March financial report

This year is flying by! I can’t believe we’re in April now! Have a read below to check out how I went in March.

Spending | Savings | Credit Score | Superannuation | Side Hustling

For the January & February report see here.

Spending

Below is the breakdown of my spending by category as well as the relative % of my total spend for the month.

March

Savings: $1,612
Spend minus savings: $2,787

Breakdown

Notes:

‘Gifts’ includes a $100 donation for Jade’s go fund me and $30 for my nephews birthday.
‘Personal care’ is my gym membership
‘Health’ consists of my health insurance, medications, iridology and the remedial massage appointments I had.
‘Utilities’ is for my mobile phone and internet bill.
‘Auto & Transport’ includes car insurance, petrol, public transport to work, etc.

My food and shopping spend is higher than last month but still lower than January. It’s something I always struggle with the most.

Savings & Investments

Savings

During March, I put $1,612 towards my savings which at the end of March totaled $22,174 for both emergency fund and savings.

I’ve changed my first savings goals to $25,000 as I wanted to set a goal of $10,000 in investments so I took $4,000 and purchased new ETFs. The next goal is then $65,000. At the moment I’m looking into purchasing an off-grid tiny home to have as my forever home instead of buying a house and then having a mortgage.

Investments

Right at the end of March, I decided to take some of my savings and put it into investments. I spent $4,000 approx on 2 new ETFs bringing my total portfolio to $9,338. The return so far on my investments since I purchased them is 6.48% or $577. Before buying the new ETFs my return was 10.99% on just the original ETF. Over the course of time, they will all rise and that will even out.

Credit Score

My credit score increased on all 3 sites that I track, after staying steady for several months. The score ranges between 673-719 depending on which website you use. I’m now finally classed as ‘very good’ on 2/3 sites under Australia’s scale, which starts at 700.

Do you know what your score is? If you don’t feel free to check yours with Finder via this link for free and you’ll also get a $5 Woolworths gift card just for checking your score.
Just so you know, I’ll also get a $5 gift card too! (This is for Australia only)

Superannuation

My current balance (as of 28/03/19) is $49,830. I have started to contribute to my super via salary sacrifice but this won’t be processed until my April pay. It will bring my total super contribution to 14.5% (9.5% from my employer and 5% from myself).

Side Hustling

I earned $327 above my usual wage from my job through things like Pureprofile surveys, selling unused items on Facebook, container refunds for cans/bottles, interest on my savings account and gift cards from various sources.