Work these days has been… difficult.
In addition to the usual increased workload when I am seeing hospital patients, we have the lovely development of dealing with more COVID, in patients and in staff. Meanwhile, administration is asking for more from us and offering less in return. What joy.
Mr. PiN, who would like me to join him in retirement, is supportive when I say things like: maybe it’s time to bug out. Except then I have to add that we aren’t ready financially.
In a discussion possibly related to a recent post, we talked about the role of monthly spending as regards our retirement target number. That is, the more we spend every month, the more we need to retire. Plus, the less we can save.
He acknowledged that he had been spending more on food and home repair items (think Costco and Lowe’s), and stated that we actually have a good amount of food stores that he had been putting aside “just in case.”
Then he surprised me by proposing a spending (or “nearly-no-spending”) challenge: for one month, he will try to limit spending to $300. This should help keep us in milk and produce, but otherwise we will try to use what has already been put away.
In later discussion, we clarified that the spending limit would be from our monthly budget (credit card and cash from the bank); any found money (old gift cards, change found in the car or under the sofa cushions, surprise bills found in winter jackets) is fine to spend.
Mr. PiN loves a challenge, so I don’t feel too bad about this project. I think even if he doesn’t hit the target, we will see a decline in spending this month. However, I worry that I may find myself unhappy with the menu towards the end of the month, and may start asking Where are my cucumbers? Where are my melons?
I guess we will have to tune in next month to see how things work out.
Giulio Bonasone Italian. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
For those who are interested, the update didn’t get published until January; you can see it here.