Spending ban update: month three

If you recall, I ended October bemoaning the fact that every month seems to bring a new and unexpected expense. And lo and behold, just 3 days into November our washing machine broke, so it was goodbye to £90 for my share of a new one. Other than that, though, I had a really successful month.

When I started the ban, I made a short list of clothing items that I needed and would allow - winter shoes, a jumper, a new bra and a black skirt. I'd put jumpers on my 'allowed' list because incredibly, I only owned one (and live in a cold house). So, when I sold a few bits on eBay at the start of November, I decided to spend some of the £80 profit on buying the clothes I needed. I got two jumpers for £31 (hooray for discount vouchers, an H&M giftcard found at the bottom of my purse, and an ASOS code) and also bought a bra for £28, leaving me with a tiny bit left over in my PayPal account.

Apart from that, I managed to limit my spending to Christmas gifts and a few meals out with either The Boy or friends. I've done most of my Christmas shopping, spending about £80 in total plus £50 more from my Nectar points. However, as we creep ever closer to Christmas it's becoming harder and harder to stick to my rules. Although in theory I was always allowed to spend money on gifts, once I start splashing the cash on one thing it gets more difficult to put my wallet away when I see something I want. It's also been hard to separate actual essential spending (do I need Christmas craft materials? What about if they're being used to make presents?) from discretionary spending. So I'm going to suspend the ban for the month of December. I'd intended to finish at the end of the year, but will instead start again in January and continue for at least another month into 2015.

Overall, and even accounting for washing machine breakdowns & gift buying, I still managed to put £400 into my savings, which is an amazing result. I also got a surprise £195 cheque (relating to an old loan I used to have with Tesco Bank) and have put that straight into my savings account too, rather than splashing the cash like I usually would. As much as I do enjoy shopping, it's nice to see my savings growing so after break in December, I'm keen to get back to the ban and see if I can add to my current total.