All right, the time has come to talk about your spending. Hold on! Don’t leave just yet. I’m going to try and make this light and breezy.

How do I budget? Before we ask this, we need to know..where the hell is my money going?

Now you’ll have to do a little bit of heavy lifting.

Take a quick look at your bank statement. A friend just told me, she had NO idea she was spending SO MUCH on Amazon and Uber Eats. But, since she got that insight, she was able to take action. She decided to cap her spending on Uber eats and eating out, and buy more groceries and cook at home. Now she was able to make that change because she had the guts to look at her spending.

So the very first step is to take a good look at where you are spending. What was a dumbass-buy and what was smart? What was absolutely necessary and what was an impulse buy?

How do we classify these? It all depends on YOU. You could be someone who needs to Swiggy or use Uber Eats because you are pressed for time, and it’s convenient. So you don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing. That’s fine, but you still need to know where it’s going. Awareness is key when it comes to planning your money.

This doesn’t mean you chastise yourself for spending recklessly or get anxious about your credit card bill. Get some wine, grab your favourite snack, light some scented candles, and have a nice date with yourself. It may seem lame, but you need to incentivise this activity, otherwise it’s so terribly dry.

Ok, let’s get into it. So what are the different categories we need to divide our expenses to? You can do this either monthly or weekly.

Here is an example of what it could look like:

Now you get a clear picture of where you have some wiggle room and where you need to cut your spending. What is frivolous and what is essential?

You’ll see them as a percentage of what you make, and if you want to dive in deeper, you could percentages for all the different categories. That way you get a holistic picture of what goes where.

All this is determined by you, I don’t know your life, so I’m not going to sit and preach how you shouldn’t be dunking your money in buying a variety of coffee beans every week. Maybe it helps you calm down, maybe you need it to unwind, maybe you genuinely like and enjoy coffee. Only you can make that call.

If you find that you expenditure is high in the ‘Dumbass-buy’ region, its chill. We have ALL been there. I see an instagram ad on delicious cakes, next thing I know, I’m standing in the kitchen wolfing down the barely unwrapped pastry I just ordered. Shit happens.

Maybe what you can do is…ask yourself before you buy something..is this a something that can wait for a little bit? Can I buy this in an hour? Or a day? Put it off for a bit (unless of course it is an emergency). Most likely, if this is an impulse buy – you will probably not feel like buying it after waiting for it. If you do, then perhaps it was something you needed?

Getting to know your spending habits is an important part of getting to know yourself. Go for it, and let me know if you need some help figuring it all out 🙂

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