April Reckoning

So, on Sunday night I tallied up all we had spent and it came to £1155.69. This is a bit more than last month, but I did pay the line rental for the broadband a year in advance and that was £217. If I hadn't done that we would have been under £1000 again which is not bad for a 4 person household of 3 adults and 1 very hungry teenager.

We did use up all the budget in the FOOD and PETROL sections as I bought 10 packets of reduced mince to stock up for the following month and travelled to Gloucester for a trustee meeting. There were also some unexpected expenses with the car when it needed a new battery. However, fixing the problem ourselves was much cheaper than taking it to the garage. We also spent over £100 on new school shoes for MasterShoestring and some new clothes for work experience. There was no choice but to buy new as he has grown so much and is so slim, that little if anything ever comes up second-hand.

We also had several nice trips out for very little money, including 2 free trips to the cinema and both times we saw a good film. Having MasterShoestring away at the start of the month cost us a bit in airport parking fees but we had saved up for those as well as the broadband rental so still stuck to our budget of £1500 a month for everything.

Now that we have had 4 months in the year I have been able to reckon our average spend per month for the first third of the year and it is £1065.89. This is very good and shows that frugal living does pay off. There will be some big expenses coming up over the next few months like car servicing and MOT and some birthdays. I am also saving hard to continue with my course next year. The money for that is coming from anything I earn so is not included in the day to day budget.

The council tax has to be paid from this month onwards again so that will bump up the spending again but with all the lettuce and rhubarb in the garden we should save a bit on the FOOD bill !

How was your month ?