A $477 Costco party and return Bali flights: my ‘revenge spend’ diary

February, already! How is that possible?

The ink is fresh on my monthly budget spending tally for January, and it appears I’ve joined the trend for “revenge spending” – a splurge after limited opportunities to spend, like during lockdowns.

I’ve decided to divulge all the intimate details here because I truly think it’s useful to see how other people manage their money. Knowing your monthly expenses can help you to apply for loans, plan for retirement, and save an appropriate emergency fund of three to six months of living expenses.

Got it? Flaunt it: No regrets from a bout of “revenge spending”.Credit: Dionne Gain

I’ve been tracking my spending for about two years. To inspire you to do the same, here are all the gory details of my budget for January.

Housing
My monthly mortgage payment was $2641. That’s the minimum I’m required to pay. Most of my loan amount is locked in at an interest rate of 1.84 per cent until the end of June.

A small amount is on variable interest, and the rate on that has crept up to 5.49 per cent. But because I have enough cash offsetting this variable portion sitting in my mortgage offset, I don’t actually pay interest at this rate. Yet …

Household
As I do every month, I contributed $866 into my “Household Future Fund” to cover costs for big lumpy household expenses like strata fees, council fees, home insurance and maintenance and repairs.

That meant when my quarterly strata fees of $1993 hit this month, I knew I was covered. As for variable spending, I spent $19.35 on bin bags, bug spray and sanitary items under my “cleaning” and “hygiene” sub-categories.

Utilities
After switching energy suppliers last year, my new supplier is still basing my energy bills off “estimated” rather than actual meter reads, which I need to check, but my monthly electricity bill was $107.

I paid $60 for my 25 Mbps NBN broadband plan and $4.49 for cloud storage. My regular $51 monthly contribution to my “Utilities Future Fund” covered me for a $156.70 quarterly water bill that fell due.

Transport
I paid $1.88 a litre for 44 litres of petrol at an Ampol petrol station, which, after my Woolworths discount, brought it to $80.31. I always check a petrol comparison price app before filling up. My toll account auto-debited $40 for tolls and I paid $24.65 for an Uber.

Food
I spent $742 on food in January – a bit higher than my usual $450 to $500 a month. I’ve definitely noticed this creeping up. I used my 10 per cent discount for my monthly shop at Woolworths under the Everyday Extras program, while also popping into both Coles and Costco – the latter being the inspiration for a summer dinner party I threw for some dear friends. It was a lavish affair and I decided to budget for this spending separately under my “lifestyle – parties” category below.

Health
I paid $202 for a dental checkup and clean. I don’t pay for health insurance “extras” at present, so that was the full out-of-pocket cost. I’m due for X-rays next visit, so I might check the sums to see if it’s worth taking out cover leading into that. My CrossFit gym membership was $385.99 for the month and worth every cent for the strength gains and social stimulation. My health insurance premium for basic hospital cover for one adult was $81.29. I paid $15.04 for medicines.

Education
My stationery addiction continues unabated, and I shelled out $62 to Officeworks for printer cartridges and $16 for pen refills on my favourite Uni-ball Gel Impact writing pen (cheaper to buy the refills, though). Term 1 school fees were due and my share of $3343 was covered via my regular $1024 monthly contribution to my “Education Future Fund”. Phew.

Appearance
I spent $70 on a new summer dress and $14 for a second-hand top at Vinnies. Kiddo got a $30 haircut and I bought some red nail polish for $10.95. I spent $4.30 on “mens” razors, as they do the same job but are much cheaper than the pink “ladies” ones!

Lifestyle
Now we come to it. My Costco-themed dinner party cost me $477 all up, including $197.96 spent at Costco on sushi platters, meat, salads and lavish desserts and $134.96 on alcohol. I thought shopping at Costco would be cheaper, but the temptation of exotic, bulk-size American foods got the better of me.

I topped up party supplies with $131.86 in food and drinks from Woolworths (mostly non-alcoholic drinks) and paid $12 for three bags of ice. After the difficulties of COVID-era gatherings, I felt a “revenge dinner party” was overdue and worth every cent.

Knowing your monthly expenses can help you to apply for loans, plan for retirement, and save an appropriate emergency fund of three to six months of living expenses.

Continuing the “revenge spending” theme, I blew my Holiday Future Fund completely, forking out $1025 on return flights to Bali for later this year, along with a $1000 deposit on a retreat while I’m over there. I took kiddo on an impromptu week-long road trip, paying $1903 for accommodation and $1078 for sundry expenses like meals, activities and souvenirs.

I had budgeted via my “Holidays Future Fund” to spend $6100 on holidays this year, but I’m already at $9246 spent. Je ne regrette rien, however, and I know I will find the money from future monthly budget surpluses or by running down my perhaps overly cautious emergency fund.

Elsewhere, I spent $95.98 on eating out (eating while on holidays was tallied under my holiday expenses), $10.95 on toys and $31.98 on streaming services, including my $6.99 Netflix plan, including advertisements because I irrationally refuse to pay the higher amount to have them removed!

Professional fees
I include pocket money under this final budget category. Kiddo requested a pay rise to his $50 monthly budget allowance and I awarded him an inflation-pegged increase (in line with the September quarter CPI of 7.3 per cent) meaning his pocket money is now $53.50 a month. That’s a better raise than most Aussie workers are getting, but I felt it was a chance to discuss the importance of keeping up with the cost of living, so I’m glad to pay it.

Total expenses for January: $8104.36

Do you need help to track your spending and do a budget? Season 2 of the It All Adds Up podcast is focused on helping you get to grips with your spending and finding ways to save. Email us at [e-mail] if you would like Jess and Dom to take a look over your numbers and suggest some ways to save!

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

Jessica Irvine is author of Money with Jess: Your Ultimate Guide to Household Budgeting. You can follow more of Jess’ money adventures on Instagram @moneywithjess and sign up to receive her weekly email newsletter.