Progress is being made

Welcome back, I hope you’re well. Continuing from last week I am still recording my daily spending each night and I have successfully corrected those habits I noticed last week. As a result, I have begun to spend less over the week. And oddly enough, I have also begun to view things like a game. I try to see how many days I can go without spending money, kind of like how long can I keep this spend-free streak going? I don’t beat myself up if I have to break it, I just take note of how long I went and try to do better next time.

Part of how I have been avoiding frequent trips to the store has come down to buying larger quantities, so instead of buying 1ltre of milk at a time, I am getting 2, instead of a handful of onions I buy a bag. Up front, it costs more but over the week it saves you money and time as I am no longer needing to drop into the store on the way home. As far as I am concerned this is a win-win, I am not running out of milk for my morning coffee, a commute home from work each day no longer involves the store and I am saving a little more money.

A while ago I purchased a second-hand espresso machine, and occasionally I would use it to make coffee. Most of the time I would stick with the kettle and a bit of instant coffee as it was quicker and easier. But now each day when I get home from work, literally as soon as I walk in the door I switch that thing on and make my favourite coffee, a large flat white. I then sit down and relax on the couch with my coffee, listening to a bit of music or just scrolling through social media. I allow myself to think about and go over my work day as well as plan the evening ahead. It has been a great way to separate the two halves of my day, and I have noticed since doing this I don’t stress or think about work problems in my own personal time anywhere as much as I used to. Since I have made this part of my routine I have not needed to purchase any drinks from the store on the way home, why have a sugar-packed juice or pop, when very soon I can relax on the couch with a large coffee? Although I haven’t been doing it long enough for it to be habitual it has quickly become one of my daily highlights.

I suppose I should also mention that I have managed to get a second job. This is something I have wanted to do for a while as it would allow me to save more meaning I can work towards reaching my goal quicker than I had originally planned. As difficult as holding down two jobs will be I will still keep working on this blog, as I feel the Vandemonian Homesteader has a lot of potential once it is up and running.

Over the next week, I thought I might try a bit of an experiment regarding the storage and extending the shelf life of berries. I have been reading a few interesting “how-to” pages and there are some ideas I want to try for myself. With any luck I will have the results for you next week, I will also start to look at collecting the information from my spending tracking and use it to start work on a budget. So until then, have a good one and look after yourself.