PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILL HORNER/BAUER. GETTY IMAGES
Could you spend just $10 on weekdays and
$40 per day on the weekend? Sophie Haslett
takes the challenge - with surprising resultsMY NAME IS SOPHIE, I’m
27 and I’m a spender. I want the
best in life. In the past few years,
my over-the-top spending has
gotten increasingly out of hand- so much so that the prospect
of getting on the property ladder
is becoming ever more distant.
But I recently landed upon
an idea. What if I could quit the
Monday-to-Friday indulgences,
fast my cash and relax a little at
the weekends? A sort of financial
5:2 diet. ‘We are all capable of
change and improvement with
our finances,’ insists financial
advisor Canna Campbell. ‘It’s
about understanding your way
and focusing on the benefits the
change in attitude will bring you.’
While Campbell is sceptical
about my financial 5:2 idea –
believing too much deprivation
on some days ‘may trigger you
to splurge on others’ – she adds
that it is an ‘interesting strategy’
that could work, provided I set
myself some clear guidelines.
Since I don’t have the ability
or the willpower to set a totally
Draconian ‘zero spend’ policy for
five days, I decide on a budget.
$10 a day should do for my five
‘fasting’ days, and $40 for each
day of the weekend – a relaxed
amount that theoretically will
allow me to indulge something
of my almond milk f lat white
habit. Here’s how I got on.
Monday
Having meal-prepped a week’s
worth of healthy food, I walk to
work to save a few dollars. From
my home in Bondi, it takes aboutare trying a hot new restaurant
in town. I’m delighted to find my
boyfriend has bought steak and
red wine, and enjoy an evening
free of charge. Is this cheating?
DAILY SPEND: $7 bus trips, $3
coffee, $1 yoga class.Friday
With the prospect of the weekend
and 40 whole dollars each day to
spend, I’m excited. But it’s short-
lived. Before I know it I’ve spent
$15 on bircher muesli and coffee.
By the time 5.30pm arrives, I’ve
got little willpower left and am
far too easy to drag to the pub.
Drinks, fries and an Uber trip
later, I have well and truly failed.
DAILY SPEND: $15 bircher
muesli and coffee, $30 drinks,
$10 fries, $15 Uber.Saturday
With a slightly sore head and a
very sore conscience, I wake up
vowing to refrain from spending
all $40 – I need to atone for the
sins of yesterday. I force myself
out of bed, make some toast and
head out for a run. When I bump
into a friend on the beach, we go
for coffee and end up chatting for
hours. I knock up dinner from
food lying around the kitchen.
DAILY SPEND: $6 coffees, $4
slice of lemon cheesecake.Sunday
I’m keen to go out on a high, so
after yoga I make a homemade
breakfast of eggs on toast. I head
to Bondi Markets, where I pick
up some loose leaf tea for $8. On
the way home, I grab wine and
ingredients for a lasagne and
invite my friends over for dinner.
DAILY SPEND: $1 yoga, $3 coffee,
$8 tea, $26 wine and dinner.
I doubt I’ll end up completely
overhauling my spending ways,
but I’ve learnt that budgeting
gives a real sense of achievement.
That’s progress, right? #Do the
financial 5:2
(WITHOUT
WONDERING
WHETHER LIFE IS
WORTH LIVING)
Set yourself goals:
‘Goals help to bring
about a change in
attitude,’ says Canna
Campbell. Try for
$10 or $15 dollars
each weekday, and
$40 or $60 for
weekend spending.Tackle problem
areas: Identify the
situations in which
you find yourself
spending, and then
replace these habits
with other things.Pay in cash:
‘Handing over cash
is painful, so we
spend less; it’s
called the flinch
reaction,’ Campbell
explains.Keep a spending
diary: Seeing how
much money you’re
handing out daily
will shame you into
doing it less.HOW TO
an hour and a half – but I stay
motivated by telling myself that
I can enjoy a ‘free’ $3 coffee at
the end. I even skip the almond
milk, saving 50 cents!
DAILY SPEND: $3 coffee, $3.50
bus trip, leftovers for dinner.Tuesday
After waking up super late and
forgetting to pack my lunchbox,
I grab my coat and rush out the
door. Normally on such a day,
I’d catch an Uber, but I make
the executive decision to take a
bus. Forty minutes later, I’m al
desko and starving. I pick up a
sandwich at around 11am from
the café on the corner for $9 and
walk home in the rain to offset
a fail of a day.
DAILY SPEND: $3.50 bus trip,
$9 sandwich and packed lunch
for dinner.Wednesday
I pack a Mason jar filled with
overnight oats for my breakfast,
walk to work and scour the web
for cheap fitness classes I might
be able to hit up, having (at least
temporarily) quit my incredibly
expensive F45 classes. I discover
a yoga studio close to my house
with a deal for $30 for 30 days.
I sign up, skip work early and
de-stress with a bit of Vinyasa.
DAILY SPEND: $3.50 bus trip,
$1 yoga class, scrambled eggs
on toast for dinner.Thursday
Reluctantly, I eat today’s packed
lunch and head home after work,
even though a few girlfriendswork