As I've been engaged in an online group examining frugality, my beliefs and messages around money and the choices I am making in terms of spending this month, I've been asking several questions:
Does what I spend align with my values?
Is there a clear line between "Want" and "Need" for me?
Do I spend any amount without really thinking about it?
Do I think I need more than I actually do?
How often do I think of re-purposing something rather than making a purchase?
Of my possessions, is there anything I no longer need or use?
What am I willing to stop purchasing in order to save?
Do I look at frugality as a method of saving temporarily or as a long term way of living?
What did I actually spend in January?
Groceries $44 per week (176)
Transportation $60/month
Pet Food and supplies for new pet $200
Cards $15.00
Internet $72.00
Mobile Phone $35.00
Netflix $24.00
Acorn $5.00
Dentist $124.00
Miscellaneous $49
Two gifts $20
One lunch out $20.00
Microchip for pet and tags $45
Target-household $45
Electric $60
Two memorial donations $40
My monthly condominium fees were paid in December through the end of August, 2018 and are not included here. Additionally, my Homeowners policy and property taxes were paid then as well. The dentist is a quarterly expense, Microchip, memorial donations, cards and household are all infrequent, and pet expenses will be less as basic supplies have all been purchased. I'm going to investigate pet insurance. I've gotten rid of Starbucks except for a gift card and had no take-out or delivery meals. As we do not have much choice in Internet providers here and I do not have a television or want to bundle TV and phone with cable, I'm stuck. The modem, router and wiring in the wall at my home all needed to be replaced and I've had a few outages. Had my phone been bundled, I'd have had no way to call and report them, nor any way to reach someone in an emergency. Much of my household expense has been spent on canned or dried items to build back pantry reserves and I am now also keeping extra supplies of bottled water since both Lukas and I drink it. Whatever doesn't get used up before June will be put in hurricane supplies. While I tend to order a lot online since I do not drive, I'm happy to report that Amazon will not be seeing many orders this year. Hopefully, the results will be seen in my savings account.
While it is possible now to stream movies, music and audiobooks from the library, I've had some problems with access and the variety among films isn't that great if one watches foreign fare but it is an alternative to Netflix. I may just listen to audiobooks rather than watch films. Having been a subscriber to Netflix since 2004, I've seen their content change and their prices rise, neither for the better.
I'm currently streaming Cait Flanders' book, The Year of Less, via Hoopla from the library. It is the story of how the author, in her thirties and a young professional, climbed out of #30,000 or so of consumer debt, made the connection between stuff and stress, streamlined her possessions along the way, faced the adversity that came with work and family changes and re-made her life according to her own priorities. She instituted a year-long ban on certain items only to discover she neither missed nor needed most of them and that some of them had more to do with her so-called uniform and who she was to others or who she thought she should be rather than who she is. Her year ban stretched into two as Flanders shifted the focus of her life.
This is not by any stretch the bog standard, "De-clutter, live simply and be happy" book that there are so many of today. Many of the changes were hard-won, life-altering and came about as the result of circumstances no-one would choose.
10 comments:
Cait Flanders is one of the blogs I follow. De-cluttering is just one piece of it. Like you, I am really zeroing in this year on my relationship with stuff and with money. It's not a popular path and has baffled people I know, but I'm feeling good about it.
I get that and I agree. I've had the same experience with others but will persist because I have the feeling that this will lead to the unexpected.Good luck. I'm reading your posts and comments with interest.
This is something I am looking at as well. Particularly about being mindful of how I tend to hoard in freezer and pantry. I was embarrassed at a huge chest freezer that had to be defrosted and the food thrown away. Embarrassed is an understatement. Mortified. Ashamed. It brought this famine purchasing to a head. And a lot of it was gifts of meals and coffees and game and veggies that were given to me. All taken to the dump.
OK one secret now floodlit.
I'm finding your posts most interesting.
XO
WWW
It really is quite useful to track expenditures. I kept track for years until last year, during a bad patch of depression, when I stopped. I've regretted it ever since. I've kept receipts, intending to go back and fill in the lost months but now that ever-growing bag of receipts is so daunting that I cannot summon the energy to start. I suppose that I should start fresh with this month and abandon the lost months. It's not easy being obsessive-compulsive!
Very good questions to ask oneself.
Greetings from London.
Those are good questions to ask! We've cut down on a lot of expense over the past 18 months. We live on a modest budget and have managed so far to keep within it. Expenses can spiral completely out of control if we don't keep tabs on them!
Good points, e. Thanks to your mention of Cait Flanders, and Secret Agent Woman's comment, I have found Cait's blog and it makes fascinating and helpful reading.
I track everything that we spend, to the penny. I find that it takes me little time but helps me make big decisions. I also forecast our expenses one to two years ahead, which again helps me make informed decisions.
So have you decided whether you want to remain frugal as a way of life or just temporarily? If it's just temporarily, you might find that you actually like that way of living.
E, your Netflix subscription seems very expensive. I'm guessing you have the DVD subscription, then? We stream Netflix (and Acorn) via a small device called a Roku that I love. We've had it for several years. It also gives us access to a bunch of other channels, a lot of them free. There was just an article on their blog today with a list of Roku channels that stream international fare. Of course, a lot of them are channels that you'd have to pay for. Netflix just informed us that our monthly subscription will go up at the end of the month so I downgraded it to the 1-screen-at-a-time subscription, which is only $7.99 per month. I haven't used it much at all since January 1st, but I like having it available and I go through periods of time when I want to stream everything! Of course you do need a stable internet connection then. You could get the streaming subscription and watch it on your computer if you don't have something like a Roku.
Is your library close enough that you could make a trip there once in a while? You might be able to pick up DVDs there too. Back when I lived in Orange County, they mailed us the materials that we requested to our home! But that was before the economic crisis of 2007. I don't know if they still do it. I think you mentioned mobility issues in past posts, have you asked them if they provide accommodations of any kind for people in your situation who want to borrow materials? Apologies if I misunderstood.
I've never had much choice about frugality, budgeting or planning and won't in the future either but I ask that question because I think many times people tell themselves something is for the short term when it is in fact necessary all the time. As for the library, the closest is still a drive, so money for transport unless I go with someone. I watch Netflix via computer and have only one screen at a time as well.
So I'm wondering why you pay $24.99 a month for Netflix? Was that a typo? If not, you might want to double check your account and make sure you're not paying for something you're not aware of. The 1-screen a month plan is $7.99.
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