As I am writing this, it is the very last day of the month. Wow, that quick. It’s officially beginning to feel like fall outside and I can’t be more pleased. Don’t get me wrong, I love summer but I also enjoy the changes of seasons each year. Fall is one of my favourites as I am a total pumpkin spice junkie and fall also marks the beginning of the holiday festivities which always puts me in the baking mood.
This has been a frugal month for me which is because I am planning a big trip in February next year and I’m also trying to get back into the swing of things with my savings. I’m trying to get better at balancing high spend months with low spend months. Given my spendy summer, I am trying to curb my spending for the remainder of 2022.
I am also trying to get back into the swing of my monthly reports on my blog in order to keep myself accountable and I also truly enjoy writing these.
In terms of where my money went this month, I can certainly say that I was able to stay within my budget (aside from the tickets we purchased for our trip next year to the Philippines – fingers crossed that we are able to follow through those plans).
Although I was able to stay under my grocery budget this month which is increasingly difficult given the rising prices of food, I did surpass my meals and entertainment budget. My most problematic category is beauty and clothing. I don’t often replenish my hair products because I only wash my hair once a week. This month I ran out of my favourite shampoo and conditioner (which are both by Olapex) so I didn’t wait until the sephora sale to go ahead and purchase those items. I also had to get my hair done this month. Long story short, I messed up my colour with a hair mask and had to have that corrected.
In terms of clothing, I completed a bunch of sales on Poshmark this month which offset my two purchases this month: two black dresses from Club Monaco. I have worn one already (outfits of the week) which I totally love. Truthfully, I am still contemplating returning the second dress I purchased. I have not yet worn it and I am not sure its as versatile as I would have expected. A lesson I learned while purchasing these dresses is to always check prices online before making a purchase in store. As an example, I saw this black dress on Club Monaco’s website but in store it was not marked on sale. The sale at the time was an additional 50% off sale items. I raised it with the sales person and was able to have the item price matched which saved me a lot of money given that the dress was regular price in the store!
Another spend category that always varies each month is for gifts. This month I had a wedding and my brothers birthday. This is a category I never have regrets about because I love gift giving. Let me know what category in your budget you never regret in the comments, I’m curious to know!
