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.