The Month of the Budget

I have really been struggling with the cost of living lately.

The Mr and I made some career decisions, plus we had some set-backs, all of which put some strain on our monthly expenses and savings.  Unfortunately, we did not change our lifestyles much to cater for those changes and so now I find myself in the situation where I have some debt and little savings.

I have never really had to work on a budget before, because I have always been quite frugal.  But for some reason I am just not getting it right anymore.

So now, I have instituted the major budget! Budgeting is not fun, but I have worked out a schedule whereby I can pay off my debt by next year and still live comfortably and eat properly.  I will just have to live carefully.  But I think I can adjust and I am quite excited about it.

The 4 major portions of my budget are:
1: Spending money will be drawn in cash for the month. I can only use my cash for entertainment and luxuries, not my cards.
2: All meals which I cook have to be within a certain cost range.  The grocery money should cover the groceries for the month, and I should not have to use my own money to cover additional costs.
3: I am going to pay the same amount on my credit card each month until it is paid off.  For example, if my budget allows for me to pay R1000.00 to my credit card per month - this is my R500 minimum payment plus an additional R500.00.  Each month, my monthly minimum payment will decrease, but "my" contribution will increase so that I will still pay R1000.00 per month. This will only work if I do not spend anything extra on my credit card, which will be the tough part.
4. Zero wastage in the kitchen - no leftovers to be wasted, no groceries to be thrown away because it went off before getting eaten, etc. Everything to be used!

This is my first month on The Budget - so lets see how it goes!

I have also been online and looked at just about every website about how to save money and be thrifty. And none of these are South African based, so it has been a little hard. I don't have a gym membership to cut, I don't buy coffee on my way to work every day, I already use public transport and I don't get manicures and pedicures. So trying to cut my cost of living has been really hard.

The meal planning will be the major change for me. The Mr and I have a joint account where we each contribute money for the groceries each month.  In theory, this should cover our groceries for the month but yet every month I end up spending a lot of my money on groceries.  I tend to buy things like "Mince Mate" and I love Ina Paarmens Sauces - but these make the cost per meal rise drastically.  We also end up using the grocery account for weekend braais and takeout. This will now come from our entertainment money for the month. I have split or grocery money into 2: the general fund will cover cleaning supplies, and groceries like spices, rice, pasta and potatoes, juices and cereals (i.e., general foods). The meal fund will cover dinners only, as this is the only meal we really eat at home except for the weekend. But I will worry about weekend breakfasts and lunches once I make it through the month. Like I said, this is my first month on The Budget.

My budget for dinners is R20 for 2 people. I know it sounds ridiculously low - but remember that things like rice, pasta and potatoes are part of my general grocery bill and not my meal grocery bill.

What I did this winter

This winter I planned to work on several of my goals:

1. Craft projects, including knitting and sketching
2. Sorting my Photographs
3. Continuing my health and fitness plan
4. Decluttering and sorting my home

In actual fact, I achieved very little of this and spent most of the winter hibernating.


At first I was disappointed with myself, when I realised two things:
1. The only person putting pressure on myself was me
2. I am not a 1950's housewife - this is 2014 and I work full time

I tend to take on most of the housework and cooking during the week (reason being, I get home from work 1.5 - 2 hours before my boyfriend). Almost every day he comes home to a cooked meal, dishes and laundry done, bird fed and cage cleaned - all he has to do is sit down and eat in the evenings.

The other reason that I tend to take over the housework, even over the weekends, is because of my personality. I like to plan and organise. I spend long portions of my day (when I am not working) thinking about meal plans for the week, grocery lists, my schedule when I get home and spring cleaning that needs to be done.

So perhaps the winter hibernation was good for me. Although I still did the cooking and cleaning every evening, I didn't pressure myself to do anything more that I could cope with. And if I felt like everything was too much, if I was just too tired to cook and clean and do everything all the time, Mr never put pressure on me to be Perfect Housewife (this is one of the reasons I love him so much).

But now it is spring time - the days are getting longer and the evenings are warmer. And so it is time to restart my healthy living routine.