Engineer's Finance

In my previous post, My intension of saying decrease the expenditure does not mean that you should not spend money at all. I meant that we have unnecessary expenditure and we should cut it down. For example, we are going to restaurant on a regular basis say thrice a week. On each occasion we will spend at least Rs. 200 – Rs. 300 for couple of people. Do you think is it really worth it? I don’t think so. If the same trend continues then we end up spending Rs. 28,800 – Rs. 43,200 per year. (You might argue that we wont go that often but its just hypothetical) All that I am telling is this is not a good habit try to change it. In Bangalore, everything is costly GOD KNOWS FOR WHAT REASON.

About my crazy habit: I am a movie buff and I love watching movies. But the price I am paying..

Read on..

In Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh the balcony ticket in an AC theater does not cost more than Rs. 100 on a weekend where as here it reaches up to Rs. 250 – Rs.300. I watch at least a movie every week in a good movie hall (Helping producers to become Rich). This habit of mine is burning a big hole in my pocket.. Yesterday just while returning back from my office I was just doing the calculations and this is what it revealed.

I watch at least 3 movies per month, per movie I spend around Rs. 300 to Rs. 500. This includes my ticket and snacks.

Generally I go for movie halls like PVR, Inox, Innovative Multiplex and similar types where the ticket itself costs me around Rs.250 to Rs.300 depending on the movie. In the last six months I would have spent close to Rs. 5400 – Rs.9000. I am sure I am at the higher end of the range. Do you really feel this is essential??
I love watching movies but the price I am paying is far too much. I am pampering myself but the price is definitely high.

I have decided to address this issue with the following things:

1. Try to reduce the number of times I go to movie hall to watch a movie. Say once in a month.

2. If the reviews of a particular movie is good and I have to watch it, then rent the DVD from a local store and watch it.

3. If the movie is good then its worth buying the DVD if it costs less than Rs. 100 rather than renting it else just rent it and watch it.
(Please refrain from buying Pirated stuff and help the Film Industry get its due)

These measures of mine will surely make me happy as I am watching the movie (pampering myself) and also financially it will add money in my pocket as I am consciously making an effort to reduce the expenditure (towards the goal of financial freedom).

Expenditure On the GO!!

When I was earning say Rs. 100 per month as my salary, My Expenditure was Rs. 30. I was thinking loads to reduce this Rs. 30 to Rs. 20 – Rs. 25. But not once I could manage to do that. I have tried to reduce my expenses from Rs. 30 for more than an year and it did not happen. I gave up. 😦 (Not good sign). I could not figure out the reason as to why this was happening.

After an year I got a hike say Rs. 200 per month. I thought my expenditure would be Rs. 30, but to my surprise it was always more than Rs. 60. Still no clue why this happened. Then one day I figured out the reason, it goes like this. When I was earning Rs. 100 I was spending Rs. 30 now that I am earning Rs. 200 I am spending Rs. 60 or more just cause I can afford doing that and back of my mind I always had a feeling that I can do whatever I want with my money. I was not committed financially and also I did not have a plan. These are the main reasons apart from many.

Simple maths :

In one year, my expenditure would be if Rs.30 per month then Rs. 360, if Rs. 60 then Rs. 720. If I plan to spend only Rs. 30 only per month then I could have saved Rs. 360, which I did not.

I am sure that most of us are like this.. The more you earn the more you want to spend just because you have it.. :-).. Can we stop this?? I think we can.. More about this tomorrow.. :)..