Welcome to another instalment of my $200 savings challenge. Yes, it's that time of the week where I apologise for being tardy with my post and then get on with updating you all on how I've gone with the challenge this week. You'd think being in lockdown would mean I have all the time in the world to work on my blog and stick to my posting schedule...

Speaking of lockdown, this week was milestone week. But unfortunately it's a rather unwelcome milestone. We've now reached 10 weeks of lockdown and supposedly the peak is still yet to hit so I imagine we have a few more weeks of home confinement still ahead of us.

But enough with the doom and gloom. Let's talk savings!

For new readers, the goal of my challenge is to save an extra $200 a week either through earning more or spending less. If I consistently hit this target, I will have saved a tick over $10k by the end of the year. A nice round sum that will be a big boost to my goal of raising a deposit for a house.

Now, I don't really have much in the way of a side hustle, so earning extra usually comes from pulling overtime at work or selling unwanted items on Facebook Marketplace. Both of these avenues for getting some extra cash have been blocked by the lockdown. I'm currently taking some extended leave from work to look after my daughter after we pulled her out of daycare due to the rising COVID-19 numbers. And while I have a few things I want to get rid of (like an old coffee machine), I'm not particularly keen on dealing with postage so I'll wait for the lockdown to end before trying to sell these things.

All that means I need to find ways to reduce my spending by $200 a week if I want to hit my target. This was the same situation facing me last week, and you may recall that I fell slightly short of the target. But I think I've eked out the necessary savings to push me over the top this week.

So, like last week I saved $50 on lunches by making everything at home. Not exactly the challenge it used to be when I was actually going into the office and preparing lunch in the morning required a bit of organisation. Now that I'm at home all day, with access to the kitchen, I'd almost have to go out of my way to spend money on lunch. Regardless, savings are savings. Unfortunately, I still slipped a bit and got a takeout dinner in the middle of the week. Unlike last week where my wife and I were celebrating some personal achievements, this week just came down to being too lazy to cook. On the bright side, the Thai we got was probably the best we've had in a long time and there were plenty of leftovers which is always a plus.

Again, like last week there was no savings to be had on our Hello Fresh. I will eventually change things up and go with a cheaper meal kit provider, but my wife and I have really been enjoying the meals from Hello Fresh recently so will stick with them for now.

The usual suspects made a return this week. That's $50 saved from the rent reduction we scored earlier in the year and the lockdown specific savings of $45 and $17 for train fares to and from work and gym membership which I can't use at the moment.

You may recall last week I finally got my new coffee machine set up and started churning out some home brews. Well, I really got into the flow of things this week making coffees pretty much everyday. In fact, my wife and I only indulged in a takeaway coffee from our local café once this week. That's a far cry from the everyday thing it used to be. All this coffee brewing, saved us $40.80 over the week.

Extra Earnings $0

Reduced Spending: $202.80

Total Savings: $202.80

Result: $2.80 over the target

And there we have it! Squeaked over the line by the barest of margins. And I have my new coffee machine to thank. It always feels good to hit the $200 mark and even better when it comes from trimming back on everyday expenses.

Well, that's it from me. Hopefully, I'll be back on schedule next week.

Until then.

-Trevvie

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