Ok so last month I kept every receipt and kept a record of everything we spent, right down to parking tickets. I'm pretty shocked at how much it all comes to particularly as we made a conscious effort to stop frittering away money.
I meal planned and made sure I only do one big shop a week as I knew I was spending too much in supermarkets, have stopped buying takeaways, going to coffee shops so regularly, stopped buying the dc's endless "little treats" that add up considerably and have basically stayed away from browsing around town.
I never kept records of all our spending beforehand so I don't know how much we've improved but I know that we were spending around £100 a month on take away/coffees out etc, plus treats here and there, new clothes etc etc.
Anyway here is September spend, please help me get it even lower!
Mortgage £1050
Council Tax £181
Gas & Electric £100
Life & mortgage insurance £38.89
Water £42.00
Credit Card Payment £170 (Could pay this off but would leave us with reduced savings and it is currently interest free)
Refridgerator breakdown Cover £3.79
Savings for annual expenses (MOT/Car tax/home insurance) £120
T.V License £12.55
Phone & broadband £7.50
Mobile Phone £28.00 (contract ends soon so will get a much cheaper deal)
Family Gym Membership £73.00 (We do use this alot so don't want to cancel)
Contact Lenses £13.00
Speech Therapy for DS £100 (Likely to continue for atleast another year)
Food £323.02
Drink £73.22 (Includes coffee/dt coke/beer/wine/juice for dc's)
Petrol £120.16
Household items (washing powder/loo rolls etc) £34.00
Toiletries/make up £26.16
Clothes £69.98 (for dc's should be set until next spring now)
Birthday presents £10.00
Christmas Presents £22.99
Weekend Away £153.00
Eating Out/Nights out £128.39
Home Items £8.96 (toilet needed a part to fix it)
Cats Expenses inc food £41.18 (unusually high this month due to vet bill)
Train Tickets £12.40 (one off trip)
School Trips £27.20
Toys & games £2.50
Multivitamins & supplements £35.98 (I know this seems very high but ds2 has some big dietry issues, plus other problems)
Cubs (Includes Subs, uniform and payment for 2 trips) £118.90 (should have nothing to pay out now till new year)
School Uniform items £11.75
Haircut £30.00
Eyebrow waX £13.00
Ok so that comes in at £3202.52
Go on ladies work your magic! Oh and just to mention I do shop at aldi!!
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If I give you a complete breakdown of how much we spent last month can you show me how to save money?
81 replies
Ifcatshadthumbs · 30/09/2013 13:28
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