*sigh*
Wow. What can I say? I had a distinct lack of no spend days last month. I did add my online payment stuff into this month's calendar, but there are still far fewer no spend days in there than there should be. Here's how it went for the month of March:
A little legend for the calendar below:
Wow. What can I say? I had a distinct lack of no spend days last month. I did add my online payment stuff into this month's calendar, but there are still far fewer no spend days in there than there should be. Here's how it went for the month of March:
A little legend for the calendar below:
Green = No Spend Day
Yellow = Spend Day
Red = Used Credit/Debit Card
March - All Spending | ||||||
Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
$1.25 | $68.71 | $110.00 | $16.80 | $70.00 | ||
$19.05 | $4.45 | $0.00 | $52.70 | $280.84 | $677.83 | $14.25 |
$0.00 | $2.50 | $6.30 | $46.25 | $0.25 | $14.51 | $49.03 |
$9.61 | $0.00 | $105.81 | $9.02 | $11.39 | $1,182.15 | $16.26 |
$17.48 | $433.38 | $0.00 | $24.96 | $14.50 | ||
Before you jump at the red box that's over a thousand dollars, I'll point out that both my mortgage and utilities were paid on that day as well. In fact, any day that you see that's over $100 is due to either utility payments, debt payments, a car/insurance payment or a mortgage payment. Looking at the non-(semi)automated stuff, this is what I spent this month:
March - Cash & Card Spending | ||||||
Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
$1.25 | $68.71 | $0.00 | $16.80 | $70.00 | ||
$19.05 | $4.45 | $0.00 | $2.70 | $60.84 | $22.85 | $14.25 |
$0.00 | $2.50 | $6.30 | $46.25 | $0.25 | $14.51 | $49.03 |
$9.61 | $0.00 | $34.07 | $9.02 | $11.39 | $17.17 | $16.26 |
$17.48 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $24.96 | $14.50 | ||
There is still a distinct lack of No Spend days here. Seriously, what's up with that? I took out the frivolous food purchases, and this is what I came up with:
March - Cash & Card Spending - Without Frivolous Food Purchases | ||||||
Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
$0.00 | $65.92 | $0.00 | $13.95 | $70.00 | ||
$19.05 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $59.34 | $20.00 | $14.25 |
$0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $45.00 | $0.25 | $0.00 | $46.71 |
$0.00 | $0.00 | $26.00 | $7.52 | $0.00 | $15.67 | $5.00 |
$10.48 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $19.96 | $0.00 | ||
That's more like it.
Not all of the eating out was taken out of that last one. If I was meeting friends for breakfast/lunch/dinner, then I counted it as socializing. If it was just me, it was frivolous. I know why I've been eating out so much, and I know it's within my control and I need to find a way to work around it. Usually I spend my Sunday afternoons cooking/cleaning and generally preparing for the week. This last month I've spent pretty much every weekend at The Boy's place, meaning I haven't been doing my food prep. Consequently, I've been running out the door in the mornings without a packed breakfast or lunch of any sort, and nothing really planned.
Oops.
So, I need to fix that. It's far too easy to spend money on food. Last month I spent $84.69 on groceries, and $235.46 on eating out. WAY too much!
The other thing that's been causing me to fritter is stress. Lately, I've been going down to the corner store in the building and picking up a chocolate bar as an afternoon pick me up. Seriously, since when do I buy chocolate bars at work?
Since this year I guess.
Anyway, that's how last month went. I'm going to try to do better this month. I acknowledge that will be a little difficult with exams towards the end of the month, but I'm going to try. This morning I brought my tea to class in a travel mug. That's one step in the right direction, now I just have to keep it up. Tomorrow I'll go over where the *RED* purchases occurred.
3 comments:
I love your chart! I may have to steal it if that's ok with you ;)
I've been making a tonne of little frivilous purchases lately too. My no spends have gone from 3-4 a week to 1-2 but I haven't been spending more than $10-20 per day at most (except maybe on weekends). But still, these little purchases add up.
I think for me it may be stress. It may be helpful to keep track of how I feel on the days I spent, especially on these frivilous little purchases of food. I bought a chocolate bar today too :(
So much of spending is tied up in our emotional state so this may be a useful excercise.
@Morgaine - Absolutely. If you think it would help you then go for it!
I need to get back to doing yoga.
wow. the difference is startling in colour.
I wonder what my month would have looked like. O_O;;
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