Money Pillar #2 - Spend

Spending is something that is, unfortunately, unavoidable.  The only thing you can control is how much you spend, and what you spend your money on.

There can be some big wins once you start to really look at what you spend – possibly saving you up in the vicinity of thousands of dollars.

At some point in your day, week, month or year, you will outlay money for something, be it food, drink, petrol, medicine or even taxes!  In our society we all have “contracts” for things like mobile phones, electricity, insurances, etc.

These contracts are also called “bills”.  While we can’t avoid bills, we can do everything in our power to minimise them.  As part of my own journey to reduce my household bills, I discovered a large amount of providers out there for each one of my bills.

I began researching the providers.  It turns out that many are either linked to the same parent company, or they use another company’s infrastructure (particularly in the telecommunications industry).  Something I also found is that not all providers are created equal.  It’s about more than just saving money.  For me it’s about the quality of the service itself, including customer service.  I scoured review sites, and as a result crossed off a lot of providers.  

I’m a great believer in seeking out value.  This also goes for my “budget”.  While I’ve tried to establish strict budgets in the past, I have to admit that I’m not the best at following them.  After years I’ve now come to terms with that, and I tend to review my expenses each month, and then identify what areas I need to focus spending less on the following month.

While not a perfect system, it’s one that works for me.  For example, if in one month I’ve spent more on eating out than I’d anticipated, the next month I’ll just cook more and only indulge in 1 or 2 bought work lunches.  

Plus, it depends on what’s happening in the household.  Another example, my daughter is now testing the boundaries when it comes to eating.  As a result, I tend to throw away quite a bit of food, and am making different things to try and see what she will like.  So, during the “exploratory” periods, I tend to spend more on groceries.

Planning ahead to make sure I have enough to cover my monthly, quarterly and annual bills is something I look at in the Saving Money Pillar, which I’ll cover in the next post.

Spending is about balance and finding the right balance for you.  I do encourage you to begin looking at some areas of your spending, as while it may seem daunting at first, once you begin to see improvements, the momentum will feel great!