Me: 31/F, fully employed, $3,145 net take home each month
I have been slowly working my way out of credit card debt for the past three years. With a little over one year of payments left to go on my $20K debt consolidation loan, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
With that, I have been closely monitoring where my money has been going this year. I am very good about tracking how my money is distributed (bills, rent, loan payments, etc) but have never been good about tracking what I have been spending my money on. In looking at my spending habits in January, February, March, April, and now May I have confirmed what I already knew in my head... I spend a shit ton of money eating out. In January, I spent $400 eating out on just breakfast (coffee) and lunches alone. In February, close to $500. Same goes for March and April. I was way down in May because I made a conscious effort to not eat out so that I could save up for a trip I took. It helped a lot.
I took a look at my calendar and found that I miraculously have ONE lunch appointment on the calendar and no breakfast appointments in June. This means I have an opportunity to save money by eating breakfast at home and packing my lunch every day.
I know this seems so simple but I haven't always been good about this. My work culture is such that people eat out a lot, I meet with people over coffee or lunches frequently, and so on. Some of that I get reimbursed but a lot of it is just eating out with coworkers. I live in a mid-sized city, so lunches cost anywhere from $10-18/lunch. Not terrible, but like many of you know, that adds up!
I'm excited to challenge myself this month and hopefully save a butt load of money. This money could be better spent either in savings account (that's dismal right now) or paying off loans.
Thanks for reading. I really feel like I am starting to make a turn in how I manage money and am so looking forward to financial freedom in the very near future. My June goal to not eat breakfast or lunches out will help give me the boost I need and hopefully, become a habit of mine.
Submitted May 31, 2017 at 09:25AM by 30yroldheart http://ift.tt/2rkb12p
