I’m Karisha, 30 and worked from home before the pandemic made that a thing.

Karisha, you’re up.

My relationship with money? Not great. By that I mean I’m not making enough of it. I see about $2,000 at the end of each month which isn’t dire, but it all goes straight towards bills, my two kids, food, like so much food, and face masks. There’s never anything left over for any kind of savings which given the current economic climate is kinda worrying.

Monday

It’s Monday, that means groceries. I walked to the local store so no expenses there and did a mid-tier shop. If I’m carrying the bags back I can’t go all out. Plus, this means I’ll come back again during the week which really is peak excitement at the moment. I got all of the usual stuff like juice, bread and milk, and then some candy and a cheap bottle of wine for the huge night I had planned with my couch.

Total: $32.88

Tuesday

Literally nothing. Zero. I didn’t move from the couch that I drank the wine on last night. Well I did, but only far enough to get the kids all set up and cook with the groceries I’d bought yesterday.

Total: $0

Wednesday

Back at it again, I went to my local grocery store. We were out of juice and I was in need of some serious energy drinks on this day. I walked again so no expense there.

Total: $20

Thursday

On the fourth day of my incredibly world-pandemic week, I dished out $40 on the remainder of my bills. I try to pay my bills in advance as much as possible, so it didn’t hit me too hard. Then I forked out $232 on a loan I owed and another $30 on another loan I owed. Fun. I guess the start of the big spending tripped a switch in me – I spent $200 of a colossal online grocery order.

Bills - $40

Loan - $232

Other loan - $30

Groceries - $200

Total: $502

Friday

You see I said I buy a lot of food? $86 on ANOTHER grocery order. I have two hungry kids and one really hungry me. Also I guess there’s not much else to do at the moment so cooking and eating is a real MVP for me.

Total: $86

TOTAL: $640.88

Cleo’s vibe

Hungry

Where you’re killing it

Organization. Paying those bills early is exactly how you swerve any of those mean repayment charges. You really are out there not wasting money. At all. You stick to spending on the logistical life things like food and bills and don’t chuck money at frivolous fun.

Where you’re not killing it

Frivolous fun. A little can go a long way. You did well with the cheap bottle of wine in true treat-yourself-but-on-a-budget style, but you could go further. Where are all of the face masks?!

Tips

Saving is hard. When you’re living pretty much paycheck to paycheck how on earth are you meant to put money aside. It seems impossible. What we often don’t think about though, are the small things. The little ‘bits’ that fly out without a second thought on our end (any extras in the grocery store, coffees etc). We tend to live according to what we see our situation to be – if you had less in your account, you’d spend less. Why not set up an automated Savings rule with Cleo? Each time to spend somewhere (the grocers might be a good place to start for you...) Cleo will automatically pull anything from as little as $1 and drop it into a separate savings pot for you. You won’t feel the hit of handing over a chunk of money, but you will see the difference in the long run and feel all good and practical.