February Finance Check: Where I Was Surviving Rather Than Thriving
February finance check is here! I wanted to have this post up nice and early this (Monday) morning but since my budgeting period only ended on Sunday, I didn’t have time to fully review my budget and write the post on Sunday evening. Oh well, here it is anyway!
How did the January budget do
In January things were tight, but towards the end of the month it started to look up as I returned to work.
I managed to pick up and extra shift AND my planned work day reduction (from three days to two) didn’t take an effect yet, so I got paid more than I was expecting (I expected to get about $882 (after tax, KiwiSaver and student loan payment) but instead received $1,211).
I did have an extra expense of a dentist ($210) which I knew about, but had forgotten to account for.
I also saw my osteopath for myself ($105) and for my girls ($60).
I did go over budget on groceries ($461.31 instead of $400) and I spent nearly double what I had budgeted for cafes ($70.50 instead of $40).
Daycare fees were down ($81.20 paid instead of $101.50) because of discounted two weeks over the holidays and car + petrol spending was down too (only $93.71 instead of $200) because my partner paid for my warrant and helped out with petrol too.
My car failed on only one thing which luckily my partner is able to fix, the only problem is sourcing the part needed as you can’t buy them new and it commonly breaks. So not that many around. Fingers crossed he’ll find one.
All up my spending was $3,268.82 in January, about $200 higher than I expected.
Finance check: Savings progress
January was a tough month when it comes to having spare money, but I still managed to save $200, mainly because it was a top priority.
Here’s what my savings accounts are currently looking like. If you’re interested in what kind of accounts they sit in, you can read about it here.
Emergency fund
My emergency fund has gone back to $0 as I ended up using the measly $20 that was in there.
As mentioned last month, only very surplus goes in here (although, I still should prioritise this account better!!) which was nothing this past month.
Sleep out
Happy to say that we didn’t need to touch the sleep out savings this month, and while we didn’t add much to it (I think my partner deposited $10), it’s better than the balance just dropping!
This account is currently accumulating nearly $10 in interest per month as well.
The balance is currently at $5,736 and I’m excited about the idea of it starting to grow again.
Trip to Finland
This has been my main priority and where the $200 saved in January went.
Balance is currently $3,721, also accumulating $10 in interest per month.
It’s really nice to have those interest payments going up on savings accounts. A (very) small silver lining to counter inflation and home loan rates going up.
Other
My other savings account has been completely neglected as it wasn’t a high priority when money was tight.
It currently sits at $150, hopefully I’ll be able to start putting money in there again soon.
Finance check: Investing
January wasn’t a great month when it came to investing, as I only invested $40.
It’s still something so I’ll take it though!
In 2023 my savings goal of getting to go to Finland has a higher priority than investing (last year it was the most important goal), so I imagine I won’t be able to invest as much as I did last year.
And that’s okay!
On the dividend end January was also quiet and I only received a money market dividend of $0.31 on my Hatch account.
(I get this money market payment as I usually transfer money to my Hatch account weekly but only invest once I have 100USD. My money is kept in a money market account that pays kind of like an interest payment.)
Looking forward
I really need to get my cafe spending under control again, since I will start having a bit more spare money as my work hours hopefully settle and kids stay healthy.
I have to keep an eye on the grocery spending as well, I tend to buy a lot of treats and then regret it as the total climbs at the check out. I need to figure out how to stop the impulse buys at the supermarket!
I have an osteopath appointment coming up mid February and my Skillshare subscription is due in February as well, which is a fairly big bill at $240.
(Skillshare is a platform where you can learn a whole heap of different things from those who have teachable skills. The link above will give you 1 month for free. I talk about it more here.)
I also need to work on topping up my sinking funds, they are a bit worse for wear after those tough few months and frequent osteopath visits and also the dentist didn’t help much.
I need to get some unused items up for sale as well, that should help get the emergency fund up and running again, although I really need to get the sinking funds in order again as money comes out of there regularly.
How did your 2023 start, budget wise? Let me know in the comments!
