Financially solved: A story of frugality

How did I manage to reach a financial position where money is enough with a pay of no more than £2000 per month and to be able to save each month more than £300 and yet living in central London..?

Sweet, sweet motivation

I know some feel they have money when they buy things. My definition of having money always meant to actually have money in the pocket. Generally, I am not a big spender, yet I do spend money with no restraints when I do need to, but this does not happen too often. I naturally save money, but 2 years ago I decided to aim for specific amounts. My first goal: £300 per month.

Firstly first: learn the figures

I learned how much I spend per type of costs: fixed vs flexi costs. What do I mean by that?

• Fixed costs — costs that no matter what is the same amount per month. For example: rent, phone bill, TV cable, you get the idea
• Flexi costs — the ones that can vary per month: groceries, social activities, clothes, so on and so forth

I wrote down all the type of expenses I make per each specific thing I buy, from how much I pay per rent to how much I pay per one onion. Yes, one onion, as I know that even the small things do count when you know that £5 can take you a mile.

Secondly second: the reality check

With all the figures in front of me money made more sense to me:

• £10 per one dinner vs £20 groceries food per week with no frugality involved.
• £3 per one scone of ice cream vs £4 per one 400gr container.

Hmmm… Saving opportunities for real. So what did I do?

Thirdly only: my willingness

I knew I could not reduce my groceries costs, so I decided that £100 per month will be what to spend on a regular basis — new fixed cost number one.

Household expenses — around £20. Yeah, that could do as fixed cost number two.

Social activities — well this is my deal breaker. How much is that enough that will balance out things nicely? Ideally £300 per month. Hmm… but I need to keep it bellow £200! Can I make it? No, yet striving… yet. So £300 is my new fixed costs number three.

Other miscellaneous — clothes, things that randomly show up… this is my only flexi cost that I chose not think of. So nothing to touch on here.

Things considered

What helped me when taking my decisions about the new fixed costs was asking myself: out of the things I do buy on a generally basis, what are the ones that do contribute to my well being? For me these were all related to the groceries section. I knew that no matter what, I could not limit myself in terms of what I eat and on the products I buy. Some trivial items such as the olive oil and the vinegar I use somehow make a difference, if you know what I mean…

The real numbers?

Yes, I spend between £1050 and £1200 per month now and this is the lowest I have spend in the past year, as some expenses went away due to the Covid-19 too well known story. I won’t go into details.

Conclusions

This is just a story: facts, figures, mindsets, choices. A truth.