The (long) road to financial freedom: Week two
“Too many people spend money they earned..to buy things they don’t want..to impress people that they don’t like.”
First things first, in all honesty the use of the word ‘week’ is a little loose here. It’s the second blog but probably more than a week since the last one! It has been Christmas though and we know how time loses all sense of meaning over the period. I am aiming to put out weekly blogs so will definitely tighten up on that so they are actually a real calendar week apart. This is me setting my intention now and putting some accountability in. I’ve been on a coaching training course this weekend…can you tell?
Christmas. It is notoriously an expensive time of the year. Fortunately, we have quite a low key Christmas. We (my partner Marcus and I) had a lovely meal (several in fact) and enjoyed each others company. We visited family and exchanged gifts. So my expenses were higher over this month than usual. But there are a couple of things that help to keep things under control.
Not having children. We’re not at that point yet so it’s not a conscious decision not to have them, just that we haven’t yet. This already makes our expenses less because there aren’t the same expectations around gifts and santa etc. etc.
But we do have a four present rule which we’ll keep even if we have kids. We buy each other something we want, something we need, something to wear and something to read. It has a nice little rhyme to it! Apparently I got this idea from my Step-Mum. That may or may not be true. I heard it somewhere and have claimed it. The reason this works for us is we limit the gifts but put more thought into each item. When you receive the gifts you can appreciate them without becoming overwhelmed by the amount. I would definitely recommend trying it.
Not over buying food. I planned out the meals we would have and the ingredients we would need. And I was realistic. In previous years I’ve bought way too much food but once we’ve had a big lunch we will only want a smaller dinner, or food to pick at, so I planned for that. As I’ve mentioned planning ahead isn’t one of my strengths so I was really pleased to have managed it.
How was your Christmas? I’d love to hear how you got on and any tips and tricks you have to share.
“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one.”
Back to my financial freedom plan… My debt management plan is now set at the new level so my payment at the end of January will be at this level. There was one more payment at the old level but fortunately this overlapped with my final paycheck from the school, so not a major panic! I also had to renew my car insurance and I used the remaining money from my school pay to do this (and to cover Christmas). I usually pay monthly but last year I paid for the full year upfront for some reason. It has actually worked out well this year that I’ve been able to get it out of the way and not have to worry about it for the remainder of the year.
The other big cost was my university fees. I have now had a leave of absence agreed until the end of March. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to return to the course then but for now I have some breathing room and some pennies for food. I still have my other course fees (for my counselling course) which I pay each month but in terms of my priorities that one is top. I want to get the masters done so there are slight mixed feelings about taking time out but it is a relief to have that space.
I want to finish by looking forward to the New Year. 2020. I realise we’re already a week in (how did that happen!!) I’ve set myself some general intentions for this year to work towards and I have a specific money related one that I want to share with you. As I’ve said, I have a lot of stuff. In particular clothes and books. So the intention, and probably a fair bit of a challenge, is this:
I will not buy any clothes or books this year.
I say year, initially I’m committing to six months as that feels less daunting as it is a big change as these are two of my big comfort spending areas. But the aim is the year so that’s what I’m writing down here. At the end of December I bought some essentials (new sports bra, pants, socks etc) because I have some tired looking ones that are at the end of their life. But other than that, no clothes. Fortunately, I have all my wedding clothes sorted – except maybe a bra, so there may be an exception for that but I think that’s acceptable. With books, the only caveat is if I need a specific book for my course then I will buy that. But only for core texts that I’ll be referring to a lot. I think I have all of these already.
Why am I putting these little exceptions in? I want this to be realistic. Yes it is a challenge and a big change and it will be difficult at times. The exceptions are for times when there is a genuine need for something new. If it was an absolute rule and I needed a course book then the chances are that I’d then give up because I wouldn’t have achieved the intention so why keep going? This is how my mind chatter works. Maybe you’ve had the same with an intention you’ve set yourself. Basically, I know what might be a potential issues and am planning for it. If I just want something, then that’s tough. I’ll have to go to the library. And clothes wise, I have enough. I can add it to my wish list…
What are your intentions for 2020? Do you have anything money specific? I’d love to hear what you’re working towards and how you’re getting on. I’ll be back next week with an update on my own money journey.
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
