I think edging closer to quarter of a century has got me thinking about the next 5-10 years and setting myself up for what may lie ahead. There comes a time when you feel you need to start thinking about spending your money more wisely and being more sensible.
I have always been good with money in that I have been investing in shares indirectly (thanks dad) since my first pay and have always set up automatic payments to take funds straight out of my bank account and into separate savings accounts for various things (often different forms of travel savings), I am in Kiwi Saver and have been since it began and I have a separate savings account for a house/car.
For someone my age I am pretty sure I’m well ahead of where most others are, yet it doesn’t feel like it is enough, or not so much that it doesn’t feel like it enough, more like I want to be further ahead over the next few years to help make things such as buying a house a little less stressful when the time does come.
I have been putting a decent chunk of change into a travel account, although when I look at how much I put into that account over the course of a year it is a lot of money. I have also had a tendency to dip into this travel account for other purchases, getting my hair done, clothes, lunches out etc so I never end up with what I should have at the end of each year.
So I have put myself on a spending ban until the move to Auckland where I will re-evaluate the finances and I am thinking about reducing the amount I put into the travel account in lieu of additional funds being invested (need to learn about this first).
The spending ban has a few items I am allowed to buy out of my savings account but anything else I want (excluding experiences, eg. Tongarriro Crossing – these can come out of my NZ Travel savings) needs to come out of my weekly spending $.
The spending ban includes;
– A new Heart Rate Monitor (Still waiting for a 30% of sale at Rebel Sport, how come they have sales all the time when you don’t want one?!)
– A new sports bra (it’s necessary, trying to wait for a sale for this as well, maybe Easter will bring good sales).
– Heel grips for the shoes I brought overseas that are half a size too big (the curse of having size 5.5 feet)
– Sunglasses (next time they come up on Grab One I’ll get some as mine are held together by a paperclip and are scratched to buggery).
I know it’s not a huge restriction given the short time frame and the fact I can buy a few things but it was so easy to justify purchases before because I wasn’t paying rent. No longer can I use that as an excuse.
Let’s see if I can hold out the next few months with just these items, it should stop some of the mindless spending on crap I don’t even need and in the meanwhile I will focus on getting rid of / selling items I have gathered that I really don’t need.
What kind of things did you think about when you reached quarter of a century?
Have you ever placed yourself on a spending ban?