Thursday 8 May 2014

If my calculations are correct...

NOTICE:
Due to recent budget cuts,
the light at the end of the tunnel
has been turned off.


I've recently suffered from another one of my far too regular meltdowns, due to not quite making it to the end of the fortnight with money still in my bank account.

It may have been caused by some spontaneous expenses coming up recently - a present for a new baby, a meal for a family in need, chocolates for the kindness of a neighbour, a new designer handbag I couldn't resist, etc, but I think it's actually due to my horrible and unstoppable addiction to Cadbury's Marvellous Creations new ice cream range:


It's meant that we've had to revisit our 'budget' again, and face the confrontation of my spending habits, because in less than two years, our eldest will be going to high school. Whenever I have these moments of dread and anxiety about the future, I always tend to go back to the basics of needs vs wants.

I'm realising more and more lately, that everything (even those tiny things on the shopping list that aren't given much thought, and probably aren't that expensive) adds up. I wanted to work out how much I would save if I stopped indulging in unnecessary, but oh so delicious, items.

Like Cadbury's Marvellous Creations ice creams.

The cheapest I've seen them is $6 for a 4 pack. But they're usually closer to $8 a pack.

Basically, if I eat just one of these a day (which is HARD! I can never stop at just one!), and that's without the kids spying them in the freezer and helping themselves to one also, then at an average of $2 each ice cream, at the end of one year, I'm spending a minimum of:

$730

Holy moly! Is this what my addiction is costing me??
Over $700 a year on ICE CREAM!?
No wonder I am broke before the end of the fortnight!!

As it usually does, doing the yearly maths forces me to think about a lot of "stuff" I spend money on, that I don't actually need. I don't need ice cream. I want ice cream. And at the moment, I only want that ice cream!! (previous ice cream addictions have included Bounty ice creams, Connoisseur Cookies 'n' Cream, and anything from Ben & Jerry's).

So if my calculations are correct, I need to either stop buying and eating so much ice cream...

Or get a job.

<gasp> At Cadbury's!

Mmmmmm, chocolaaate.

On a semi-related note, here's some entertaining budgeting and money saving idea websites I've found in my journey to better budgeting:

Adding to #7 - Hotel shampoo and conditioners!

#6 is great when you suffer from a poor, um, brain-worky thingy.

... Pretty much, live like a Jew.

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