Why we revised this list already
My husband and I have been debating this list... and we have refined our mid term project so it affected the short term (aka this year) and, as a result, we are more dedicated to our project and the discipline required to go through with this year's challenge.
Quite frankly, at first my husband jumped on board but then was hesitant at the no spending thing. It seemed to strict for him who is quite OK, in general, with the way we manage our money. He has a different way of seeing money than I do. After hours of talking about it over the Holidays, we managed to understand each other... And this new revised list is a derivative of our discussions.
The most important thing is that we see our 3-5 years life plan the same way. We have the same goals and objective however, it has become clear that my shopping addiction is not quite done with and THIS is the main thing about this year. I want to resolve this. Once and for all. It is becoming an issue for our future at this point - for many reasons. It is not "cute" anymore!
I will need to work on different aspect of my life to do so and hence the monthly challenges.
OK, I am getting sidetracked it... so, to get back to my point, here is the revised authorized expenses for 2019.
Authorized spending
1) Budgeted life expenses like rents, utilities, food, toiletries, coffee shop, car related expenses.
Yes, we have a coffee shop budget - it is important to us and aside from walking in nature and reading books from the library, this is another hobby we have and the only one that cost us money.
2) Usable stuff
a) candles, incense and essential oils
b) notebooks to replace filled ones - reading books from the library, I do take notes. Lots of them.
3) Razor for my husband - looking for one more sustainable and ecological to replace an old one.
4) Improvement to our living room - we decided to stay put for 3 years and as a result, we need to make the living room a little more "livable" and add comfort to it with minimum expenses.
a) 2 meditation cushions that we can sit in to meditate or for any other reasons
5) Trailer tent and any camping/hiking gear that is essential but I forgot to list - not being in the season is hard to remember what we needed as everything is put away in the locker
This is what we want to do full time in a few years so we are slowly gearing up... And it is also part of our dream life!!! * no more trailer tent... we will keep our tent!
6) tattoos - one each - we have been planning those for a while...
7) tanning bed - essential for me with MS as it is the best source of Vitamin D in the winter when you live up north like I do. - I really do not go that much and only 3 months per year ( February to April) and once or twice a week.
8) Knitting and embroidery material - I have no "stack" to use up as I buy as I need and when I post my monthly challenges, you will see why I need to allow this.
9) Outings - we are allowed to
a) go to restaurants for celebration, when on a day trip or special occasions
d) go camping - as much as we want and can afford to! This is our dream life!!!
e) 1 week long trip in nature that could not be camping but needs to be nature bound ? (thinking this over at this point
*** but we do have to remember that any money spend on those will be less money put in the emergency fund, savings, and towards our ultimate goal in 3 years. which is why we made changes... we want to spend more time in NATURE!!!
Please note that there is no budget for clothes in there - we can only replace what gets damaged beyond repair IF it is consider an essential, i.e, the only item that could do that job!
10) We can buy gifts for other people and accept gifts. However, between each other, we cannot buy gifts for any reason - that is something I could see us doing! We can only buy gifts for each other on our birthdays, mother/father's day, our anniversary and for Christmas. And there again, keeping in mind that any money spend on that that is not "perfect life goal oriented" will slow us down...
11) Finally, because our house is already filled with barely the minimum, aside for clothes for me, we can replace what brakes down if we can't do without. This of course, will be a judgment call.
I will share here, at the end of each month, my status. By this, I mean if I bought anything other then living expenses, whether or not it was on the authorized list, I will also share the overall impact on my finances - as you know, my financial goals were to 1) pay of my credit card, 2) have a balance of 1000$ in my savings account, 3) start my emergency fund and work it up to 3k by the end of the year. I know it won't be that simple... but I also know we actually can do it. The math works... will we?
What to expect now?
I am sure there will be many ups and downs... as with any major changes we made already in our lives, it is never THAT simple... but I also know that we will adapt throughout the year and we will make it work! I will keep you posted on any further budget revision...
Are you ready for next year? Have you set your goals? What are you trying to accomplish in the coming new year? Do you have the support you need? Can I be of any help?
if you liked what you read, please share... tks
Chloe 💜&✌
No comments:
Post a Comment