No Spend April

I've only been back from the USA for a whole month, (all of March). But looking at my spendings on my Spendee app I'm pretty ashamed of myself to say the least. Not only did I spend a significant amount of money overseas, of course, but I went a little nutso as soon as I got back, on various accessories and decor. But don't even get me started on how much I spent on plants. I'll put up a post on that soon enough.

I googled "No Spend Month" and browsed it on Pinterest and there is no way I am or can do it to the extreme that some people seem to be doing this. Basically they are not buying groceries and just living off what is in their home. So as I have only recently moved out and into my home we have hardly anything built up.

My Current Strategy

I am already super organised as it is when it comes to money. I get paid from my 2 jobs on a fortnightly basis, and on the same day a large chunk is automatically withdrawn that covers 2 weeks worth of money for a variety of things that I need to put money away for.
So of my fortnightly pay, $550 comes out straight away. Divided by 2 that's $275 spent on all necessities a week.

Broken down that's approx $50 a week for groceries. $125 for rent, $25 for petrol, $30 for utilities (gas/electricity/water), $18 for my phone bill, and $25 for internet. There are a few more little costs here and there as well. I go halvies with everything with Josh, except for my own phone bill, private healthcare and petrol. He has a few of his own expenses as well.  So after that $550 comes out, whatever I have left, divided by 2, is what I have leftover for whatever during the next fortnight.

So that has to cover all activities, snacks and clothing purchases that I wish to complete, and I can save an amount of that too.

Want or Need?

Lately I've honestly been working too much to actually spend my money on activities which is a tad depressing but oh well. I've been using that money on plants. This "No Spend April" is going to be used with the leftover money after all the necessities have come out. 

Josh & I are guilty of buying random snacks/lunch/dinner foods when we have something at home. So this needs to stop. I can make a sandwich for lunch, I don't need a cheese naan. I'm also super bad at buying a Banana Smoothie (Brekkie to GoGo) from Boost, every time I work at my clothing store job, as it is right near it. I drink the smoothie on the 35 minute drive back home.  Because I am often starving. But these dang smoothies are $6.50. I often buy muffins from my other job, they are only $2 but this adds up when I have food at home that I could be bringing with me. 

Coffees are also unnecessary things to buy. Unfortunately we live 1 minute away from a large large amount of cafes. But we do have coffee at home. So that will have to do. 

House wise, I have bought a lot of plants this month. April can be about actually looking after them all and not letting them die. I have quite a lot of them right now anyway. Also something sweet is that Bunnings has a perfect plant promise, and will give you your money back if your plant dies. It's a 12 month guarantee! (One I hope I don't have to use though).

I already save any money that is leftover when my next paycheck comes through, but I hope to save money on top of that as well. 

100% no clothes, accessories, shoes or random pieces of decor for the house this month. That's where a lot of my spending goes. So that will be halted this month!

Activity wise, I have a dinner with friends coming up on Friday so that will still be in place obviously, I'll just eat cheaply. (I don't eat too much anyway). Also Easter is this Sunday. I'm sorry everyone I think you'll survive without Easter treats. Have you seen how much they cost?? Hell to the no. 

Josh and I like to go to the cinema occasionally, we are big movie buffs, so this is an activity that I definitely won't be cutting out. Plus the new Avengers movie comes out this month! 

I'll Try My Best!

It's April 1st, and I bought myself a heatbag this morning. But I'll count that as a necessity because it's something that I needed and had actually been meaning to buy. It's also payday! So that will be the truest test of my willpower!

Let me know if you've ever done a no spend month! How did you go? Are you going to try a no spend month in the future? It's the first today so it's the time to begin! 

Cya! xx

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