January this year has been much like it was last year. I spent quite a bit of money in the sales in an attempt to save myself some money on the cost of birthdays and next Christmas and also to spread the cost. It's a strategy that I've employed for the last couple of years and it seems to serve me well. It does, however, make January an expensive month.
It's not all been about buying presents for others though and I have managed to buy myself and Little Bird a few bits and pieces that we needed, mainly some new fitness wear for me, as I was in need of some new vests for the gym. I managed to get 3 relatively inexpensively at Primark, who have recently introduced a new range of fitness wear. They seem to fit well and do the job so I'm happy to have spent less on these than I was expecting to.
In addition, I also managed to buy Little Bird some new clothes (t-shirts and leggings mostly) in the sales, and also a new swimming costume (not a sale item), so she should be well taken care of now until the spring/summer when I might need to do a stock take of her wardrobe again.
Other than the above purchases, it's just been food and household expenses really and a few extras for Little Bird's birthday and birthday presents for the children of family and friends. I've also had to buy car park vouchers for the gym this month, but they should last me 2-3 months.
I set aside £100 earlier in the month to be paid off my overdraft and nearly had to use some of it to buy this week's groceries until OH stepped in and paid for them as he was buying some other things too. I didn't get much probably only £20 worth in this particular shop, as I was trying to use up what we have in the cupboards and freezer.
I paid off my credit cards in full again too this month, so I shouldn't be paying anything in the way of interest charges on those. So, as a consequence, I seem to be more or less sticking to my aims for the year so far, save the one about organising myself so I still have money at the end of the month. That one didn't last more than a couple of weeks. I'll try to be better in this regard next month and as it's a short month this should help quite a bit.
In addition to the above, I also managed 9 No Spend Days towards my yearly aim of 100. I figure if I can manage at least 8 or 9 each month, then I should hopefully meet the target. Not a bad month in actuality. It could have been a lot worse, but I'm looking forward to February and hopefully doing even better. How did your January go?
Great stuff. Our credit card bills are drastically reduced but we pay them off every month. We have paid for our holiday too, so I am on a mission to see some money left over at the end of March - this will be our spending money.
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