Where Did The Money Go?

Do you ever have those months where money just slips through your fingers and you just cannot figure out what you have spent it on?  This month is one of them.  I don't know if it is something about months with 31 days in them, but this month I am feeling particularly short of money.  Today is only the 25th day of the month, but already I have completely spent up for the month, so the next 6 days are going to feel very long and painful.

I keep looking at my bank account and trying to figure out where all my money went this month and mostly it seems to have gone on food and non-food groceries and a few extras.  I have paid a large sum off one credit card and a smaller sum off another, but I have done this for the last couple of months and not spent up quite so early.  I did have an extra bill to pay this month which was £80 or thereabouts and I think that this is where the difference lies, as this sort of sum would usually see me through to the end of the month quite comfortably.  I'm wishing now that I had taken more account of this and budgeted better by not spending money on certain non-essential items earlier this month.  A bitter pill.

Fortunately, next week is half term and we are going away on a week's break to the Yorkshire Dales, staying in quite a remote area, where hopefully I won't need to spend too much money as we should be doing lots of walking and other inexpensive pursuits, such as ambling about the market towns and tourist attractions (free ones hopefully).  Unless my partner is feeling particularly generous towards me, I will be keeping my eyes down and avoiding all temptation.  I may have to find some money from my savings to tide me over, as I don't want to have a miserable holiday worrying too much about it.

I've just been looking through my cupboards and pulling out food and other items that we can take with us to save spending money on them whilst we are away.  Fortunately, I have a cupboard full of pasta, rice, jars, tins and various other bits and pieces that should come in very useful for meals, and I have a good supply of toilet paper and cleaning products that we can take with us.  We will however, still need to shop for some food, but I will empty the fridge of anything that will travel and try to minimise the necessity for shopping as much as possible.

I am taking some books with me to read and a new hand sewn patchwork project to keep me busy and help me resist the temptation to go out and spend too much money.  We usually take packed lunches with us if we go out on walks or my partner may treat us to the odd meal out at the pub or a café, so we won't be devoid of treats.  It's a good job that one of us is sensible with money, that's all I can say.

Depending on whether I can get a reasonable signal or not on my dongle, I may be taking an enforced break from blogging this week.  If I do have a great week.  Normal blogging will resume the following week.