The Reckoning

So the very wet day yesterday gave me the chance to go through the accounts and see how we have been getting on this month. I was very glad to find that we can put some money in savings, a few hundred pounds in fact, which was great.

Not so good was going over the grocery budget and I shall be using all the stuff we have left to try and keep next month's spending as low as possible. The March menu plan meant that I spent a lot at the start of the month and then did not make some of the meals on the list. April's plan is based on using up what we have and with 2 weeks Easter holiday for MrShoestring and MasterShoestring we should save something on transport and school lunches.

An expense we had not reckoned on was travelling to a funeral, but that is what the emergency fund is for and I am glad that we have it so we don't have to worry when unexpected things happen.

I also travelled a lot for placements for my course but was able to keep this spending neutral by offsetting it with money that is earned extra to the budgeted income, for instance by doing surveys.

MasterShoestring really needs a haircut and at his age will only go to the barbers, but he has decided to wait until the end of the school holidays to get it done, so that is a saving as well.

I also boosted the gift account this month by posting off two parcels of books to Ziffit, so that extra amount was welcome.

There were no big bills needing paid in March and there aren't any due in April either. the council tax is going up by 6.5% and we start paying that again in May so I have to re-jig the budget a bit to take that increase into account. There will also be some national insurance to pay next month once I have submitted a self-assessment form for tax. So with that on the horizon it is just as well that March has been mostly a frugal month !