Word! Thanks so much for the tweets and comments on the previous post! All this time I've been blogging about goats when I should have been confessing my financial fails - lolz.
Ok, so as promised, herewith my money strengths and weaknesses. I expected this to be a brief account but as usual, it's turned into a long, rambling affair.
Let's start with the strengths so that I don't get dismayed halfway through scribbling this!
Money Strengths
- I'm a hardcore thrifter! +- 70% of the things in my flat were cheap, thrifted buys or freebies I swiped at office chuck-outs. I don't thrift things like bedding or cushions (ok, there was one cushion) but I will thrift cool, old shi*! It's quite thrilling to stumble across a dirt-cheap collectable, and thrifted things help to infuse your space with lots of character. Oh crumbs, it sounds like I'm scribbling a decorating article.
- I don't have a TV (because I sold it when I was skint, ha) and thus, I don't have DSTV - and I don't miss it one bit! Ok, I do miss the doccos and shows like "Storage Wars!" but I can watch those and now and then at Tall One's. I tend to read more since I've gotten rid of the telly and I'm less exposed to consumerist advertising (said by someone who works - in advertising.) I will get stuck into the odd series now and then (I pretty much know know every ep of Downton off by heart) but yeah, point is, I save on the DSTV.
- I stopped dying my hair as often as I was. Now I just touch up the roots occasionally. Ombre for the win!
- I travel on the cheap. As much as I love snuggly, white robes and piles of toasty towels, I would rather go on a couple of cheap and cheerful campouts a year than blow my travel budget on one fancy hotel stay. Tall One and I recently holidayed in a pretty cottage but we paid for it with money we made by selling old cr@p!
- I splurge on investment pieces when I can - which is not very often! So yeah, when I can, I will save for something that needs to last me many years like a blazer or a killer pair of boots. This saves me moolah because I'm not buying new boots all the time.
- I hardly ever eat out (and I stopped going to movies years ago). I love good food but personally, I find most places to be overpriced and the service is pretty avs. I always think, "Jon and I could have way more fun making this at home!" I will have the odd pub lunch if we're missioning through the countryside but I don't mind that because it's more of a treat than a weekly activity.
- I drive a seriously fuel efficient car and I live close to work so I don't spend a fortune on petrol. That said, I secretly want to live up the hill but it's miles away from work and I can't quite justify it yet.
Money Weaknesses
- Being suckered in by pretty packaging! Yoh, yoh, yoh. I love pretty packaging. Nay, I REVERE it. But I seriously need to calm down with this. You can get addicted to buying things just because they're prettily packaged. Sounds so ridic when I type it here.
- Convenience Foods! I think we all know which retailer is my weakness. I won't necessarily buy unhealthy rubbish but I do find it hard to resist a rotisserie chicken which I haven't had to cook! This is probably in conflict with my whole 'not eating out much because it's overpriced' thing.
- Not monitoring bank charges! I've recently done a ton of research into this. I've been costing myself a fortune by simply not understanding what my swiping and withdrawing is costing me. Will be switching to a new bank soon! (Although I saw a lady from my bank today at Checkers and she was so lovely to me and now I'm feeling guilty about switching!)
- Emotional spending. Oi. When I'm stressed and exhausted, my knee-jerk reaction is to eat something nice and/or buy something nice. DANGER! DANGER! Things do not buy long-lasting happiness. (Although they do buy happiness for a good ten minutes!)
- Frittering small amounts away on things I don't really need. It's great that I save by thrifting. It's not great that I've also thrifted some raaaaaandom cr@p that I don't actually need. My new thrifting motto is, "only thrift if it's super special at a ridiculous price."
All this said, spending completely depends on what you value. I freaking love my thrifted owl ornaments and soft, white bedding. These things do bring me repeated joy. So much so, that I'm always snapping them for Gloss! The trick is to not spend your way into debt.
I have so much to save for, it overwhelms me. I need to build an emergency cash stash and save for all the furniture that I currently rent because I never had a load of loot to begin with. As for saving for a home deposit, it seem virtually impossible but I have to trust that I'll get there one day. Fingers crossed, eh?
Now, spill! What are your spending strengths and weaknesses?
All this said, spending completely depends on what you value. I freaking love my thrifted owl ornaments and soft, white bedding. These things do bring me repeated joy. So much so, that I'm always snapping them for Gloss! The trick is to not spend your way into debt.
I have so much to save for, it overwhelms me. I need to build an emergency cash stash and save for all the furniture that I currently rent because I never had a load of loot to begin with. As for saving for a home deposit, it seem virtually impossible but I have to trust that I'll get there one day. Fingers crossed, eh?
Now, spill! What are your spending strengths and weaknesses?
PS: I wanted to post some loltastic pics of Jon and I cooking soya mince in his tent but my WIFI is giving me gears and not loading anything - soz!
PPS: Future posts include, "Cheap and cheerful things to do in KZN!" We're not clubbers as you can probably tell. We're all about the animal farms, walks in the forrest and house parties (read: braais).
