What Would you Blow $1,600.70 on?

At the start of the year, we were clear about our intentions to make and save an extra $30,000 on the side this year.

In January we made and saved $3,200.17 extra. Februar, we forgot to publish an update, then in March, we made an extra $4,005.

April we made less on the side (by choice) then also chose to spend it all! Actually, we spent way more than the $1,600.70 extra we earnt.

Disclosure, there are affiliate links in this post for products we use or recommend. Read the full disclosure here.

Why Make Less and Spend More?

The extra income is from side stuff, not our main income.

We didn’t earn less, we chose to focus less on the side income and actually made $1,000 extra from our main work while doing less work.

Confusing? Hopefully, this post will explain it.

We love doing the side hustles, but we knew April was going to be a big month with limited time.

We switched our focus a little, did some reviews and giveaways plus planned time out.

With everything we had on this month, we chose to spend in areas we needed/wanted to and simply relax more.

How did We Make Money in April?

Selling things on the side has been our main side hustle, which is where the $1,600.70 came in.

However, we had a bit of travel in April plus issues at school so it wasn’t practical to sell things. When we focus on it, we have made over $10,000 a month.

How did We Make More?

Our aim is to make more money every month which is why we track it closely.

Having the capacity to retire at 40 if we want to is the goal.

Realistically, if we keep enjoying what we do, we’ll keep doing it.

This month we chose to outsource more, zero in on the things which make the most money for the time we spend on them and experiment with the things we do.

Side hustles are things we do when we feel like it, including selling things as mentioned, Airbnb (more info in this post) and pretty much anything which comes up.

We have rented out the garage, rented rooms to boarders, sold things online for others, flipped websites and more.

Check out 43 ways for single mums to make money, 18 ways to make money in 2018 and these 80+ side hustles.

What the Hell did we Spend all the Money on?

We rarely spend on ourselves, ask those close to me.

It’s infuriating to shop with us for this reason.

Dropping cash on our needs, spending whatever we have to for the kids etc is all fine.

When it comes to us, we never did it.

This month we decided enough is enough.

This was a money block we wanted to clear and we did.

So what did we spend on and why?

School Holiday Camp – $960

Vacation care wasn’t practical and the kids wanted to trap an American style vacation camp, so I booked that for the week for them.

Birthday – $432

“That’s not a list. You need fun stuff, like shoes and perfume!” was the comment about the birthdya list.

Completely unimpressed with a desire for pj’s and other practical items, they were determined to spend money elsewhere.

In the end, we compromised, some ‘needed’ items were purchased and some fun items.

Teeth Whitening – $350

Being self conscious of teeth is debilitating because it changes your smile and makes you hold back.

Getting them whitened professionally was a game changer.

Trip to Away – $600

$1,000 was allocated for our trip to Canberra but only $600 was spent on car hire, petrol and food.

Often we eat more takeaway when travelling but this time we had food from Woolworths instead.

A Shopping Spree – $342.85

Our home did not feel like a home.

It felt clinical with no personality since we moved in because we didn’t plan to stay here long. It was an ‘in between home’, yet here we are a year later.

We bought clothes, shoes, a guitar, books, some home decor items, pieces to finish off my room, command hooks to finally hang images in our home (plus some frames for specific pictures) and we had lunch out.

Total Spent – $2,684.85

We spent $1,084.15 more than the extra side money made this month.

However, we originally planned to spend $1,000 on the trip, so we feel fine about it.

Spending this much money in one hit isn’t something we’d regularly do unless we were setting up the house again or travelling.

We save in many areas of life such as the electricity bill kept around $60 a month (see my 17 tips for this here), or not owning a car so we walk everywhere.

This frees up money for things we actually want and enjoy. It doesn’t mean we are frivolous with spending. How you spend/budget your money is up to you!