This August I am planning to do my very best at spending VERY LITTLE! As I am a new home owner I have been spending a lot of money on making my house a home. Which is great! But really, now I am just getting a bit too crazy about it.

I have been spending crazy amounts every day when I am not working. Around $200 a day, on all sorts of random shit. Plants, paint, furniture, whatever I want really. At the hairdressers recently, I was complaining I was spending too much, and her response was a little perplexing… “Well you are single, so you have nothing/no one else to spend your money on”. Which I could not tell if I felt insulted or depressed about that response to be honest. However, I claim to be a minimalist, well morally on the inside I love the idea of minimalism, but I seem to have a spending problem. I am a minimalist with a spending problem. How did this even happen??

I read an article recently about this woman who decided to not spend on anything but the bare essentials for one year. Have a guess how much she saved? ** See at the bottom of this article. Unbelievably a lot of money. She rode her bike as much as possible, did not eat out, bought no new clothes, stopped drinking alcohol, no movies, no luxuries, not even any chocolate bars! She spent nothing except for what she had to on food and bills.  And she saved SO MUCH MONEY! This article made me realise how much we spend on things we just do not need. We want, sure, we want a lot of things, and this is how the economy works. Marketing convinces us we need many things, but in fact we do not need any of it. We want it. Full stop. No returns.

So this August, I am going to do my very best to stop the spending spree. Stop the frivolous spending on stuff and things and blah blahs I just do not need. Here are some ways I aim to cut down on spending:

1. Limit going to the shops for food. And only buy groceries I need. I will also aim to eat the food I have in the house, and makes meals out of what I have already, rather than buying new things all the time. And try and make meals out of what I have stored up, like that random packet of ready to go Curry that just needs some chicken, and maybe some pumpkin, okay and some zucchini…
2. Stay off booze. This alone will save at least $5o to $100 a week, especially if I avoid going out to drink. Now that gets expensive!
3. Don’t go to Bunnings. I need shares in this place, that is how much money I have spent there in the past 6 months. I swear it has crept up to well over $2000. So no go Bunnings. For those who live overseas, this is a place that sells hardware stuff, plants, and anything you need for the house. I love it. Hold me back. Fucking ban me from this place. It’s like the casino for a gambler. Bunnings for the homeowner. Same thing.
4. Don’t buy anymore plants. Now this will be hard. I seem to have a plant addiction, and weekly continue to buy plants, both for outdoors and indoor areas. I love plants, but now I have enough plants. I have more than enough, and now I just need to be patient and watch them grow. One month of no plant buying will be good for me.
5. Learn to appreciate what I have. And declutter around the house. I will continue to de-clutter as much as possible in every nook and cranny of the house, out with the old and in with the new. Well no new purchases, just new energy please! Going through my things also reminds me that I have enough of everything, enjoy what you have!
6. No new clothes. I don’t need anything. I have more than enough of everything.
7. No more home improvements for one month. I have a few things I want to do still, but it can wait a month. I want to put up new curtains in my room and re-tile the kitchen and put in a new vanity in the bathroom. I seem to be always finding new things to do. But this can all wait for one month! I can perhaps plan for what I want to do and get quotes, and make it clear what I really want to do.
8. Minimise eating out. I don’t eat out that much anyway, and even when I do, I like cheaper places anyway.
9. Enjoy doing free things for entertainment. Things like taking a bike ride, going for walks in local parks, playing board games with friends.
10. I have recently enjoyed going to the pool to swim laps, spa and sauna. This I will keep up as it is really good for my health. One small luxury! I will perhaps try and go twice a week. But this will be the only small expense I will allow myself.

So we will see how I go! I will touch base mid August and let you know how I am going. Do you want to join me in spending less in August? Let’s see it as a challenge and see if we can all save some money!

I am planning on travelling to Europe next year for at least 6 to 8 weeks. Ideally to Norway, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Croatia. This will take some money! And more importantly I won’t be working while I am travelling either. I will hopefully find housemates by this time so most bills will be covered this way, and then if I save hard over the next 6 months I should be fine! I am also hoping to get most of my flight covered using frequent flyer points. Ingenious!

What could you do to reduce your spending?

Anita xx

Money money money! It is what makes the world go around! Well… it is what helps enable us to go around the World!

** Can you guess how much she saved? $27’000!!! Incredible!