to lower my costs. And while I will continue to do so, certain things defy even the most frugal of magicians. Here's a couple of pieces of life I want to experience, before I'm too old to enjoy them.

The grass is always greener

Have you seen grass? Smelt freshly cut grass? Have you lain in a hammock under a shady tree on a warm day drinking a glass of champagne and reading while the hours drift by? I haven't... because I have no grass. Our house is small, we have approximately 15m2 of dirt that is split between my chickens and my vegetable garden. I love both of these things, and wouldn't sacrifice them for a small patch of grass, but I'm keen for a bigger garden.

I want to step out my back door and gaze over the lawn. To see my chickens scratching in the near-distance. To see bees buzzing around the flowers. I want some space to stretch out, and of course...

It's time for a dog

When I was young I dreamed about all the pets I would have when I moved out of my parents house. Right now it's packed to the rafters with Mr. FIRE, FIRE-cat, four chickens, seven quail and a budgie. 

Mr. FIRE and I coo over pictures of puppies. We debate whether our dog will run mountain biking trails with him, or learn to do tricks and agility competitions with me (it's both right? definitely both). We tease the cat about how she's going to hate us when she has to share the couch with a dog. FIRE-cat ignores us, because she's a cat.

Realistically, we probably won't get a puppy. I've worked in shelters in the past and I know that puppies are noisy, and stinky, and they cry, and they poop and they chew things. We'll probably bring home an adult that's settled into themselves. But regardless of the age, we're so keen to have a dog. A big one.

This is not me. But hopefully,
soon it will be

I believe I can fly

This is an odd one, but I really want to hang-glide. And I've been watching the budget for years and there's never enough wiggle room. As inflation takes hold, the purse strings get tighter and hang-gliding gets further and further away. 

What's in a game?

Lastly, and least importantly - I miss the relaxed childhood of video games. I can't ever recapture a time when I could play games for hours on end, only taking a break to eat the dinner mum had cooked, which was generally my first meal of the day. 

I have responsibilities, see above for a cat, four chickens, seven quail and a budgie.. all of who like to be clean and fed. On top of that, I've sold 40 hours a week of my life to an employer. But I still sneak in a game here or there, and on my current budget each one I purchase sends me into an overspend-shame spiral. 

What now?

While staying accountable for my spending will keep me on the road to FIRE, my current level of tightness is getting too restrictive. I'm finding it hard to agree to events with friends, because while I don't resent spending on them, it means I have nothing left for the rest of the month. 

While it hasn't really hit yet, I'm not interested in being miserly-FIRE. I've been chasing the finish line for three years, and it's still at least 7-8 years away. I don't intend to spend those years refusing to spend on things I know will make me happy, because it might shift the finishing line by a year.

Based on the numbers above, I could raise my budget to $42,500 without feeling a smidgeon of guilt. It's the equivalent of 2% a year since I first set the budget. However, I have also been reducing my spending in the last three years - at first I recorded $46,000 in a year, then $44,000, and then down to $42,000. While it would be nice to assume the downward trend will continue, there's no signs that I'll hit $40k this year. In fact, it looks like I'll spend a bit higher, while still feeling pinched.

So, I'm giving myself another $924 a year to play with. It might seem like an oddly specific number, but that's because I'm shifting my monthly allowance from $3,333 up to $3,400. A nice round number. 

Of that $77 a month, $40 is being split between my properties, $10 into groceries, $10 into pets (in preparation for a doggo!) and $10 into travel, with the odd leftover $7 going into the 'Other' category (where most fun stuff is bought).

While this isn't a hugely exciting splurge, it's a healthy update. I'll still be striving to reduce boring spending like utilities, mortgage payments, and groceries by seeking better deals and inventive approaches. But hopefully I'll stop eyeing off the categories that pay for living a good life.

There's no point in reaching FIRE if I don't enjoy the journey there.

Afterpay (is not) for dummies

When I first saw Afterpay spring up, I thought it was the dumbest way to scam people into spending money they didnt have. With slogans like "Broke AF but strongly support treating yourself? Afterpay" this was clearly a stupid trap for stupid people. A highly effective trap, but a stupid one nonetheless.

If you don't have money to spare, you sure as heck shouldn't be 'treating yoself'. But then I got to thinking, if you already have the money, and already intend to spend it, is Afterpay any worse than a credit card? Time for a quick review.

First things First, how is Afterpay making money?

At a glance you'd assume that Afterpay is making money from you via fees. In fact, if you're on top of your payments, Afterpay doesn't make a cent from you. Instead, they collect fees from the retailer. (Side note: If you really want to support a business, don't Afterpay with them, you're cutting into their profits)

Afterpay uses an age-old 'debt purchasing' model. When lenders are tired of chasing people for money owed, they can sell that debt to a different, more ruthless company. The original lender will sell your debt for less than you own, recoup most of their money and wash their hands of you. The debt collector then hounds you to make the payments, and collects a small profit.

Afterpay is like that, but friendly, and they do it at point of purchase.

For example, you purchase something for $100. You now owe the retailer $100. This is a debt.

Afterpay purchases that debt from the retailer for $96 (specifically, they charge 30cents, plus 4-6% of the transaction value)

The retailer accepts 4% less for an immediate sale. They're hoping that you'll spend money you wouldn't normally. The retailer would be better off if you paid them directly, but hopefully with the lure of Afterpay you've spent extra to close that gap.

Afterpay then collects $100 from you over 4 payments. They make $4 on the transaction.

The important part is, as long as you don't miss the payments Afterpay isn't going to cost you a dime.

Just like a credit card

In a sense, using Afterpay is just like using a credit card. You walk away with the item, and a debt to be paid later. To use Afterpay well, you need to follow three simple rules: 

1. Don't spend money you don't have.
2. Don't spend money you don't have.
3. Don't. Spend. Money. You. Don't. Have.

Got it? Good. If you are worried about your self control you can set up a secondary account for Afterpay transactions. When you make the purchase, move the required amount of money into the Afterpay account and leave it there.

Using it to your advantage

If you Afterpay something, you get to hold on to your money for a little bit longer. Just like with a credit card, this 'spent, but not gone' money can be placed in an offset account against a much loved mortgage, or a high interest savings account. The money can keep working for you before you make the required payment.

Say you make a $400 payment on your credit card and you don't need to pay the balance until 30 days later. You leave $400 in your offset account for those 30 days, against a 4% home loan. In 30 days, you save 75.6cents off your loan. While it's a small amount, it's free money.

Afterpay works even better, because the payment is stretched over a longer period, 42 days from the first payment to the last. Over 42 days, you accumulate an 88.8cent saving, even accounting for the incremental payments across those 42 days.

Combining these two delayed payment options,  you could take two whole months to pay back that $400, and reap the rewards, including credit card rewards points.

After quickly reviewing the numbers, it turns out that if I make a $400 purchase on the 1st of November with Afterpay, instruct Afterpay to take the money from my credit card, and hold the money in my offset account, I can save $1.578, equivalent to getting a 0.4% discount on my purchase.

Here's how it works:

1st November. Set up a $400 purchase with Afterpay, linked to my credit card. Afterpay immediately takes the first payment of $100.
I owe $300 to Afterpay, $100 on my credit card, and have $400 in my account. 

15th of November. Afterpay takes it's next $100.
I owe Afterpay $200, plus $200 outstanding on my credit card. I have $400 in my account, and in the past two weeks, I've saved 61.4cents. 

29th of December, Afterpay takes another $100.
I owe Afterpaty $100, plus $300 outstanding on my credit card. I still have $400 in my account, and in the month since making my purchase (that I still haven't paid for!) I've reduced the interest on my home loan by $1.227 

1st December, the party starts to die down... I make a payment on my credit card.
I owe Afterpay $100, my credit card balance is zero, and I'm down to $100 in my account. So far I have saved $1.249 worth of interest. 

13th December, Afterpay takes it's final $100
I owe $100 on my credit card, and I'm holding $100 in my account. Savings so far: $1.381 

1st January, I make the final payment.
I owe nothing on my credit card, and I'm not holding any extra money in my offset account. Savings over this period: $1.578

Is it worth it?

I hear you pointing out that I've just built an elaborate system for a measly $1.578 savings. The saving is so small I'm pushing my reported number out to another decimal point. It sounds like a lot of effort for such a minuscule return.

I'm here to tell you it's absolutely worth it.

When I shop online, I typically use PayPal. It used to take me 2-3 minutes to type in my details (forgetting my password a couple of times..), confirm that I was targeting the correct account, and hit 'Go' on the payment.

When I set up my first Afterpay payment, it took me less than 10 minutes, including the screen timing out while I wandered down the other end of the house to find my wallet and pat my cat. Any future payments (assuming I use the same credit card) will take me the same amount of time as logging in to PayPal. Just like that, I had a cat tree on the way for FIRE-cat, and I wasn't making the final payment for two months.

If this was a difficult, laborious task, I'd tell you to throw it away, and just make the damn payment. However, this is money on the table. For a couple of minutes of one-time set up, you can reap the (small) rewards forever more.

But, and I cannot stress this enough, don't spend money you don't have. Afterpay and credit cards are not a way to 'treat yoself' when you're 'broke AF'. These delayed payment tools are tricks that wily spenders can use to get ahead. They are also bear-traps that set you up for failure.

Missing an Afterpay payment will cost you $10, plus another $7 a week until the payment is made, regardless of the transaction size. Thankfully the fees are capped at $68, but a $20 pair of jeans could cost you $88 if you stuff up the payments.

If you've got a good hand on your finances, Afterpay can be an easy way to squeeze that extra bit out of each dollar. If you've got even the slightest concerns about keeping on top of your payments, stay away.

So there you have it, Afterpay (is not) for dummies.

Adult Goals: November 2018

After the financial whirlwind of October, it was nice to settle down to some more balanced spending in November. The sun came out and we caught a brief glimpse of summer before being hit with some yo-yo storms and heavy rains.

Thankfully the sun triggered a 'spring cleaning' reflex in me, and for a time I felt like a proper adult, kicking goals and cleaning dust.

Adulting

The November goal was to organise things. While I can confirm that absolutely nothing was alphabetised, so many things were tidied and thrown out. A hoard of moths moved into my pantry which inspired a clean out and a rearrange where I found three different packages of cocoa powder, as well as multiple packets of sugars and flours. While the moths were infuriating, my cupboard is much more streamlined now.

Not only that but I pulled every, single, damn, tupperware container out of the cupboard and matched lids with bases. It's tidy and beautiful. It was not a fun time, but the results are amazing.

November Adulting: Success

For December, I planned to do yoga. And I think I'll stick to yoga. I've been taking better care of my body for the last few weeks, and getting some regular yoga in will be the real icing on the cake.

Savings

Five months down, one month to go, and I can absolutely guarantee I won't meet this goal.

A few days in November sat above the goal line, which was great. Unfortunately it didn't last, those big drops show my mortgage and credit card payments.

Thankfully November was back to normal spending levels after the craziness that was October. A couple of bills were due, and I bought a couple of things I'd been saving for, but nothing overwhelming happened.

This experiment has shown that I'm not great at saving money. I find 'don't spend' to be a very unexciting goal. It doesn't give me a thrill or a challenge, and as such falls quickly to a brainless auto-pilot mode. Contrast that with the Year of Investing where I increased my investment accounts by almost $40,000 in a year. Each week I was investing a bit more into my accounts to take advantage of Dollar Value Averaging. It kept me on track, and engaged. It was fun. Saving cash is... not fun.

My projected total at the end of 2019 will be a cash saving of just under $4,000 in six months, which is only two-thirds of my goal of saving $6,000 in six months. While it's disappointing, it's not a show stopper. I may only end up saving $4,000 in cash in this time, I'm on track to have collectively saved, invested and paid down mortgage debt by over $20,000 (wow!!).

Expenses

For the sake of curiosity, here's what I spent in November, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$1,310.25	$1,312.50	$1,327.77 (down $25.95)
So technically the water and electricity bill were due, but since I paid a big amount towards the household bills a few months ago to meet the minimum spend on a card, Mr. FIRE has been paying the bills since then to balance out how much we've each put in. Therefore my average is coming down quite nicely.
Investment Property	$792.16	$1,166.67	1,307.54 (up 7.66)
A mortgage only month. Very nice after last months massive bills.
Personal Bills	$126.60	$126.67	$143.79 (down $1.69)
New lower phone bill! Woo!
Groceries	$284.29	$180.00	$205.80 (up $5.32)
This number is actually a lie. At the start of the month I bought a $100 Coles gift card for $95. It's valid for three years and seemed like an easy way to save 5%. The very next day I got an offer saying I would receive 5% cashback on all spends on my Coles credit card for a month. So I packed the gift card away for later. Unfortunately it blew up how much I spent this month.
Pets	$93.08	$35.00	$47.48 (up $5.71)
I made a lot of sales this month - $20 worth of Chicken eggs, and $6 worth of quail eggs. I then turned around and spent all that plus more on Black Friday to buy my cat a much needed (and very awesome) cat tree. And then I fed everyone - who knew food was so expensive!
Roller Derby	$171.49	$185.00	$228.04 (down $4.59)
Most of this cost was for camp, and then some money put aside for safety gear. All reasonable spending :)
Travelling	$110	$108.33	$39.17 (up $9.17)
Next year I'm hoping to go to Canada! I figured I better start putting money aside.
Comfort Food	$66.20	$40	$66.28
Hello, and welcome to a new category called "how much money do you waste on tasty food?". The answer is too damn much.
Other	$410.20	$180.00	$260.17 (down $50.91)
Well, despite spending a lot more than budgeted, I spent a lot less than last November and brought my average way down! I also moved comfort food out of this category and into it's own for better control. Apart from buying a Playstation 4 (which I had been saving for, and got during a Black Friday sale), this month spend was reasonably controlled - I restocked the wine rack at a significant discount and went to the dentist. Otherwise, not much was spent.
Total	$3,364.27	$3,300.83	$3,626.02 (up $10.99)
It is so nice to be back at normal spends after October. Still sitting above the desired spend, and above the desired average, but on a whole we're doing pretty okay. Buckle up for the festive season! I already have 5 events to attend, and even with my no gifts policy I still have a couple of gifts that will sneak in.

Digging deeper for the junk food failure

For years I've been tracking my spending. It started in my first year of university over a decade ago when I wondered how I could make so much money and still have none left at the end of the week. Back in the day it was a simple notebook where I wrote down everything I spent, and totalled it up at the end of the week. Over the years it has grown bigger, more complex, and thanks to Google Sheets, easier to use. and yet somehow I still can't keep control of the 'miscellaneous' spending category.

Pen and Paper

In early university I wanted to buy an investment property, so I knew I needed to properly track my money in and out. At the beginning, all I did was write down what I spent in a notebook, and tally it up at the end of the week. Then I started recording my income at end of the week, directly next to my expenses. Then I started writing down $50 a week for 'bills' and $50 a week for 'savings'. Each time I had a bill I would deduct it from the saved amount. Then I found that making big luxury purchases was hard to fit into the budget, so I started making a list at the end of each week of things I wanted, and putting $5-$10 aside for them each week.

It was a good starter system, but I couldn't really see what I was spending on over the long term. Was I a booze hound? Did I blow all my money on video games? Should I stop buying books? (never stop buying books...)

Technology revolution

A couple of years ago I graduated to Google Sheets. Now I had 12 months of my expenses in my pocket at all times. Recording my spending was easy with my phone. I never had to worry about my pen running out of ink, my book running out of pages, or explaining to everyone what I was doing.

My spreadsheet has morphed and changed over the years, to a point where I now have 1 tab for each month, with columns for each spending category. Another tab collates all that spending into one easy to see snapshot. Other tabs track money being diverted into spending, and my income - which allows me to pull out spending and saving percentages at the drop of a hat.

This visibility of my money habits has dropped my spending from $46,000 in the 2015/16 financial year, to $42,000 in the 2017/18 financial year. While not a dramatic amount, watching my spending going down, and my lifestyle staying steady (or going up?) despite inflation has been a warm fuzzy feeling of success.

Yet somehow, in all of this I've been completely unable to get a hold on my 'miscellaneous' spending category.

Digging deep for expenses

For about a year I've been ending every month by kicking myself and saying 'stop spending so much on miscellaneous crap! It's your early retirement you're wasting!'. Turns out this isn't the most effective method. A lot of things sneak into this miscellaneous category. Some I can control, some I can't. Things like care packages for my derby team mates when they break limbs, and (very occasional) lunch meetings with my co-workers are things that I agreed to when I signed up for these communities. Some things I know are wasteful (hello Red Wine!) but I love and so I choose to continue spending mindfully. And some things are just plain stupid habits, like $7 coffees every time I'm at the airport...

After utterly failing to control this spending, I did a one year review, and here's what I found:

Books - $99.91, $7.93 a month

I am absolutely okay with this! I re-read books all the time, and since I was a small child I've had my nose glued to the pages. I could get more out of this time / money by reading investing books, personal development and all that other nonsense, but I love the escapism of reading about dragons and magic. (Right now I strongly recommend The Waking Fire: Book One of Draconis Memoria )

Video Games - $46.54, $3.70 a month

This is great. Once upon a time I had a bad habit of buying Steam games that I never played because they were on special. It's nice to see I've properly kicked this habit. All the games I've bought recently have twice as much playtime as dollars spent, which is a great Dollar To Fun ratio.

Alcohol - $382.56, $30.38 a month

This is one where I know I could spend less but I don't want to. The majority of my spending is on Red Wine, and I am super sneaky about it. I buy bulk, mixed packs from places like Virgin Wines, and Qantas. I always wait for a sale, and always get things at significantly reduced prices, generally with bonus frequent flyer points.

I do have long term plans to brew my own beers and ciders, but I'm not sure what the savings will be. It's something I plan to do for fun, rather than financial gain.

Clothes - $52.00, $4.13 a month

I have a confession to make - I hate buying clothes. Nothing fits properly and nothing suits my style. Why are bras so expensive? Why does underwear come in 7 different cuts and what is the different between 'boy leg' and 'full brief''? Why is it so hard to find a comfortable pair of jeans that aren't blue or $100?

The end result of my clothes shopping hatred is a super low bill, clothes that come pre-worn from the thrift shop, and underwear that is a decade old....

Medical - $226.60, $18.00 a month

This is excluding my health insurance, which is $91.61 a month for hospital and extras. $18 a month this year has covered contact lenses, 2 trips to the GP, multiple trips to the physio, and a trip to the dentist. I actually think I should spend more here and take better care of myself.

Comfort food - $785.15, $62.35 per month

What, what, What!!! What madness is this!! I've written before about the Latte Equation and the stupidity of paying $5 for takeaway coffee when you can make your own for barely 50cents (using the expensive milk). I've gone on and on about the virtues of baking your own treats and making your own snacks. And here I am spending almost $60 a month on comfort food, how is this happening!

First of all, December happens. In December all your friends want to go out for dinner. All your coworkers want to go out for lunch. And I want to buy Christmas treats. All of this is expensive. In December alone last year I spent $215 on comfort food.

I'm not too mad about December. I love my family and friends, and we're all pretty quiet throughout the year, so having a month of events is okay by me. What is not okay by me is keeping up this crazy spend throughout the year. I found $50 worth of coffees, $100 worth of pizzas, and over $100 worth of entries just labelled 'Junk Food'.

Alone, each of these entries isn't too offensive. But when over $60 a month is disappearing into this chasm of cheap, lazy snacks, something has to change.

Everything else - $2,059.08, $174.95 a month

Inevitably, when sorting out the miscellaneous column, there will be things that don't deserve their own category. Items left in this everything else category include crafting supplies, that time I paid for parking at the hospital, concert tickets, and odds and ends like replacement charging cables, some rammekins and a pair of scissors. While there is a lot of uncategorised spending here, this is a number I'm happy to live with for now.

Where to from here?

In case my rant and the title of this post didn't give it away, I'm less than thrilled with spending $60 a month on comfort foods - especially when I'm more than capable of baking better tasting things myself. 

I'm a very firm believer that what gets measured gets done, as long as the measuring is accurate. To bring the comfort food spending back to a happy level, I've created a new column in my budget, and allotted $50 a month to snacks, junk food, takeaway and other deliciousness. I'm 'funding' that column with $10 out of my groceries budget, and $40 out of my miscellaneous budget.

I'm under no illusions that this will be properly managed in December. While I believe in controlling my spending, I don't believe in cutting out my friends to do so. When I get invited to Christmas outings, I'm absolutely going to go. Then when January rolls around and everyone is burned out from celebrating and feasting, I'll tackle this in earnest.

Adult Goals: October2018

Ya'll... October was expensive. What just happened...

Adulting

The October plan was to make my bed regularly, and to start doing some serious body maintenance. I made my bed a few days in a row, but honestly I didn't get any value out of it, so I gave up on that pretty quickly. It just became one more thing to do before leaving the house in the morning, and I didn't get any of the rumoured buzz of feeling like a #AccomplishedAdult.

I did pay more attention to my body though. I did yoga roughly twice a week, started stretching daily, and got my foam roller out again. I went to see the physio to make sure the knee I banged into the ground multiple times was a-okay, and it is. But all the muscles attached are knotted up and mad at me, so I need to devote more time to the foam roller, my absolute favourite...

October Adulting: Success

For November, it's time to organise things! Which is great, because I've been feeling the spring cleaning itch. I want to pull all the knock off tupperware containers out of my cupboard and match lids with bases (and throw out the ones that don't have any). I'm really excited for the warmer weather, because I can stop wearing layers of clothes, and pack away a lot of things I won't see for six months. I probably won't buy anymore shelving, so I might part company with some of my books to make space. Maybe. I'm very attached to my books.

Savings

So how did the fourth month of saving and rebuilding my cash reserves go? It was the worst so far!! I'm really not good at saving... I'm great at investing. Just plain terrible at saving boring cash in a boring savings account.

Hello flatline!! Actually, technically there is a tiny bit less in my account this month than last month. It was a big bills month, and one of those bills can't be paid on credit card. I also finally replaced my toilet. We're talking 4 years in the making. I paid in cash for a 10% discount off the price. That does meant that this money came out this month, instead of pushing it back another month via credit card magic. Which is great, because I also had a lot of bills that went on the credit card, so that hurts too.

To add to my money misery in October, my rental property is processing the payments a day late, which means I won't see my October rent until November. October was a '5 week month' so I'll get a big payment, but it's disappointing not seeing it till later than usual. My property managers are normally on the ball, so I'm not hugely concerned about it being a little late this one time.

Lastly, I'm still put some money aside for future spending. I'm putting $110 a month into my trip to Canada, saving for a blueberry hedge, a new helmet and (super exciting) a new toilet since I finally replaced the toilet, I've started saving to buy myself some video games for Christmas. 

Expenses

For the sake of curiosity, here's what I spent in October, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$1,429.89	$1,312.50	$1,353.72 (up $16.74)
I got bills! They're terrifying... not really, they're pretty standard. That doesn't mean I enjoy paying them.
Investment Property	$2,576.51	$1,166.67	$1,299.88 (up $3.70)
Big bills! Very terrifying! Again, not really terrifying, all the bills fell in the same month, including the big bill I get every four months for the Body Corporate. The average barely shifted though, so that's nice.
Personal Bills	$126.61	$126.67	$145.48 (down $1.69)
New lower phone bill! Woo!
Groceries	$141.75	$200.00	$200.48 (down $1.32)
I scored a free box of Hello Fresh meals at the start of the month. I wouldn't recommend the service, because none of the meals produce leftovers, I find the methods they use create a lot of dishes and a lot of plastic waste, and it's expensive to boot. But a free box of food is not something I'm going to turn down.
Pets	$32.21	$35.00	$41.77 (down $3.09)
I made more sales this month - $10 worth of Chicken eggs, and $15 worth of quail eggs. I put the $15 aside to build or buy an incubator, and restocked cat and quail food.
Roller Derby	$161.62	$185.00	$232.63 (down $16.02)
The off season has begun! I paid the last of my season dues, put money aside for new safety gear, and saw the physio to make sure I was doing all the right things for my off season recovery.
Travelling	$110	$108.33	$30 (up $9.17)
Next year I'm going to Canada! I figured I better start putting money aside.
Other	$497.17	$157.25	$311.08 (up $28.06)
It's not as bad as it looks I swear!! Mr FIRE runs his own business, and I invest in a lot of different things, so we pay an accountant to make sure we get the most out of our tax returns. I paid for both our returns this year, and they aren't super cheap. Outside of that, I saw a doctor, ate some ice cream, had about 4 beers and put money aside to buy Christmas gifts.
Total	$5,075.75	$3,300.83	$3,615.03 (up $35.53)
October was expensive.  With all the bills I was over budget before the month even started, no fun. Outside of that, there was very little unplanned spending, so the numbers on paper suck, but I still pat myself on the back for good behaviour. This is typical for October, it's a big bills month.