Tracking 'non-essential' spending in 2024. Anyone like to join?

[PeakAchoo]

I'm tracking everything I spend in 2024 that's not bills, food/groceries or commuting costs.

I'm not looking to cut back necessarily, just for interest to see where money goes. I've got an eye on retirement and so also thinking about what spending might look like then.

I put 'non-essential' in quotation marks because I'm being a bit fluid with the definition:
> I'm tracking thing that aren't technically essential but I wouldn't do without - fitness stuff, books etc.
> I'm tracking expensive versions of essential things - For example, I wouldn't make a note of £2 shampoo but would jot down where I'd splurged on fancy shampoo.
> I'm tracking all my spending on meal deals and coffees at work even though homemade lunch isn't free - I'm fascinated to see how much that totals at the end of the year 😬
> I'm not tracking DP's spending so I'm not getting a comprehensive picture of household spending, just what I personally pay for, albeit out the joint account.

I wonder if anyone's interested in joining?

So far in January, I've spent £138.58.

I keep track of my spending on Microsoft money. So far in Jan, I have spent £68.5 on similar non essentials.

I haven't come across Microsoft Money - I'm using Excel

I should also have said that I'm not tracking vets bills which have been £450 so far this year 😳

Vet bills are not non essential though☺️. Microsoft money is not supported by Microsoft anymore, but it is a fine system and you can download it for free and it works perfectly on Windows 11👍

I'll join!
I had a January splurge and spent £175 in the Fat Face sale. Budget out of the window. I'm going to return £57 worth of items tonight.
I've spent about £35 on lunches with friends (money well spent).
£10 on coffees and snacks at train stations (should have taken my own thermos and snacks). £15 on unnecessary items from Mountain warehouse (a rucksack that folds up really small and a tiny portable face towel - God knows when I will use these).

@637Nivea Welcome! I'm planning a bit of a splurge at New Look over the weekend. It's good that you're taking some items back, though.

I love the idea of a teeny tiny face towel TBH

So far I'm on:
£87 on fitness stuff
£23 on lunches and coffees (not with friends, just for me at work!)
£20 on stationary I don't need
£8 on a new book

Ive done this in a spreadsheet for years - I started pre retirement as like you I wanted to know where our money was spent and what we'd have to cut down on. It works well and gives me a wakeup call on how much cash we frittered away

@grannycake I hope you don't mind me asking - what were the things you frittered money on, please?

I don't mind at all. I spent far too much on clothes. My DH spent too much on bikes/bike equipment. We had both Netflix & Prime but rarely watched them. I was also guilty of buying stuff in supermarkets that weren't food - clothes (again), bags, lipsticks, nail varnish etc. When I cleared the bathroom I realised I had over 60 lipsticks- I only ever wore 2 or 3

We also used to buy too much food and end up throwing it away. Our food budget now is £100 per week and that's for everything as we are retired. Most months there's £100 left. I use Lidl, plan meals around their offers/coupons and always cook for 4 and freeze half. This means there's always stuff in the freezer so I'm not chained to the stove every night

We gave ourselves £200 a month for stuff we wanted. Reduced it to £100 as we neared retirement and now we have just £50. Our priority is travel - we have a Motorhome and we managed to buy that pre retirement with savings

Thanks @grannycake That's really interesting. I'm chuckling at you finding 60 lipsticks to be honest 😅

Me and DP are still 10 years off early retirement but planning early can only be a good thing!

@PeakAchoo Good luck. We started in my mid fifties. My DH is 7 yrs younger than me and we wanted to retire at the same time so needed to save an amount that would top up my pensions until his kicked in. It's worked well and we don't feel deprived of anything but we can still travel

@grannycake It sounds like you played it perfectly and your retirement sounds blissful 😊

Me and DP are late-30s so we've started retirement planning very early!!!

This sounds like such a good idea! Would love to join you.

You need to look up FIRE, so you can Retire Early.

loads of info on this on line

I have done this for years too in preparation for early retirement as we needed to know how much income we needed to cover the gap between retirement and all the different income streams kicking in. DH and I both have £300 spending money. It was £200 from 2010-2015 after our daughters finished Uni , £250 from 2015-2020 and now £300. It will probably go up to £400 each when my husbands state pension kicks in this year.

All personal spends which are mostly non essential normally relate to hobbies, socialising, eating out, entertainment, gifts and Beauty treatments like nails, hair, etc etc. so not essential but nice to have. We could cut them out but can afford them and enjoy them. Some we save and splurge on a holiday or theatre or concert tickets or a treat for the house although we do have a separate holiday and house budget attached to our joint account.

Love this idea! I’ve always been a saver, I have two young children, so I had a big reduction in income due to mat leave and reduced hours. Now they are both in school, I have increased my hours slightly and I’m really trying not to fritter away the extra income.
I have booked a holiday for later in the year. Our first in 6 years, and I’ve saved for 3 years. Does that count as essential 😝

@Rollonsummer24 When we were doing this I used to save 50% of any increases in pay. That way we had a little extra but also the savings went up a little as well

Welcome newcomers!

@Rollonsummer24 I'd say holidays are essential, yes, absolutely. We don't have holidays at the moment because of our aging pooch. But when we are able to get back to holidays, I'd class them as essential.

I'm well acquainted with FIRE - I love it. I got deep into it about six years ago but early retirement was quite abstract then, it was something we were aiming for but how and when it'd happen were quite unknown. We're a lot clearer now - I have my actual retirement date planned.

Obviously the aim is total "fuck you" money. At the moment, we're at "doing an up-yours sign behind your boss' back" money. 😂

Sorry its bee a while. How did January spending go for everyone?

My total was £313.78:
£87 on fitness stuff
£18 on books
£120 on new clothes (though some are going back)
£16 on beauty stuff
£48 on lunches and coffees at work
£25 on random miscellaneous crap

I’m up to £187.38 already for February 🙃