Here is my ‘Low Spend Year 2021 September Update’.
It is a bit late because I have been trying to set up my Youtube channel at the same time as running the blog and keeping up on Instagram and running my first email list! You should join me over on Youtube. If you do, make sure to say hello in comments as there is always someone nice in there to connect with. You may find a few more frugal living youtubers and bloggers to follow from there too!
Jump Ahead To....
No Spend Month
September was a full no spend this month. I documented it everyday for half of september which you can find here. I did not upload every day for the second half of the month as it was just too busy! It became a bit repetitive and pointless too. I have uploaded a final update on Youtube and there are lots of grocery hauls for the month over on the channel too which you can find by clicking here.
My no spend rules were as follows;
- No unplanned spending
- No eating or drinking out
- Walk everyday and track it
- Batch cook and meal plan
- All saved cash for car loan overpayment
Our no spend month reward was a takeaway which was a kebab for me and a Supermacs for the kids. If you are not from Ireland and you ever come to visit you have to get a Supermacs one time. It’s a typical fast food restaurant with burgers and chips but there is something about it that is unique.
No Spend Month Goal
My goal for the month was to overpay my car loan as much as I could. I bought my car in February 2020 just before the lockdowns. It’s ironic as I bought the car to make my life easier. Our school run is so long here as we live in the country. My daughter goes to college in the closest city but does not stay there overnight and my son goes to a school which is a 60 km round trip each week.
Within a few weeks of buying the car I more or less had no need for it for almost a year after buying it! However, it is a great car in perfect condition that had extremely low milage on it when I bought it. I have now paid 2 thirds of the loan as of the end of September. I am on track to have the entire loan paid off by next June. That means that I will have paid the loan in less than half the original term.
Low Spend Year 2021
The low spend year has been an enlightening project. I have made firm decisions as to what is frugal and what is cheap in my world. There is a floor as to where I am willing to go to save money. Firm decisions have been made as to the recipes and meals that my family enjoy and eat and I am no longer willing to mess around with that too much. Making savings by using brands that we didn’t love or meals that I knew would cause trouble at dinner time is a thing of the past.
My batch cooking has reached a sort of level of routine because of this. I can now do a batch cook in a day rather than several as a result of these decisions too.
I have stopped trying to prove anything to myself or anyone else in relation to my frugal life or my approach to budgeting. Form decisions have also been made as to where I want my blog to go here on Mrs. Hawkins House.com and on what I want to do with my youtube channel.
My strengths lie in helping people to make the best of the food that they have access to and also on how to approach to setting up their first budget for success. I am working on my pre-budgeting project at the moment which will involve releasing a couple of paid digital products. The free printable gallery will remain free now and always but is getting a little branding update soon.
Once I have that project complete I don’t intend to spend any time producing any more content on budgeting in the general sense. I will however be focusing on helping my reader and viewers to maximise the food that they have access too through meal plans,m shopping lists, recipes, batch cooking and freezing resources.
Conclusion
September was a very thoughtful month as I walked each day in the forest, beside the sea or at the lake. I listened to some books that were on my list for too long. By the end of the month I got a better focus on what it is I am trying to achieve with my blog. All in all, while focusing on spending less I have gained other non financial insights about life.
