Hello and welcome to my weekly update on my $200 savings challenge. I’m a bit behind with this post, but better late then never I guess. Things have been pretty busy for me on the work front and I just haven’t had the time or energy for blogging. But I have a bit of clear air now and should be back to posting in a more timely fashion.
This week was fairly uneventful. We’re still in lockdown and just had a fresh wave of restrictions imposed on us. Naturally, this limits what I can get up to. But as much as lockdown sucks, I can’t deny it’s been positive for the ol’ bank balance. Thankfully, I’ve never been a huge online shopper so I haven’t fallen into that hole to relieve the lockdown boredom unlike some of my friends.
This week represented a bit of a milestone for my wife and I. We finally rebuilt our emergency fund back to pre-baby levels and now have enough to cover three months of expenses should we both suddenly find ourselves out of work. I can’t tell you how good it feels to be in this position knowing we have some security if the worst happens. It’s also kind of funny, as this wasn’t something I ever gave much thought to before having a baby, but now I’m constantly worried that I’m not doing enough to ‘get ahead’ to look after the family.
Guess that’s what ‘adulting’ is all about.
The savings challenge has definitely played a big part in us getting to this point. But it’s not just about the money saved, it’s also about the habits we’ve formed and the insights into our spending we’ve gained. If something happens and we have to rely on our emergency fund, I know the good spending habits built over the last 29 weeks of this challenge will help us to live within our means and to stretch our funds as far a possible. Importantly, the insights I’ve gained into my spending will allow us to tighten our belts further, if needed, to make the most of our emergency funds. It’s definitely a good place to be with everything else going on at the moment.
Ok, let’s talk about the challenge. Once again, I didn’t pick up any extra cash. However, I did manage to cut back a bit on the spending side of things – particularly compared to the last couple of weeks. For the first time in a while, we didn’t spend anything on takeout. All lunches and dinners were home made – meaning we saved a tidy $100. I finally got the coffee machine my brother gave me set up, but we’ve still been indulging in takeaways from our local café, so the savings on coffee that we envisioned haven’t really materialised yet.
No discounts on Hello Fresh this week, so I’m back to paying full price. There are a couple of new meal kit companies that have recently popped up that I’m considering checking out. They’re a lot cheaper than Hello Fresh but don’t seem to offer the same level of quality.
As usual, count the $50 saved on rent from the rent reduction we negotiated at the start of the year. Also count the lockdown savings on train fares and gym membership ($45 and $17 respectively) and that about sums up the week.
Extra Earnings: $0
Reduced Spending: $212
Total Savings: $212
Result: $12 over the target
Well, we hit hit the target and did so through reduced spending alone. Always a good feeling when that happens. Ok, I’m going to warp it up here. The sun is peaking through the clouds and the baby has just woken up so I think it might be time to head outside.
Until next time.
-Trevvie
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