2022 so far is the year that I set a goal of never using my overdraft protection and the year that I am consistently using my overdraft protection. Although I do think that March, with all the overtime I’ve been putting in, the COVID pay, and the pet sitting I have booked, I think this will finally be the month that I get on track.
But that does sound like classic wishful thinking.
So in February, I did do a bit of shopping, I got one dress in the Hill House Home Victorian Romance Drop and I bought 3 things from Amazon, a Pomodoro timer (I used it on Sunday, I only got it on Saturday and I really liked it), a strap thing that is used for fake tan, but I’m using to get lotion onto the middle of my back (also used on Sunday and I love it, my back wasn’t itchy for the first time in months), and a sticky phone case for sticking on the mirror, and it hasn’t arrived yet. I spent about $300 on shopping this month.
Also on Sunday I went to Rexall and did a big restock, body lotion, hand cream, contact solution, RX bars, laundry detergent. I never normally have to restock on that much stuff at once, so I was appalled when the total came to $100, but again, my hands and skin are very happy and I was able to do laundry. So all essential, except for the Rx Bars, but I almost never buy fancy bars anymore.
Then also last week, I felt like a huge mooch asking my friends to check in on my cat while I was away again, so I got a pet sitter, $100.
Then, this is the area that I’ve made the most changes for March is subscriptions. My subscriptions (except for CAA), totaled $110, so today I cancelled Shudder (I only had it for A Discovery of Witches, which has finished), and StackTV, I have it for Nancy Drew and Summer House, but there’s only two episodes left of Summer House for this season, and then there hasn’t been a new episode of Nancy Drew in a couple weeks so I think the season might be done. But it’s also starting to have the old seasons on Netflix and PrimeTV, so I may just wait until it’s included. Both of those subscriptions will expire on the 11th.
Then when I was going through my paper finance check in, I decided I only want to have one TV subscription at a time. So I haven’t cancelled Amazon Prime yet, I have a few things that I want to get off Amazon, I don’t get same or two-day shipping anyways, because of where I live, but I do want free shipping on them anyways. So I’ve set up a reminder for a couple days before it renews so I can revisit that. And then I pay for Disney+ annually, so I’m cheating and not counting it. So I need to choose between Netflix and Amazon Prime TV. I did also have AppleTV (free from when I bought a new phone last year), CraveTV with HBO and I’ve cancelled both of those.
Then, I haven’t been reading the New York Times really at all lately, so I cancelled that. And then I’ve cancelled Splice for now. It was what I was using to edit TikToks, but I don’t make enough to justify paying for an app for that. So that should bring my subscriptions down to about $40 next month. Which is a lot better than $110.
(I am absolutely fuming, I wrote such a good version of the next paragraphs on Tuesday night and then I don’t know what I did, but they didn’t save and I didn’t have it written anywhere else and now I have to try and write it all again. Moving on.)
So for next month, I have to get a new car battery put in, which should be about $250, but I have $400 budgeted for it (I actually paid for it yesterday, it was $270 and change). Then I need to restock on three core skincare and makeup products, my Biossance Rose and Vitamin C facial oil, First Aid Beauty eye cream, and a replacement for my Nar Tinted Moisturizer, I’m leaning towards the Ilia Skin Tint, or something from Westman Atelier or Merit Beauty.
I also have a line item for cleaning and home care. I like to buy the Bare Home dish soap and all purpose cleaning spray from Northwest Goods in Dryden. I take my own jars and get them filled up. And I take massive jars so it is pretty expensive, but it’s typically enough for a few months of cleaning (and I’m a pretty clean person).
The next area is my groceries, I would really like to get my grocery bill under $500. I don’t know if $500 actually is a massive amount of money to feed one person, it feels like it is, but I never eat out when I’m home in Sioux, and I haven’t been anywhere since the Christmas hols. I also live in “northern” Canada (the quotes are because it is called northern, but compared to the whole country it looks pretty far south), and groceries, especially produce and meat are quite expensive up here. So I can’t tell if it’s too much or reasonable for our current times.
Also, I spent $556 on groceries this month, but I also only total the totals of receipts and don’t break them down and at the grocery store I also got dry cat food, Command strips, dryer sheets, cat treats, props for blog photos, cleaning products, at the grocery store, so it may be that I need to actually break down my receipts each month and that my grocery budget actually isn’t that out of control. Again, I don’t know, but in this case I can change that I don’t know by putting a bit more effort in.
That wasn’t nearly as well written as the original version, but it is what it is. Thank you for reading!
Laura
Thoughtful Millennial 