Household Expenses

It only takes an app like Wally to track your expenses and realize how much you are spending in a month.

In the past few weeks, I have come to think of myself as probably stingy compared to what I used to be, thinking many times before buying an item. Let alone the fact that I knew I didn’t really buy much stuff before and most of my spending habits were related to experiences, or shall I say going out? Traveling? Etc.

I haven’t done anything major this month from either a product purchase or an incredible experience. I haven’t signed up for a Yoga class, nor did I buy new shoes even when I found one that I loved AND it was cheap. I rather took out the ‘new’ clothes in my wardrobe that I didn’t wear, dry cleaned them and started wearing them. I started wearing expensive shoes I bought a few month back.

I cooked most of my meals and I was sensible when going out.

I didn’t spend much money on my hobbies such as painting. In fact, I didn’t even paint.

I didn’t buy coffee from Starbucks unless I absolutely needed it, i.e. driving a 2-hour route while being sleepy.

I made my own coffee at home and had the not so good coffee from the coffee machine in the office.

I bought my groceries from the hypermarket and not the expensive minimarket down my building.

I did all I could…. and yet, I exceeded my budget this month.

Ok, I pampered myself a little here and there, but that wasn’t the main driver.

More than 50% is in the household spend. Somethings are extremely out of my control, such as the electricity and chiller bills. I feel they will give me a heart attack at some point.

I am not sure at this point if I feel proud of myself or discouraged throughout the process.

It’s very clear though that something has to be done in the “household” category. What is it?

I am not sure yet.