Seven months down, five to go.
Time is really slipping away – I can’t believe January is over already. It feels as though Christmas was only a couple of weeks ago. And the Chinese (Lunar) New Year has just gone by (hence the lucky cat image on this post). I also can’t believe I’m getting this post up the day after the previous month has ended; that must be a record for me! It helps that January ended on a Friday, though. 😀
January’s savings rate totaled almost 55.36%, split between regular savings (36.74%) and net cash flow (18.62%). This is the third highest savings rate I’ve achieved so far during this challenge year, so I’m happy with that.
Looking at the variances, this month it’s primarily the discretionary spending (again!) that is the problem area, although I suspect that I set the bar too low for my lifestyle when I first set my budget for this financial year. There are also subcategories within the discretionary category that I couldn’t really predict, because they’re ad hoc costs that only crop up now and then. I definitely did not budget enough for alcohol and eating out – I think I probably should’ve at least doubled this. That said, it’s not a challenge if you don’t set a stretch goal, right?
Other than discretionary spending, I did splash out on a remedial massage because my back has been giving me trouble for a while, so that was an added expense that I hadn’t budgeted for (note to self: include these in the next budget). However, other than household items which was a bit over, the remaining expenditure categories were within coo-ee of budget either way.
Next financial year’s budget should end up being much more refined after this experience. 😊
FIRE for One 