I’m struggling a little bit at the moment over something that I suspect is trivial.

Shortbread and I have set ourselves a fairly aggressive budget now that we’re only on one income for a little while. We have been pretty amazing this month in just how little we have spent (not counting the takeaways…), but there are a couple of purchases that have tipped us over our budget. These purchases are definitely one offs, but we may have watched too many fix-people type media (think Caleb Hammer, Ramit Sethi’s new Netflix series etc*) and it has left me a bit anxious.

I’m trying to assuage my anxiety by ensuring that I’m thinking carefully about the big expenses which are coming up this year. Tracking our expenses has helped us keep a handle on our spending over the past few years and be realistic in our future expectations. Still, not having the safety net of being a dual-income household is a bit scary. I don’t think that staying within our monthly budget will be a problem, but it’s certainly something that’s playing on my mind at the moment.

I have a colleague who is pretty spendy, but has been steadily investing for the past few years. His spendyness seems to have increased to the point that almost every cent of his recent pay was accounted for by debt. A couple of lean months would more than enable him to zero out any debts and be well ahead, but the large multi-stop international holiday planned for the Summer is unlikely to see this happening. I’m not writing about this to be bitchy, but it has me thinking about how I and others justify their financial decisions. I am worried about “borrowing” some cash from next months budget to pay for something purchased this month. It’s important not to let this be a regular occurrence, in the same way it is important to not justify wants as needs like expensive holidays when already in debt…

Using money tracking tools (another shout-out for Firefly iii!), checking-in with each other regularly and ensuring we’re super honest in our planning is how we’re going to approach this. I’m also going to try and relax and stop being such a stress-head!

*Both of these are hugely entertaining and recommended by the way!