What I Spent in a Month: January 2025.

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I thought I document my monthly spend here. Here is what I spent in a month of January 2025:

Total: $3,363.21

• Clothing/ Shopping: $208.37

• Groceries: $642.10

• Eating out/ Coffees: $119.36

• Subscriptions: $276.77

• Travel: $346.37

• Mortgage: $1,592.44

• Health Insurance: $177.80

Some things to note from above:

• My mortgage is for an investment property. I live with my partner and I am lucky enough to have my partner cover our rental and utilities costs.

• I pay for our weekly groceries.

• We keep our finances separate (but together - get it?)

Travel

Coming off the Christmas period, we decided to drive across the Nullarbor from Perth on $1 car rental to Adelaide.

This would be our third drive across the Nullarbor and I can say that we are a lot more minimalist in our packing for the trip. And I don't know if this is the result of us coming off our Camino Santiago trip in 23/24, where we realised we don't need much in our daily life.

We packed minimal clothes and food. We also packed a small esky, container and cutleries for our trip. We learned that we can go to the groceries store and get staples like cereal and some pantry food like tuna and bread, saving us $$ from eating out. Even the guy at the WA-SA border said he wishes there are a lot more people like us (he means packing)! lol

Groceries

Groceries has been consistent where I would typically spend $150 a week (for the two of us). This spend includes household items and beauty products. And it even include Coles delivery and packing fees (Read: Why I Would Spend Money on Coles Delivery Fees)!

(Also Read: Want Cheap Meals? Cook Italian and Asian Meals! Here are some recipes.)

Clothing/Shopping:

Okay.. I didn't quite go no spend month in January. I think the #FOMO kicked in from boxing day specials. I spent $10 for a Cotton On top and $65 sunnies from Bailey Nelson for myself (because my partner keep stealing my sunnies!) and the rest for my partner.

Eating Out/Coffees

We don't typically eat out but sometimes, when we are on the road, we are left with no choice but to spend $$ eating out. Pretty good spending considering we were away from home for approximately 2 weeks!

Mortgage

Somehow, I don't really view paying mortgage for my investment property as spending money 💰. I view it more like a conversion of asset from cash to property. Just like my transfers to super (not included in my spending above 👆), I see it as a conversion of asset or investments.

Subscriptions

I've been wanting to tally and monitor my subscriptions for months now. I think it is a real money bleed! The worrying part is I don't even know what I subscribed and paying $$ money for.

I've recently signed up for a budgeting app (Another app - roll eyes! 👀) - We Money App. I wanted to track my spending and net worth. I thought @wemoneyapp could help me see where my money is coming and going on daily/weekly/monthly/annually basis. We will see! 🤷‍♀️ (Read: My Review of We Money App). (Also Read: My Review of TravelSpend App)

Conclusion

I think it is a pretty good month, considering we travelled across the Nullarbor post Christmas/ early Jan period. If I were to take out the Mortgage, I probably spent $1,770 in January 2025, which is about the average living in Australia! (Read: See How Much I Spent Travelling The World)

Nullarbor Road House

Till next post! x

Why I Love the Viral "No Spend" Trend!

I am obsessed with the viral "No Spend" trend on Tik Tok and Instagram.

I think people are feeling the pinch, coming off the holidays over christmas and new year, and are now looking for ways to tighten their belts. Also you know.. just to add flavours to their "instant noodle season". (Read this article by CNBC - https://www.cnbc.com/select/no-spend-challenge/)

And I think it's a great trend! We have more than enough clothes in our closet anyway (Read: How Camino de Portuguese and Travelling The World Turn Me Into a Minimalist.) and we don't need to add more to the pile in the landfills.

I like the "No Spend" trend on several reasons. One, it makes me contemplate on every single purchase. Two, it makes me appreciate what I currently have. And three, it saves me money from buying nonsense that I don't need.

I am a minimalist. So, this boats well with my values on owning less.

But then I thought why not expand the "No Spend" trend to buying weekly groceries?! (Read: Why I Spend My Money On Coles Delivery For My Weekly Groceries Shopping.)

I feel like I have wasted a lot of food because either a) I didn't plan my meals properly or b) I go to the shops the minute I don't have that one ingredient to cook a meal.

And you know how it is.. you get into Coles.. it's never just one thing!

So, I decided to try and stick to my weekly groceries list. If I run out before my next buy, boohoo...tough luck! Time to get creative and learn to cook with what I have in the fridge and pantry.

..and I do get creative! I am cooking up new recipes, saving money, and wasting less food by extending the "No Spend" trend on my weekly groceries shopping.

I am definitely keeping this trend in my back pocket. Next... revenge spending. Oh God!

Till next post x

Why Cash Flow is King!

There is a lot of work in planning for an early retirement. My partner and I discussed our finances fairly frequently.

And one of the biggest topic that regularly came up in our finance discussion is "where is the cash coming from to fund our daily expenses if we stop working today?"

I think the idea of having just $1 mill net worth (or whatever you think is the reasonable amount to retire) is not enough when planning for retirement. I see a lot of articles out there that talk about having sufficient net worth to retire but fail to expand on asset diversification and accessibility to cash to fund your daily expenses.

..and if you are retiring from the workforce well before turning 65 years old and don't' plan to go back to work ever again, you really have to think your retirement in two phases.

One - the period between your early retirement age to your pension age.

Two - the period between your pension age and death.

And unless you are one of the lucky ones where you've accumulated enough in super to cover your retirement in period two and have stuffed up so much cash in your savings account to cover your expenses (plus inflation) in period one of your retirement, I really think you have to juggle between growth and accessibility to cash to fund for your daily expenses.

Some common financial scenarios I've seen among the F.I.R.E communities are as per below:

Scenario one - Accumulated enough net worth and invest 100% in balanced or growth index fund/shares returning around 8-10% average and live off from annual conversion of shares to cash at 3-4% rate to fund period one of retirement + few dollars in super.

Scenario two - Accumulated enough net worth through properties (either all fully paid off or partially paid off but earn enough rentals to cover mortgage and other expenses) and live off the rentals or through slowly liquidating from the build up equities + few dollars in super.

Scenario three - Accumulated enough net worth through high dividend shares and live off the dividends in period one retirement + few dollars in super.

Scenario four - Accumulated enough net worth through a combination of both properties and shares, earning enough rentals and dividend to fund daily expenses in period one of retirement + few dollars in super.

..plus more! (Share in the comments below 👇 if you know any other scenarios!)

I feel when going through these financial planning exercises, it's important to go through beyond the question of how much net worth is enough to retire early.

Some of the financial questions I think one can ask (but not limited to) when planning to retire early (Read - Emotions, Purpose, Meaning after early retirement):

• What level of net worth will comfortably cover both phase one and phase two?

• Where is the cash coming from to fund both phases?

• How will taxes impact my retirement fund and withdrawal strategies?

• Is my savings and investments structured to meet rising inflation, especially during phase one?

• What strategies will I use to bridge the gap between early retirement and pension age to access super or government pension?

• What about health care? Should I get private health care or rely on having just Medicare?

• What about unexpected expenses, do I have enough in my emergency fund or have fast enough access to cash to be able to cover unexpected expenses?

• How can I ensure my investment portfolio is balanced for growth, stability, and accessibility throughout retirement?

• Have I accounted for other potential costs such as lifestyle changes? What if I want kids and if I already have a kid, what if I want more?

• Will I need to support anyone else, like kids or aging parents, during my retirement?

• Do I need to own my own home? or should I rent for flexibility? Or should I own an investment property with a view of moving into them some day when I am ready to settle down in one location?

• Do I want a stationary lifestyle where I settle in one location? Or do I want nomadic lifestyles in my retirement?

• Do I plan to get government pension when I reach preservation age? Or am I going to rely on my super for phase two? Or am I planning to do both?

• What is my fall back plan if the 4% rule/FIRE theory is wrong and I ran out of money before I reach preservation age?

Mind you.. above 👆 will always be evolving as you age. Therefore, it's important to have these discussions or check-ins regularly, even after your retirement.

Anyway, some things to think about.

Good luck and till next post x