Cash Flow Review - Other Expenses

While food was and is a major expense, I started to think about our other expenses.  There were still other major parts of the budget, mainly related to housing and other general expenses.  While I will get to what we did about our housing expense (mortgage), I wanted to focus on the variable expenses.

Did our expenses go down?

I think that this is a natural consequence to the loss of income, but I no longer felt the desire to go shopping or buy things.  I was no longer tempted by the emails promoting sales/discounts/incentives.  I was never much of a mall rat and now I had no desire to troll the mall. 

There was a change in mindset.  I was more focused on buying things that were "needs" as opposed to "wants".  Before, I was either so stressed or bored at my job that I engaged in a bit of retail therapy.  At the time, I got a lot of "wants".  I "deserved" it because I was working so hard or I bought some things for the kids to alleviate the mommy guilt.  As if material things could replace the time that I wasn't spending with them.  I just got what I/we "wanted" and occasionally a "want" purchase became a "need" purchase.  Somehow I just justified the purchase.  I tend to be pretty frugal and I usually buy things because we either needed something or I was anticipating a need, but now, I only buy what we actually need and it had to be an immediate need.  It turns out we don't actually "need" much.  Other than a new pair shoes for some growing feet, I haven't had to buy much.

What else went down?

• Commuting expenses- since I wasn't commuting everyday, our gas expenses went down significantly and didn't incur any more bridge toll charges, which were infrequent but necessary sometimes.

• Extended care charges - now that I could pick up the children right after school, we didn't have to incur any extended care charges.

• Food/Restaurants - we just didn't eat out as often and if we did choose to go out, we went for low cost options.  

• Clothing - I didn't have to buy any more clothing to match the style of my office. 

 Did any expense go up?

Surprisingly, some expenses actually went up (wrong direction), but these expenses were not significant and did not undercut some of the savings above too much.

• Telecom/Phone -  Since I was mainly using my work phone, I now had to get a new plan.  Luckily, I didn't have to buy a new phone and I could use an old phone that I had lying around. Also, if I found a job sooner rather than later, I knew that I would likely get another work phone and so I didn't want to commit to a long service plan.  I settled on a monthly pre-paid plan.  There are limitations, but I was willing to live with them.  The data limit was a joke, but at least I could still use Wi-Fi.    I mainly wanted to use this phone for emergencies and this fit the bill.  The minutes limit was quite high and I knew that I'd never hit this limit.

• Gym -  They say that after a layoff, once should create a routine.   I decided to join the gym.  No better time than the present to get back into shape.  I was still being a bit picky though. I wanted certain amenities - pool, newer equipment and more importantly, a low monthly fee.  I wanted to be able to de-commit at any time.  Luckily, I found a place.