Today is one of those glorious days that seem to herald in the coming of Spring. The forecast is for the warmest temperature we've had for several months, and as I was walking the kids to school I could already smell the laundry detergent in the air.
Today is also our local council's hard rubbish collection for my area. Hubs and I hauled various broken items of furniture out to the kerb last night. We've had most of these items stored outside for the two years that we've lived here, so it was high time they went.
With September (and Spring, at least for us folks down here!) a hop, skip and a jump away, I'm dragging out all of my old expense tracking spreadsheets (self-designed...but did you expect anything otherwise? LOL) ready to begin tracking our expenditure come the 1st. We're not terribly big spenders - we always stay within our means - but we're far from perfect. Hubs was crunching some numbers on the computer last night and at our current rate of mortgage repayments (which includes a healthy buffer above the minimum repayments), it will take us a further 16 years to pay off the house, making 18 years total. We had been paying an additional (and completely voluntary) $150 per fortnight until a few months ago but stopped that temporarily to allow for some extra expenses that were coming up. Hubs also figured out that if we begin that extra payment again, the length of the loan will drop to 11 more years, or 13 total. Which is about where we wanted to be when we first applied for it. This does not take into account interest rate hikes (groan - they're on the upswing here) or me working at some point, which was/is also on the cards now that all of the kids are in school full time. I'm in no rush though (and truth be told, I'd be perfectly happy to be a homekeeper for the rest of my life, for a myriad of reasons we all know back to front and sideways, LOL). But it was always a dream of mine to have paid off the house before our second son hits university age. Tuition is expensive! Of course, it would stand to reason that he's already skipped one year, and will probably skip a second as he enters high school, LOL.
So, there's a strong undercurrent in Lizzie's Home, as we enter into the warmer weather, to do a bit of a Spring Clean of our finances. I must admit, I haven't exactly been the best steward with the money that passes through my hands in the last few months, so that's something that I'm focusing on. As a homekeeper my main expense is groceries, so I'm committing to tracking dilligently for one month to begin with. And, because I'm slightly OCD (LOL), I'm going to return to my very detailed Grocery Tracking Spreadsheet to do it. This spreadsheet is a wonder folks - it tracks 26 different categories from meat, fruit and vegetables and toiletries to stationery, frozen food and baking supplies.
Because I'm just that degree of crazy, people.
Ahem.
All jokes aside, each time I've done this, some really interesting information comes to light. I can tell you how much we've spent (for example) on meat (or any of the other 25 categories), and it keeps a running total for me. It also highlights the spending in 'naughty' areas, like Treats & Snackfood. I'm always shocked at that figure! (For the record, my 'grocery' total always includes things like toiletries, small household items like toothbrushes and lightbulbs, paper products - there's even a Chemist (drugstore) category - as well as what we spend on actual food. It's just how I prefer to arrange the finances. So if I ever quote a figure that sounds outrageously high, consider this, but also consider the exchange rate and general increased prices of shopping in Australia!)
So there's that. Plus, I'll be keeping a record of all other expenses (mortgage, electricity, phone, school expenses, clothing, shoes, etc) on another document. I'm certain I can find the additional $300 in September to meet the extra mortgage repayment. Hubs and I have already discussed keeping all non-essential spending to the bare minimum during September. At the end of the month, we'll re-assess and see whether we need to tighten or loosen the slack.
Tracking so minutely can get a little tedious at times, but the end result is worth it :)
Cheers,
Lizzie
0 comments:
Post a Comment