Today marked the close of a remarkable month for me. One small lifestyle change for Miss Piggy, one giant leap for Miss Piggy’s FIRE goals.

This month closed on a fantastic high. The biggest achievement was finishing one whole month of an alcohol-free Dry February, saving my health and wallet. More importantly, not drinking gave me the time and energy to think about my priorities in life – what I want to achieve in the next year, 5 years and 10 years and what steps I need to take to achieve them. On top of completing my alcohol-free-Feb and feeling great about it, my expenses for the month were the lowest yet!

Overall, total expenses for the month were $3,190, down from $3,364 in January.

For previous month’s net worth and spending, click here for November, December and January.

Let’s break it down:

Oops! While drinking expenses went to almost $0 (the $4 was a soda water), dining out expenses managed to remain high and mighty. Groceries ballooned out, and I’m not exactly sure how that happened. I guess not drinking increased my appetite as it seems like all I did was eat all February!

And now for the big one… (chicken) drum roll please!

FEBRUARY NET WORTH

For previous month’s net worth and spending, click here for November, December and January. 

Yea! Finally *some* progress. Although still in the red, my Net Worth has increased by $1,320 in January to -$19,891 in February. This is mainly due to an increase in money in the shares account kitty however there was also a small appreciation in shares and bullion which helped. Super is paid by employers quarterly so there won’t be any change in this value until end of April.

Overall, I’m so happy with this end of month expense and net worth result. I feel like the work I’m putting towards this goal is starting to pay off.

Next month, focus is to cut down on my entertainment food expenses. My goal is to start bulk cooking more regularly to prepare work lunches and get into the habit of cooking dinner instead of getting take-away, even when I’m tired from a long day at work. The high entertainment food expenses are a direct result of not having done my groceries in almost all cases.

I’d love to hear about your February spending and expenses. Were you able to stay within budget? What did you do to keep costs down or if you blew the budget what were the reasons causing this?

xx Miss Piggy

Cover illustration by @jooleeloren