| Category | Amount | Income % | £ Used | £ Left |
| Rent/Mortgage | £ 450.00 | 30.9% | £ 450.00 | £ - |
| Utilities | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Groceries | £ 250.00 | 17.2% | £ 91.59 | £ 158.41 |
| Internet | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Mobile | £ 18.00 | 1.2% | £ - | £ 18.00 |
| Petrol | £ 40.00 | 2.7% | £ - | £ 40.00 |
| Toiletries | £ 10.00 | 0.7% | £ 3.71 | £ 6.29 |
| Medical | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Home Maint./Stuff | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Laundry | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Eating Out | £ 25.00 | 1.7% | £ 14.90 | £ 10.10 |
| Car repairs | £ 20.00 | 1.4% | £ - | £ 20.00 |
| Car Insurance | £ 27.43 | 1.9% | £ 27.43 | £ - |
| Cat Protection | £ 10.00 | 0.7% | £ 10.00 | £ - |
| Car Tax | £ 12.68 | 0.9% | £ 12.68 | £ - |
| Train Pass | £ 72.20 | 5.0% | £ 72.20 | £ - |
| Chinese doctor | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Naturopath | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Monthly Treat | £ 20.00 | 1.4% | £ 24.96 | -£4.96 |
| [Insert Name] | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Miscellaneous | £ 40.00 | 2.7% | £ 180.20 | -£140.20 |
| LLP | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Credit Card Debt | £ 389.31 | 26.7% | £ 100.00 | £ 289.31 |
| LOC Debt | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Enter "X" Fund Name | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Savings | £ 55.00 | 3.8% | £ 58.30 | -£ 3.30 |
| Retirement | £ 55.00 | 3.8% | £ 55.00 | £ - |
| Emergency Fund | £ - | 0.0% | £ - | £ - |
| Leftover | -£ 37.35 | 103% | £ 1,100.97 | £ 393.65 |
This is a snapshot of my budget to date (I wanted the actual spreadsheet, but can't seem to copy and paste it...). As you can see, overall it's pretty much on track, with even a little extra savings thrown in (£3.30, which is actually £9.30 with a £6 deposit yesterday).
However, you can see that my monthly treat budget is slightly over - it will be next month, too, as the mini-crockpot isn't a book (obviously) so the minimum purchase for free shipping from Amazon rises to £20 from £10. Annoying? Yes, and this means that I will need to amend my budget for next month - perhaps it should be £25 a month.
But look at the Miscellaneous line - I'm already £140 OVER my budget for this month, so this really needs to be looked at. Am I not being flexible enough with this? Let's do a check and find out, shall we?
Yesterday I went to town and deposited £6 into my savings account (coins) and then took out £10 for my weekly coffee. On track so far (the £40 'misc' budget is for my weekly teas), but then I decided I needed to look for some more pants for work. I ended up in a shop up the lane but didn't buy pants (wretched selection) - I bought two shirts instead for £16. I was okay with this as I had got rid of about 3 shirts I didn't like or wear in a bag I'd just dropped at one of the charity shops. These are for work, although I didn't technically need new shirts, but I kind of of did. One of these might get returned next weekend - I'm not sure I like it as much as I thought I might.
I went to the library next and found 3 books (to borrow, not buy!) that looked good and were also workable for my reading challenge. I put 'The Pale Horseman' on hold, too. It's book 2 in The Last Kingdom series, so am looking forward to that arriving.
Finally, I went grocery shopping and spent £14.33 on eggs, bread, 3 x ciders, milk, cinnamon buns, 2 x hummous, sugar cubes and a reusable bag. How much of that is unnecessary? Over half: £7.65 - the ciders, cinnamon buns and the reusable bag (only because I thought I had one in the car and didn't want regular plastic ones - note to self: put bag in car!).
Today my cousin and I went to pretty Romsey to go grocery shopping for the week (for the both of us). I also wanted to look for a new pair of work pants. I didn't realise Romsey is basically closed on Sundays. There were a few places open, though.
We went to a coffee shop and I bought us lunch: £12.95 for two sandwiches, a coffee, a tea and a piece of lemon cake. Next stop was WH Smith for no other reason than 'why not?' I was thinking of my 2016 book challenge when I went in. One of the categories is 'first book you see in a bookstore'. I cheated a bit here, as technically the first book I saw on the endcap was one by James Patterson or someone like that, so I shifted my gaze upwards a bit and found something that looked more interesting. Here is where I fall down. Bookstores are my drug, I admit it. I bought 3 books and some Christmas cards for next year (which I've been looking for). I spent £19.98 on the following:
Christmas cards: £.99 (30 cards, so a very good price)
" The Version of Us" by Laura Barnett
"Our Endless Numbered Days" by Claire Fuller
(these two were buy one, get one for £1)
"Amelia Freer: Cook. Nourish. Glow." A hard cover cookbook that I can use on the no sugar programme, half-price at £10.
Needed? None of it.
I did find a pair of new pants for £20 as well - they fit really well and will work with my new shirts too (black jeans), so I'm pleased. Again, not technically needed, but the pants I currently wear almost daily do need a break and, because I'm eating lots of stuff that isn't good for me, are fitting more snugly than is comfortable...ahem...
Fat Face was next and I bought yet another shirt - again, not needed, but is work appropriate: £15 (on sale).
Groceries were next and my cousin and I spent a squeak over £40 between us, so at least I'm doing well with the grocery budget! She put it on her card and I gave her £20 cash.
Still, a very spendy day: £87.93. Yikes!
I'm not going to beat myself up about it though - that doesn't solve anything. I'm just going to be very, very careful for the next three weeks. I have 19 days until payday, so if I can manage two no spend days a week until then, I will be happy with that at this point. I don't generally buy a lot of clothes either, so changing a few things in my wardrobe is okay, considering I get rid of stuff on a fairly regular basis.
I will do better next week. :) That's what tracking is supposed to do - make you aware of where you fall down, so you can be aware of your spending habits.
3 comments:
Is one of those misc. items for travel? :) By the way - I bought a couple of things in Fat Face when in York. It became my favourite store but it's only in the UK unfortunately (or maybe fortunately as I'd likely spend way too much time in there!) I had The Last Kingdom" on hold from the library and it just became available!! I also noticed the first one is on Netflix so watched a bit last night. It's excellent and I especially love it because the Vikings go to York, though of course it's called something else - Effrid or something. I'm hoping that you will have something left in the "food" line of your budget that you can throw at your "misc" line at the end of the month to decrease that overage.
I love when Christmas cards go on sale after the holidays. Sadly, this year I seem to have missed the boat. All the places I went to are sold out and all the Valentine's stuff is out already.
Jane - no unfortunately... :P I love Fat Face, but really rarely find anything to buy, so was quite pleased with my new shirt! And do watch the whole "Last Kingdom" series - it's excellent (York is 'Eoferwic'). I think I'm doing okay in the other compartments of my budget and hopefully will have some 'extra' ££ to throw at my debt (and put towards a new bike/Ireland hike - hint hint). :) xx
Pear - I thought I had missed my window, but my cousin noticed the remainder bin at the bookstore and I snapped up a pack! I'm determined to get them all addressed and organized long before December this year! xx
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