Monday 3 November 2014

Spending ban update: Month two


Can I just say that month two hasn't gone very well, and leave it at that? No? Damn.

October was always going to be a tough month, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, this was the first pay cheque since I reduced my hours at work (from 0.9 to 0.8), so I had less to spend in the first place. Secondly, October is the month that both my car has a service and the biannual payment for my water bill comes out of my account. And finally, it was half term and, in the original rules of the spending ban, I'd cheekily given myself a week off as I knew I'd be going away.

So now I've given my excuses, shall I go onto the hard sums?

At the start of the month I went to Nottingham for a blogger meet-up. All my spending was 'legal' (secondhand goodies or food and drink) but put together with the cost of the train ticket, I spent £32.60 in one day.

The Boy and I had three date nights (two cinema trips, plus an evening in the pub for our anniversary). We also ate out a few times when we were in Norfolk, which brought the total damage to £108. Ouch.

I spent a total of £56.50 on birthday and Christmas gifts, plus an extra £18 of vintage homewares shopping in Norfolk.

At book group I paid £9 for my pub meal and drink.

I bought a pair of new winter shoes, using a 20% discount code at Office, for £38.40. I'd written into the rules that I could buy a new pair of shoes or boots, as my need for something that could withstand icy pavements was pretty dire.

And finally, in my week off the ban I treated myself to two ASOS dresses, both in the sale, which were £25 and £15 respectively.

Bringing my total spend for October to £284.50, which really doesn't sound too bad.

However, add in three tanks of petrol for all the driving I did, plus £239 for my car service, plus another £100 for my water bill, and that was all of my disposable income for the month. So, total saved last month was a big fat ZERO.

It's hard not to feel a bit disheartened when, after trying really (well ok, pretty) hard not to spend too much, you can't save a penny. And the problem I seem to have is that ok, the car service and the water bill are not monthly occurrences, but every month seems to have one of those big expenditures that I don't necessarily plan into my budget. Last month it was my gym membership renewal, now my phone has broken and needs replacing. Then December and Christmas, January brings three big family birthdays... and so on and so forth!

I'm still not prepared to cut spending on going out for cinema dates, meals or drinks: those evenings keep me sane when work is crazy. But looking at my expenditure for October, and realising that by justifying the dresses as being "just £15" and the shoes with "well, I have a discount code", I've spent almost £100 that could have gone into savings. 

So, this month's goal is: absolutely no unnecessary spending whatsoever.

11 comments:

  1. Ah, cars are such a nightmare for expense aren't they. We just bought a new one yesterday so need to try and save more whenever we can. I'm trying to think of good handmade Christmas ideas, do you have any new ones this year? x

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    1. Ooh exciting news about the car! But yep, they're a total money-suck unfortunately. My big Christmas craft this year is going to be personalised tote bags, I'm hoping to do a DIY v soon.

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  2. I'm going to do this; no unnecessary spending.

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    1. Good luck! It's both harder and easier than I thought it would be (which makes zero sense, I know!)

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  3. Yup, cars are a pain. I've toyed with giving mine up so many times but I need it too much. Shame it's not been a good month for the spending ban, but that's how those things go. It's so easy to 'justify' spending that it can be hard to stay on track. And bearing in mind this is a shit time of year for saving....

    But you'll get there :)

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    1. I didn't have a car until I was 30 and I suppose if I had to, I could live without it. But it makes life so, so much easier!

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  4. Oh lordy more than that some months and don't even have a car. :( I feel ta, there always seems to be something big that needs paying for it loads of little money sucking events; birthdays, leaving parties, work socials etc. Sigh. I hope next month is more of what you want it to be.

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    1. Well we're 4 days into November and the washing machine's just broken, so don't hold out much hope of this month being any better!

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  5. £33 is all I have to spend per month on EVERYTHING that's not food or bills! But I guess having a toddler helps because my socialising is all home based or, in the summer, at the beach or park. Tbh gifts use up about 50% of my spare cash, the rest goes on books I can't get from the library (& then I wait until they are only few quid secondhand) & occasionally clothes or craft materials. I'm pretty used to just not buying stuff or doing things that cost £ so it doesn't really bother me as much as people might expect.

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    1. That's pretty impressive. I've always found that whatever my budget - whether I'm earning £600 a month working in Waterstones, as I did for 3 years in my early 20s, or 3 times that now as a teacher - I ALWAYS spend every penny I earn and then some. It's frustrating; in theory I can easily survive on £50 a month spending money, because I did it for years, but I seem to find it incredibly difficult to remind myself of that.

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  6. That sounds hard. I am not doing badly at keeping my spending in check too. I might try this spending ban thing from January.

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