I’m on a money-saving journey this year since I want to take some time off of work next year. I burned out last year, feel like I have lost every ounce of creativity, and want to make a life pivot (more on that in another post).

I made a strict budget for myself at the beginning of the year and did okay sticking to it in January, but haven’t done a great job in February so far (oops). Here’s everything out of my budget this week that I need to reign in for the rest of the month/in March along with some strategies for the future.

1. Eating Out: This is always a big one but in the last week (actually the last few days), I spent $110 eating out. I still want to go out and enjoy spending time with my friends, but I think I can cut back.
   • Suggest cheaper places to eat out. For me, the point of eating out is to spend time with my friends and to occasionally try new restaurants. I can suggest cheaper places to eat so I’m not feeling guilty about going over budget.
   • Don’t order drinks. Even sodas! One of the ways to make things cheaper is to only spend money on food and not order any add ons. I did order a coke this weekend because I was so tired and needed extra caffiene.
   • Suggest going for a walk or hike or coffee. All of these are way cheaper than eating out and a walk can help with my exercise goals too!
2. Nail polish: Not sure why, but I’ve suddenly gotten very into nail polish and so spent $26 buying some new colors.
   • Add items I want to my wishlist. Whenever I want something new I’ve started adding it to the back of my journal with the price, the date, and a terribly drawn picture. It’s fun and also keeps track of all the items I want (but hopefully don’t want in the future)
3. New jeans: Okay, so I actually only have one pair of jeans and am looking to get a new pair. I saved about half of this in my budget, but the ones I wanted were on sale, so I just bought them. $70
   • Same as above! Add to my wishlist.

In total, that’s $206 dollars I wasn’t really planning on spending, but did. I’m not going to beat myself up about it, but just learn from this and move forward with my next steps.

How are you feeling about your budget so far this year?

Until next time!