Every month, it generally goes like this:

But then all good intentions usually die after the first week of payday:

And then the final realisation:

JANUARY SPENDING: The Breakdown

This month there was a slight drop in spending and expenses by just under $100, however expenses still rallied high as I went on a number of clothing, make-up and skincare shopping sprees. Big ticket Gumtree, Ebay, Priceline and online purchases made up the bulk of the Clothing and Beauty spending, totalling $282. While this is almost equal to my Clothing spending in December, I got a lot more value out of my dollar because of clearance sales and discounts.

How I justified the beauty splurges:

Spending on ‘Other Expenses’ in January compared to December dropped from $1,715 to $1,312 – a big improvement. Some of these expenses were carried over from the Christmas / New Years trip back to my hometown and groceries / alcohol inflated this month due to entertaining friends at mine for Australia Day. I also signed up for an embroidery course so a big deposit was paid, showing under ‘Studio Expenses’.

The big improvement was in dining and alcohol. In December, dining out was $467 and alcohol was $327. This month, dining out was $184 ($60 of this was from the Christmas trip back home) and alcohol was $275 ($70 suppling drinks for Australia Day BBQ with a lot is still left over). One of the main causes of the drop in dining/alcohol expenses is because I’m going to the gym 4 times a week now, packing healthy lunches to work and starting to go to the gym on Fridays instead of going out for after-work drinks. Becoming fitter has had a positive side effect of wanting to eat healthier and drink much, much less.

Overall, I’m very happy with how this year has started. My spending is much less however I’m still buying luxuries for myself regularly. I’ve felt the most frivolous in my spending however my costs are much lower. Buying only a few big, high quality items irregularly instead of smaller, regular purchases of crappy quality items is literally paying off. The feeling of knowing I’ve spent a big amount of money on a few quality items actually makes me more aware of my purchases and stops me from spending any money on small, unnecessary items.

Going forward, I’m expecting February expenses to be slightly higher as I’m booking flights for an April/May holiday, however I intend to cut down on expenses to save for this trip and counter this big one-off spend.

NET WORTH

Oh dear. My Net Worth has barely budged, which is pretty disappointing. I have less cash in the bank than last month, and more money in the shares account. I bought some VAS shares however they’ve dropped slightly in value since purchasing. Bullion has increased ever so slightly (+$61), superannuation has barely risen (+$19) and my student loan has decreased by -$4 (…yay).

Hopefully next month is more fruitful!

xx Miss Piggy

Illustration by Alicia Malesanti.