finance

Everything I spent money on last week (2/11)

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment
Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash

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!

Planning to take a sabbatical

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

As mentioned in my recent post, I’m trying to take a sabbatical in a few years. I haven’t brought it up with my employer yet, because it’s several years out and also there’s a good chance I will have to quit my job altogether. I’m planning to take off 9-12 months, although this plan could change over time based on any number of factors. Maybe I’ll get a new job! Maybe I’ll buy a house (ha) and need to pay the mortgage! Maybe there will be another recession! Fun things…

However, the current plan is to take some time off and reset, and I want to plan for that in advance so that I have enough money. Really there are two separate, but intertwined goals.

  • Save enough money to take a significant period of time off and not feel overly stressed about having enough money.
  • Feel like I’m in a good place with my retirement savings knowing I won’t contribute to it for a year.

Maybe there are other finance related goals to consider, but these are the two I’ve come up with for now. I’ve laid out how much money I need to save each month to get these two goals in place.

Spoiler Alert: It’s A LOT.

Some considerations:

  • I will have to pay for my own health insurance
  • I need to make sure I have money on top of my emergency fund in case anything disastrous happens
  • I want to have more money saved than necessary in case it takes me a long time to find a job

Again, I’m sure I’m missing something, but this is my thinking for now. I’ve definitely let lifestyle inflation creep into my life and I’m aware I’m going to have to cut back on a few things to make this happen. More on that in the future!

Do you think there’s anything else I should consider? Let me know!