Friday, 12 January 2018

10 Areas I plan to cut my spending in 2018! || Financial Series




Hey Friends, 

As most you will know by now finances and minimalist ideas are featuring heavily in my goals for 2018.  There are many reasons for this and if you missed that post you can check it out here - Goals & Resolutions 2018. This year I plan on being more intentional with everything I bring into my life but also I want to stop spending stupid money to the point where it just slips through my fingers and I have no idea where it went. I think these goals work hand in hand and hopefully will come full circle to enrich my life as time goes on. 

I've had a look through my budgets I've created over the past few months & looked at the areas I spending the most money where its not necessary. I have also been decluttering for the past year as well (albeit alot more slowly than I would like #lifegettingintheway) so by taking both of these into account I have decided 10 areas that I am going cut my spending in the next year. If you are planning something similar please leave me a comment on what you're planning on cutting down or out completely. I would love to hear them & I'm always open to ideas.

Here we go - 

1. Magazines & Hardcopy Books 

This was a weakness for such a long time. Just to give you an idea I was the girl that had all the magazines every month, like I would legit walk into a shop scan the magazine shelves and I would already have all the ones I wanted. This would happened regularly, to the point where I would double buy them as I would forget that I had already purchased it earlier that month. I'm also the type of person that can't walk into a book store without buy atleast 3 books.... whether I read them or not after was debatable most of the time I wouldn't have even finished one not to mind all 3 then off I would go again and buy 3 more. So I have decided there is really no need for this. I have so many books (I haven't decluttered them yet) so I will go through them all I will keep any I really want to read or have read and loved and get rid of the rest. I now have audible on my phone & although it's not the same thing in my opinion, its great for travelling whether I'm driving in my car or taking public transport. Will I cut out buying books forever? No but now I will only buy a book when I have put alot of thought into it & I have read all the other books in my collection. As for magazines this has already been a tough one to say no to but realistically I can get all this info online. I may get one or two throughout the year as a treat but other than that I am staying well away from the magazine isle from now on.




2. Takeaway Coffee

Ah my weak spot. Ok so didn't do too great with the whole not buying coffee thing for the holiday season. I mean daammn they are just too tempting. However fresh year, fresh start. I have bought yet another takeaway cup (€1.50 in Dealz) and I will be taking my coffee and tea to work and college with me. €2 - €5 a day is a lot of money when you add it up. Again I'm not cutting it out forever but I don't want to be buying it everyday for the sake of it. I have caramel syrup, coffee, milk, cream. What more could I want & when I get my new place I will use that extra money I have saved from not buying coffees to pick myself up a coffee machine! Win, win.

3. Jewellery

This is another one which to be honest I think I am almost going to cut out completely. I like my jewelry to have sentiment behind them. I have beautiful jewelry that has been gifted to me over the years and these I will keep and continue to wear. However I don't really see the point in costume jewelry anymore. They are fun at the time but they don't last long and don't have any sentimental value for me. They are usually quite cheap, break easily & half the time I don't even wear them I just end up buying them to store them and then declutter them a year later. I think this is a category that is going to get cut out completely.




4. Nail Varnish

Now this is an area that is going to be completely cut out in 2018 if not for a couple of years after. I have so much nail varnish & my collection is currently half of what it was last year. I do love them all but I have so many I have no need whatsoever to purchase anymore! On top of that I was gifted a collection of 20 mini varnishes by my mother as a stocking filler this Christmas time! So no there will be no nail varnish haul in 2018.

5. Clothes

Ok so I don't think I'm not going to buy any clothes in the next year but It's going to be cut down hugely. I know I'm going to be purchasing underwear and possible new work attire should I change jobs again but other than that I currently have no items I need to buy. Last year I went through my wardrobe and got rid of so many items. However I do believe I could even get rid of more and I will be going through everything again during my next move. I feel very blessed with the clothes I currently have & at this moment can't see a need for anymore items.




6. Home Decor

Again another weakness of mine, everytime I walk into a home store I re-design my home in my head. I want everything but I have so much stuff. I want to declutter the home decor items I currently have and refrain from buying knick-knacks for no reason that honestly just take up space. When we move into our new place there may be items that need to be purchased and I'm not saying I'm never going to purchase any home decor but I'm going to be completely intentional with my purchases. I'm going to ask myself questions like where, when & why before I pick anything up for my home.

7. Stationary

Ah Stationary....is there anything more enticing? I have so much stationary so I'm making a commitment to not bring anymore into my life just because its cute. I will now use up all the station I currently own or just simply get rid of it. Realistically as cute as it is, it's just taking up space in my life.

8. Single Item Treats

What I mean here is when you go to the shop and pick up one bar of chocolate for €1.20. I really don't see the point when you can buy 4 for €1.50. This also goes for spending €2 on a pastry when you can buy a pack of 6 individually packaged ones for about €1.80. Another example is bottles for €.80 - €1 a bottle when you can buy a 24 pack for about €2.80. Yesterday I found a four pack of sparkling flavoured water (my new addiction) for €1.89 and they are usually €1.70 in the shop, sold singly. Now they are off brand but does that really matter when you are basically getting 4 for the price of one! It just doesn't make sense for me anymore to buy things individually at a shop anymore.With a little more time and planning so much money can be saved!!

9. Back-ups

Now this is something I'm definitely guilty of. I'm the type of person that likes to know I won't "run out". I now know this is silly. Theres not much we can't live a day or two with out or that we can't just run to the store and pick up should we run out. Also if we know we are going to run out then we can just pop it on the next shopping list. So the plan this year - No More Back-ups!

10. Duplicates

Another thing I'm guilty of. To be honest if you really think about it the reason we have duplicates is due to laziness more than anything else. We either forget we have it, can't find and can't be bothered to look for it. We'd rather pay more money than find, look for or even clean the item we need. While on my decluttering splurge I'm going to look for all duplicates and get rid of them. If we don't need more than one, we don't need to store it.

 So these are all the areas I'm planning on cutting my spending on 2018. I'm sure I'll be adding to the list as time goes on. If this happens I will be sharing it all with you too! Please leave me a comment below if you have areas in your life where you are going to cut spending in the next year as I'm always looking for ways to improve and also minimalism & the path to financial freedom looks different for everyone so id be interested to see what it looks like for you.

Chat soon x

Thank You for Reading

 xox

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