Spending Review of Week 28th Jan – 3rd February 2019

Hi Everybody,

The first month of 2019 has been vanquished, and we all survived it, huzzah!

When you have as little money as I do January isn’t usually too much of an extra hardship, however I do have to admit that Christmas 2018 really did wipe me out financially. I am having to seriously reduce my disposable income to try and reset my accounts. The good news is I haven’t used a credit card in around 7-9 months (and even when I was it was 0% on purchases and I paid it off in full every month!!!).

I am writing this very early on Monday morning as I am staying up late to watch the Super Bowl, which is something The Boy and I try to do every year. We had a little nap between 7.30pm-10.30pm and two cups of coffee in I am wide awake!

In January I paid off £450 of debt, go me!!!!

To update you all, I wanted to do a spending challenge of only spending £70 initially in January on my ‘personal’ spends, but this was topped up with £30 when two of my usual counselling sessions were cancelled. So I had a budget of £100, and I spent….

£123.93

Booo!

BUT, let me explainez vous. I had to see a physiotherapist for a potential injury – that was £35, and I bought a 26-30 year old railcard for £30 that will give me 33% off train travel for a year. The physio appointment was unexpected and unplanned for, and the railcard was a bit of an impulse purchase, but if you discount them then I only spent £58.93, which isn’t too bad.

Let’s see how I spent my money this month.

FOOD AND HOUSEHOLD SHOPPING

JANUARY (Last couple of days)

Toilet Roll, Laundry Cleanser	2.68
Milk, Clover, Breakfast Biscuits, Cereal Bars, Chocolate Bars, Veggie Sausages, Quorn Mince, Carrots, Parsnips, Rolls, Potatoes, Yogurt, Bananas, Apples	15.4
Frozen Onion, Butternut Squash, Peppers, Peas and Sweetcorn	5
Eggs, Part Baked Rolls x 2, Milk, Bread	4.69
Plum Tomatoes, Cheese, OJ, Lettuce, Mushy Peas, Cucumber	6.52

FEBRUARY

Bleach, 2 x Washing Up Liquid, 2 x Squash, Diet Coke with Strawberry, 4 x Chopped Tomatoes, Lemon Juice, Yogurt	10.38
Beer, Marmite, Spaghetti Hoops x 2, Milkshake x 2, Pitta Bread, Falafel, Sweet Potato, Houmous, Rice, Spice Mixes x 4, Basil, Courgette	22.63
Beetroot Salad, Turmeric Hotshot, Choco Leibniz, Sweet and Sour Sauces x 4	5
Milk, Buttermilk Chicken, Pizza, Onion Rings, Veggie Chorizo, Veggie Meatballs	12
Toothpaste x 2, Toothbrush Holder, Toothbrush x 2, Dental Floss, Toilet Roll	11.23

TOTAL SPENDS = £95.53

We went over on the January food budget by £57.67!! I blame The Boy, he has to do a lot of the food shopping because I work 7 days a week and he tends to buy a load of unnecessary treats, grrr, I must rein him in.

DISPOSABLE INCOME SPENDING

TRAVEL

Railcard – £30

WORK EXPENSE

Coffee and Milk for work £3.75

GIFTS

Share of a present £3.50

Total disposable income spending = £37.25

Total combined spending = £132.78

It’s a bit high, but it usually is at the start of a new month when the food budget resets and we can ‘freely’ buy food again.