life in dollars
makr blog, via muus
I mentioned earlier this year I wanted to tighten my clothing budget, and set aside money to buy things rather than buying them right away, so I thought I would go on a related note and share a bit about my experience trying to keep to a budget. (In case you thought this blog was all about waxing lyrical about dining alone.)
A few years ago, I set some rules about how many “treats” I would allow myself a month that would allow me to have a social life and indulge in the odd butter + sugar magic, in order to derive a realistic budget.
I came up with this:
- One takeaway latte a week, or four a month (S$22)
- Maximum of two magazines a month (about S$25)
- Nights out drinking capped at twice a month, assuming I spend about S$30-S$40 each time (S$60)
- Meals averaging S$40 maximum twice a month (S$80)
- Coffee time (usually with pastry/cake) averaging S$15 each time, maximum twice a month (S$30)
- Brunch, averaging S$30 each time, once a month
- Daily workday lunches should not exceed S$10 a day (S$50)
This isn't much to some, and a lot to some, but for me, it's comfortable. It leaves me enough room for the odd outrageously expensive meal or spend generously on gifts. And of course, the occasional pair of shoes.
And because I predict better how much I expect to spend, I've been able to save better too.
The mistake not to make is to aim for a magic number. It doesn't work if you don't track how much you're actually spending first, before deciding what to add and take away.
Anyway, if you're still reading my amateur attempt at financial advice, you may be wondering how my experiment with the MHL dress went. Predictably, I had lost interest by the time I set aside the money for the dress. This is not to say I won't ever buy the dress, but it demonstrated clearly to me that it was of little consequence. If I bought the dress, I would be happy, but not much happier than I already am. If I don't buy the dress, I'm not unhappier at all.
Isn't this so often the case?
Happy long weekend! (I am in fact working tomorrow, but I have Monday off!)
Comments
you have a great long weekend too yourself!
Have a great weekend!
each month i give myself a set maximum i can spend each day (family of 3+dog) for groceries, transportation, treats (human and canine variety). and i use cash. some days i am well below, and that gives me a little more to play with on other days (i have to keep track). it easily becomes a bit of a fun challenge to try and end up with a nice amount left over at the end of the month.
a budget is a simple concept that just = responsible.
when i focus on keeping track of the actual dollars, then the things i normally purchase, the distractions, the acquisitions, they are less powerful. buuuuuuut, when one does catch my eye, it is suddenly soooo hard to remember your lesson of the MHL dress, which is always true of "things". i guess my challenge is to never look up. ;)
And I also find that if I put a desired purchase out of reach for a little while, by the time I get around to considering it again, 95% of the time my desire to purchase has diminished to very low levels. I don't think of myself as being particularly fickle, but it seems like I might be. Oh well, financially it's certainly a good thing!
Like you, I also plan future budget, based on what I spent before, picking important categories, fixed expenses, choosing where to reduce etc. I have read somewhere that people are more relaxed when they spend only 70-80% of their income, that way they never feel they don't have enough. Something I'm trying to incorporate into my budget too.
Joy: I could be a lot smarter with my money; I'm not saying I ALWAYS manage to stay within budget, haha. I think these things just come with age, in the sense that once you start working and become more financially independent you have no choice but to confront it.
Cato: I save a lot by only eating one meal out...this means cooking, haha.
I also started borrowing books from the library rather than buying. I still buy books sometimes but much much less than before.
editor: Having that maximum there (and knowing it's a realistic one) is a really helpful mental brake and within weeks of setting the budget I could tell I was being a lot more mindful about what to spend on, and that's always a good thing.
It's so tempting when something lovely comes along (I saw such a pretty dress just earlier today) but remembering that the lift in mood is temporary really helps drag me back to rationality.
Jess: That's brilliant! How comes the banks here don't do that. I don't pay so much with debit but if my bank was so handy with these things I definitely would.
Increasingly, I've noticed that the longer I go without buying things the more I start to thing, "I've been so good so I can buy this"...which is dangerous! I think it goes to show how deeply and frighteningly engrained consumerism is in all of us.
rachel: i noticed a year after i graduated and started working full-time that although i was making more money, I wqas spending more as well, and consequently not better off at all a whole year after I started earning money! it's great that you've already started thinking about this and i can't stress how important it is, especially when job security is so low these days.
Kali: I think that's an amazing idea and I wish my bank did that! shall check out that app - the one i've got isn't all that great and others i have tried are too complicated.
i consciously overbudget (a little) as well...i think it's absolutely true that you don't feel so stressed out if you have a little "leftover" each month and you don't always feel like you don't have any room for extras. i think if a budget makes me feel bad that i'm more like to not stick it and simply bust it.
It is not a perfect system, but it does give me a good overview of how I can spend my money at any given time. I also keep a sort of budget in google docs where I have added things like birthdays, dentist checkups, insureance payments and so on - those things that come at the same time every year, but that still always come as a surprise. Not any more!
Having only 2 months left onmy current contract, I do need to start tightening up a little, my biggest problem is my seemingly unlimited shopping budget, it's like oh, I have some spare money? I know, let's buy new shoes... eek.
i still buy a coffee every day, or every other day, but i don't go to restaurants. it took me a long time to realise that when people made lists of things to consider, that these lists would not necessarily be the same for me. :)
Sometimes I feel that I let money flow out of my purse too easily and without me knowing! A little novelty here and there and my disposal income is all gone!
I love your attitude towards shopping.. the desire, however intense, will pass and like you said, life is still intact and so is your joy:)
jamie-lee: I know I can survive on less too - I have this terrible habit of spending more carelessly come the end of the week when I've been good all week. I guess it means it comes down to reviewing my budget regularly.
Nyssa Jayne: Exactky! I had to make a list of what I was spending on first in order to decide what I could do without. In university I used to have a music budget - I bought new albums almost every month. But that sort of became irrelevant when I no longer had the energy to sit around and check out new bands.
Eileen: Thanks! I had to do this budget because I was having so much trouble remembering where my money went!