worked out my budget. Eep. 10 hours ago

...but no saving either.

I need to save £2000 to make sure I can replace my car if it dies and to sort out my divorce and some other legal bits.

I should really be able to save about £250 a month but I’ve been spending too much on days out, eating out, socialising etc.

I need to work out my new budget taking into account all the changes since I’ve moved and make sure I stick to it. Quitting smoking and energy drinks is an absolute must as I’m spending around £140 a month on these things which I just can’t afford.

It’s owing to be a tricky month too as my car needs MOT and tax and I’ve also got K’s 18th birthday too! 1 week ago

...I can get through this house move without borrowing any money! Just waiting for a removals quote and then as long as I get my deposit bak from this house then I should be ok!

Really hoping to end this month with at least £100 in the bank, I’ve already paid £200 holding deposit on my new place too. 2 months ago

...in writing down all of my spending. Just doing this for a few weeks though has made a difference.

I didn’t quite end the month with £400 but I did have almost £300 left which is far better than the usual few quid I go down to. Unfortunately I then blew most of it last weekend on eating out and go-karting which I really shouldn’t have.

I’m definitely spending less since this payday. I’m really looking at prices before buying, I’ve cut out energy drinks and cut down hugely on alcohol. I’m also much better at filling my tank with petrol which stops extra spending each time I stop at the garage.

I’m just hoping I can somehow scrape together enough to move house and pray my car lasts a little longer! 2 months ago

31.01.13

£21.70 – half of meal and drinks with TMTIL

01.02.13

£4.83 – cigarettes and energy drinks
£15 – groceries (approx – can’t find receipt!)

02.02.13

£7.09 – cigarettes, milk and a card
£54.32 – DVD player, phone case, socks and groceries
£55.50 – childcare

Remaining budget:

Misc: £5.95
Childcare: £108.30 (will add to grocery budget to cover extras)
Groceries: £234.10
Petrol: £230

Frugality: err…. Not so great! Really could have survived without cigs, energy drinks, wine or new phone case. DVD player is a luxury but got one in the sale for £35 – taking the children to the cinema would cost me that! 3 months ago

28.01.13

£34.01 – petrol, energy drinks and chewing gum
£6.18 – groceries

29.01.13

£1.50 parking (can claim back)
£7.95 – coffees and cakes with TMTIL
£46.97 – petrol and groceries

30.01.13

£5.13 – cigarettes and energy drinks
£0.66 – sweets

31.01.13

£6.52 – cigarettes, energy drinks and bread

Remaining budget:

Misc: £5.95
Groceries: £228.74
Petrol: £230
Childcare: £163.80

Frugality: crap on the smoking and energy drink front though being forced to allocate these items to a budget has really made me conscious that I will have to buy less groceries to make way for my bad habits – ridiculous!

On a positive note I’ve been bringing all relevant meals to work and haven’t had to eat out or buy extras. I had a meal cooked for me Monday and last weekend TMTIL very sweetly bought me three new dresses as I was having a clothes crisis :) 3 months ago

25.01.13

£40 – paid half of meal out with TMTIL and K.

26.01.13

£20 – paid half of lunch out with TMTIL
£7.50 – sweets (fancy ones I’ll add)
£6.80 – x2 train tickets back from Margate
£16.85 – groceries
£16.99 – fuel for fire and soup!

27.01.13

£10 – stationary
£8.25 – toiletries
£136.20 – nursery

Remaining budget:

Misc: £7.45
Groceries: £266.16
Petrol: £300
Childcare: £163.80 3 months ago

£2156.72 salary
- direct debits

£700 – rent
£111 – gas/electric
£93 – council tax
£40.20 – water
£40.34 – phone
£36.84 – broadband
£12.18 – tv licence

£1123.16 cash remaining

£300 childcare
£300 petrol
£300 groceries
£100 misc/entertainment

£123.16 remaining +
£316.64 due in

£439.80 aim – to save £4003 months ago

21/01/13

£3.29 – toiletries (used £7.85 in points on my Boots card)
£13.25 – groceries
£175.45 – nursery fees

22/01/13

£15.34 – groceries
£10.00 – contribution towards meal out (K’s idea and she paid for the rest)

23/01/13

£5.20 – tobacco and energy drinks
£31.44 – petrol, chocolate and chewing gum

Oh dear – losing track a little this past few days! Must write down my spending daily or I won’t keep on top of it!

Frugality: have definitely smoked less than usual and only tobacco, not great but could have been worse. Less energy drinks than usual. Have remembered to bring food/drinks to work and not buy stuff! TMTIL was suggesting a meal out or takeaway but I insisted we cook (or rather, that he cook)! 3 months ago

£12 – x4 hot chocolates and a muffin
£10.66 – tobacco and groceries

Frugality: bit rubbish today, walked along the back in the snow with the children and hot chocolates seemed a lovely great to warm up with! Did only buy one muffin for two little ones to share and K and u refrained! Did come home and make lunch though rather thah buying it. Tobacco obviously unecessary but a few groceries were enough to make sure we had food for today and most of tomorrow.

Haven’t driven anywhere this weekend so no petrol used! 4 months ago

Grrrr. Thought today would be a good day for walking up to the library. A lovely free way to pass a snowy afternoon I thought.

Turns out I had £18 in unpaid library fines. Humph. Paid reluctantly and made a mental note to make sure I’m not overdue with anything else or it’s a false economy! 4 months ago

First week working in Folkestone, one night in Maidstone and one day in Canterbury with x4 school runs = £70 petrol

Groceries for one week including 3 nights feeding children = £49

Energy drinks/soft drinks, approximately = £18.12 (this has to stop)

Addiction to smoking = £22.29 (absolutely has to stop)

Socialising and Sundries – car/fire etc = £34.71

Grand total: £194.12

Interesting as I tend to budget £150 for petrol/groceries – if I deduct the £40 spend on smoking and energy drinks I would be pretty close to my budget.

I’m not including direct debits on this list, e.g. £40 went out yesterday on my mobile.

Pay day next Friday so once I have my payslip I’ll forecast my spending for the month and see if I can still to it! 4 months ago

£4.80 – cigarettes, rizlas and chocolate – all completely unecessary but still cheaper than the bottle of wine I really wanted.

£6.27 – few groceries to sort dinner, breakfast and lunch for next day

Total: £11.07

Frugality: made coffee in a flask for the journey to work instead of buying an energy drink, packed my lunch, cooked dinner instead of ordering take-out which I was tempted to do! Third Friday night without a bottle of wine too! 4 months ago

£33.76 – £30 petrol and £3.76 cold and flu capsules

Frugality: forgot to bring breakfast but made do with biccies (not healthy but free), lunch provided as on a training event, yummy dinners courtesy of eldest daughter! 4 months ago

£9.46 – hat and gloves for Jimmers as he’d left his at school and I couldn’t send him in in the snow without any (and £5.96 on totally unecessary tobacco).

Frugality: packed breakfast, lunch and dinner (leftovers from yesterday). Didn’t buy chocolate when tempted. Drove slower to conserve petrol. 4 months ago

50p – air for my flat tyre. I think it must have been caused by an emergency stop I had to do the night before – hoping I don’t need to replace the tyre or it will be a hell of a lot more than 50p!

£31.61 – petrol (£20) and groceries- nothing unecessary but could save money if I shopped in a supermarket in a more organised fashion rather than buying groceries from the garage!

Frugality: found free parking space and packed breakfast and lunch 4 months ago

£2.00 parking (will have to find the free places to park near my new office
£13.83 – food/drinks for new office (should last me a while)
£25.51 – petrol, cigarettes and an energy drinks (only £20 petrol)

Total: £41.34 (could have saved £10.65 with better planning and no cigs/energy drinks)

On a positive note I had yummy Thai green curry courtesy of Monday night club! 4 months ago

£4.02 – tobacco and filters. I hate myself. 4 months ago

£8.55 – cigarettes and firelighters
£8.40 – x2 child entries to indoor play centre
£4.50 – soft drinks at play centre

Total: £21.45 – about £4 totally unnecessary. 4 months ago

Broke the no eating out rule because it was my last day in the office and I really wanted to treat my wonderful support officer to lunch to say thank-you.

£16.30 – lunch and soft drinks for my colleague and I.
£21.12 – groceries – one dinner, soft drinks and washing liquid
£18.89 – petrol and energy drinks

Total – £56.31 – realised that £12.24 of this was spent on soft drinks, am thinking of trying to do a month on water and coffee and see if I can cope! 4 months ago

35p – rizlas

Still unnecessary but at least a lot less spent than yesterday!

I forgot to bring breakfast or lunch for work so I rather unhealthily had some chocolates someone brought into work and my lovely mummy took me for lunch.

Also baked a cake to take into work tomorrow rather than buying one as I was tempted to do due to running short of time. 4 months ago

Today has not been my finest frugal hour!

£5.84 – tobacco, energy drink and 50p charge for using a card
£1.85 – charge for using cashpoint
£15.00 – taxi to garage and back after running out of petrol
£5.99 – petrol canister
£7.21 – petrol in canister
£1.50 – soup and roll (bought dinner with me but forgot lunch)
£21.01 – petrol and x3 energy drinks

Grand total of £58.40 of which only £27.22 was required. That’s £31.18 wasted due to poor planning and lack of willpower.

On a positive note still no eating out or alcohol though! 4 months ago

£1.20 – postage to return my tenancy agreement

£7.54 – groceries – one dinner and extra packed lunch bits 4 months ago

£10.70 – groceries for Monday Night Club (I’ll be cooked for the next 3 Monday’s in return), including a variety of soft drinks and no wine! 4 months ago

£20.59 – grocery shopping – some basics, packed lunch stuff and one dinner (used a 50p off voucher)

£4.13 – tobacco :( – didn’t want to spend anything more on tobacco but I did, I don’t even have a decent excuse. Damn it. 4 months ago