To be furious with myself for spending all this money and having nothing to show for it

[Runnyrose]

I've just seen my payslips (I do occasional bank shifts for another Trust as well as my main full time job) and because of the 3% pay rise for NHS Staff and that being backdated to April I have quite a bit more than I normally would. But I have spent so much money this month I cannot save a single penny of it. Literally. In fact I need to take £11 out of my savings account to cover all the things I have spent! I've just totted it up and after my bills and everything else that I pay for and budget for in a month I should have been able to save £900 this month which is an awful lot more than I can normally save because of my childcare bill. I am completely disgusted with myself because I have very little to show for it. I'm trying to justify a few things to myself and there are some things that I know made this month an extra expensive month; there was a wedding we went to including hotel and gift and meals out around it; I have invested in a few nice things for my art hobby which I don't think we're an excessive luxury. I've bought a few nice things for DD ready for Christmas and stored them away and a few birthday gifts bought as well for friends and family but that's it... And that really cannot account for much more than half of that! So Christ knows what I've spent £450 on.
I've been doing so much better with my savings recently despite not being able to save as much so to have had a month where I really could have boosted my savings by almost a grand and to have frittered it away is just disgraceful!
I don't really know what my point of this is other than to announce my shame and hang my head!

[Runnyrose]

Oh and @drinkingwineoutofamug and other fellow NHSers... Yes it would seem so. I get paid on Friday and both Trusts have the pay rise with the backdated payment so hopefully you will too.

[LadyJaye]

I'm a spender, so I commit a percentage of my salary to savings and treat it like a bill - it comes off my salary at the start of the month as a standing order and goes straight into a limited access savings account that I can't touch.

Bitter experience has taught me that if I can't touch it, I can't spend it.

[SweetBabyCheeses99]

Are you sure the extra £450 was net and not gross? Back dated payrises are the biggest public sector scam going - they give with one hand and take with with other. All of your deductions (PAYE, NI, pension, student loan etc) are calculated on that months pay - so they assume that you’ve just had a massive payrise and deduct accordingly. The income tax is the only part you can claim back, but that’ll be sometime in Autumn 2022.

[LowlandLucky]

Stop using your bank card, take £x out on a Sunday or Monday then leave your card at home. It is amazing what you don't buy when you have to hand over hard cash and what you can go without when you only have a few pounds in your purse.

[Plumtree391]

Runnyrose, I do that sometimes, often order food from Uber or deliveroo a bit too much and buy odd things online but why worry. It's nice to treat yourself sometimes if you can.

[coodawoodashooda]

@SturminsterNewton

I find that it's not my big purchases sofas, holidays etcwhere I lose track of my money; it's all the £20s here, £30s there that add up over the year to a huge amount. I really keep my eyes on these in order to save.

Me too.