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Saving Money Not Spent
Earlier this year lovely Cheapskater Jen and I had a conversation about saving money not spent.
You all know that I believe that money isn't saved until it's actually in the bank. Until then it's just not spent.
I keep track of our spending, and I've shared some of it over on my blog. In my notebook I have three headings for each week:
As I go through the week, I just jot down notes about what goes in and out of my purse and our bank account, and what we do to add value to our lifestyle and how much it costs.
What We Spent
What we spent is obviously, well what we actually spent i.e. groceries, petrol, chemist, hardware, clothes or whatever for the week. As the utility bills come in they're included in this amount too.
What We didn't Spend
What we didn't spend is the area where I calculate the retail value of what I, or Wayne, has done for the week. You'll see costings for Wayne's coffee, lunches, baking, gardening, mending, cleaning, shopping around for better deals on utilities, major purchase etc. This is mind boggling when you add it all up, and is what Annabel's Vicky Challenge is about.
I don't consider this amount savings, because it's not banked. Rather it is money we didn't need to spend to maintain a rather comfortable, sometimes luxurious, lifestyle - the money that non-Cheapskates would spend without thinking about it to maintain their lifestyle.
Jen mentioned making a quilt for her children as not being a saving, but just something nice they have, but that they wouldn't if she had to buy it. Unless the value of the quilt, less the cost of materials, is put into the bank, it's not saved , just not spent. However, knowing and recording the value of the quilt is important to show the value of her lifestyle. As Jen said, if she had to buy it, then her child wouldn't have it. But making it has added value to their lifestyle.
What We Saved
What we saved is the amount I actually shift into our savings accounts each week.
For example, with petrol, I budget $80 a week, but these days I don't use anywhere near that much (even with the outrageous prices at the moment). I try to fill the car on the cheapest day, use a discount voucher and any Flybuys extra discounts and when it gets to about half a tank - just my fuel security and OCD kicking in. It's rarely more than around $50, depending on fuel prices of course. So each week I take the leftover money and shift it into our holiday fund. I can do this because the $80 has already been budgeted for, so the money is in the fuel account. I could leave it there and let it build up, but I like to see our holiday account grow - gives me something to look forward to. Alternatively, if we had a mortgage or other debt, then I could shift that surplus budget money to that.
Then there are a lot of things I'd never buy, because no matter how well off we will ever be, I just can't justify the price when I have a less expensive but just as good, if not better, alternative I can make - like cinnamon scrolls and the sausage rolls. Or like paying for a manicure; these days I do my own nails and while they will never win prizes, I'm happy with them and I don't spent the money each week or fortnight.
These are the things that we can afford on our budget because we don't buy them. There is no money in the budget for these things, so I don't have the money to move to savings. This is money we didn't spend.
And this total is important because at the end of the year I can see just how much living the Cheapskates way really saves us - a lot more than a full-time job when it's all added up - and best of all it's tax free.
I get to be a full-time stay-and work-at-home wife (our children are adults now, still live at home but don't need me to look after them), caring for our home and garden, because we don't spend tens of thousands of dollars every year on things we don't have to - and yet we don't go without a single thing we need or want.
We live the life of Riley, I'm sure, and all because we are aware of the value of what we have and what we do.
Frankly I'd much rather bake a batch of cinnamon scrolls than have to leave home to work at a paid job for three hours to earn the money to buy them - to me it's a no brainer!
You all know that I believe that money isn't saved until it's actually in the bank. Until then it's just not spent.
I keep track of our spending, and I've shared some of it over on my blog. In my notebook I have three headings for each week:
- what we spent
- what we didn't spend
- what we saved.
As I go through the week, I just jot down notes about what goes in and out of my purse and our bank account, and what we do to add value to our lifestyle and how much it costs.
What We Spent
What we spent is obviously, well what we actually spent i.e. groceries, petrol, chemist, hardware, clothes or whatever for the week. As the utility bills come in they're included in this amount too.
What We didn't Spend
What we didn't spend is the area where I calculate the retail value of what I, or Wayne, has done for the week. You'll see costings for Wayne's coffee, lunches, baking, gardening, mending, cleaning, shopping around for better deals on utilities, major purchase etc. This is mind boggling when you add it all up, and is what Annabel's Vicky Challenge is about.
I don't consider this amount savings, because it's not banked. Rather it is money we didn't need to spend to maintain a rather comfortable, sometimes luxurious, lifestyle - the money that non-Cheapskates would spend without thinking about it to maintain their lifestyle.
Jen mentioned making a quilt for her children as not being a saving, but just something nice they have, but that they wouldn't if she had to buy it. Unless the value of the quilt, less the cost of materials, is put into the bank, it's not saved , just not spent. However, knowing and recording the value of the quilt is important to show the value of her lifestyle. As Jen said, if she had to buy it, then her child wouldn't have it. But making it has added value to their lifestyle.
What We Saved
What we saved is the amount I actually shift into our savings accounts each week.
For example, with petrol, I budget $80 a week, but these days I don't use anywhere near that much (even with the outrageous prices at the moment). I try to fill the car on the cheapest day, use a discount voucher and any Flybuys extra discounts and when it gets to about half a tank - just my fuel security and OCD kicking in. It's rarely more than around $50, depending on fuel prices of course. So each week I take the leftover money and shift it into our holiday fund. I can do this because the $80 has already been budgeted for, so the money is in the fuel account. I could leave it there and let it build up, but I like to see our holiday account grow - gives me something to look forward to. Alternatively, if we had a mortgage or other debt, then I could shift that surplus budget money to that.
Then there are a lot of things I'd never buy, because no matter how well off we will ever be, I just can't justify the price when I have a less expensive but just as good, if not better, alternative I can make - like cinnamon scrolls and the sausage rolls. Or like paying for a manicure; these days I do my own nails and while they will never win prizes, I'm happy with them and I don't spent the money each week or fortnight.
These are the things that we can afford on our budget because we don't buy them. There is no money in the budget for these things, so I don't have the money to move to savings. This is money we didn't spend.
And this total is important because at the end of the year I can see just how much living the Cheapskates way really saves us - a lot more than a full-time job when it's all added up - and best of all it's tax free.
I get to be a full-time stay-and work-at-home wife (our children are adults now, still live at home but don't need me to look after them), caring for our home and garden, because we don't spend tens of thousands of dollars every year on things we don't have to - and yet we don't go without a single thing we need or want.
We live the life of Riley, I'm sure, and all because we are aware of the value of what we have and what we do.
Frankly I'd much rather bake a batch of cinnamon scrolls than have to leave home to work at a paid job for three hours to earn the money to buy them - to me it's a no brainer!