Well, the first two weeks are behind me, I feel like I've survived the initial shock.
However, I've started realising how hard keeping track of everything can be. Plus making time to introduce new routines!... Having said that, like everything in life, the more you do it, the better you get at it so I'm sure I'll pick up the pace! I'm interested to see how different I will be in three months time. I've decided I'll do a quarterly check on my progress, adaptation and overall savings.
In preparation for this project, I realised I was going to need some help. I turned to a platform that reaches plenty of people on my network of friends and asked everyone what their tips for saving money were. The result was overwhelming and I ended up with a plethora of answers, which were very much appreciated! From deciding which recipes you will cook for each week before you do your weekly shopping to setting a weekly budget and withdrawing the money to keep in an envelope and take out as you go along to cutting your own hair, there was a tip for nearly everything! I am devising a plan on when I will implement new changes and I've decided I will accumulate each previous change so I effectively alter my life to be more budget savvy even after the project is finished.
Today I accounted for my expenses from the week before I officially started this challenge through to the past to weeks until today. I have separated expenses by weekly, monthly and yearly but I have also added everything I spent on each week so I get a feeling of what my overall expenditures are throughout the month, which weeks are the most expensive and if there is anywhere I can make changes in order to save more.
Today I have decided to change my mobile provider as my current contract is coming up for renewal and my phone is still in good condition so I will change for a SIM only pay monthly, which will cut down my costs by more than half. So that’s my first big change. I can only change providers next month as I had to give 30 days notice but the decision has been made and I’m sticking to it.
I have also started looking for deals on food and thinking of 2 recipes per week. Loosely, as I’m not yet used to keeping to strict recipes. For example, I will do a weekly shop, keeping an eye out for any bargains or reduced items. I will then think of a couple of recipes based on the ingredients I have (could be a curry, wrap, pasta dish, etc) and I’ll go with that.
I have also stopped buying a hot chocolate per day at a café. Instead, I will look for deals on non-dairy milks (I'm dairy intolerant) and will make my own chocolate milk at home, which I then take with me and heat up at the office.
I haven’t missed buying clothes yet either, I’ve kept receiving the newsletters from the websites I have always bought clothes from as they give me ideas on how to adapt the clothes I already have if I want to have a change of look and I haven’t been tempted to buy anything yet.
I have a few clothes selling on the Depop app but no luck so far… I might put them on eBay.
And so this first official blog post is concluded. I will do updates roughly every couple of weeks of more frequently if there are enough insights or changes that take place.
Hope this has been helpful so far!
