Stoptober Round Up

Well, Stoptober started well enough, but towards the end of the month it got a bit spendy.  Mainly on account of the wedding we were due to attend.  I had a last minute panic about my hair and bought a curling wand (which I did use) to make an extra special effort with it and a last minute panic about my outfit and bought a top to go underneath my dress (which was sleeveless). The top only cost £15, but still.

In addition to the panic over my outfit, I had a last minute panic about LB's shoes.  Her school shoes had to go into the cobblers at the last minute to be re-heeled (costing another £15 and very disappointing as she's only worn them for 2 months) and as I didn't want her to wear a pair of black jelly sandals, I had to buy her some boots.  I limited the damage to £18 plus £3 for some tights, which she needed for school anyway.  So things got a bit more expensive than I anticipated.

Having said that, it was worth every penny to feel happy about how we all turned out for the wedding and at least I didn't buy an expensive dress that will likely not get worn again.  The one I did buy earlier in the year, can easily be worn again and again throughout the year, when I want to dress up a little and the high for me sandals that I wore, and had also bought earlier in the year, turned out to be so comfortable that I danced the night away in them. Definite result.

I did also do another small bit of Christmas shopping on my credit card late in the month and bought some more toiletries and pet care items that I was running out of.  All in all, I did better than recent months, but nowhere near succeeded in stopping inessential spending. (Big Fail)

I did, however, come within my set food budget of £400 for the month. The first time I've set a budget for specific spending.  It was a totally different matter when it came to the household/toiletry/petcare budget. This was set a £50 for the month, but I managed to exceed it by 150%. (Major Fail again) Some of it, I do have to admit, wasn't compeletely essential, but will get used during November and beyond.

Talking of November, I've decided to continue setting budgets for spending on food and household, etc. and keep them at the same levels for the time being.  I find it interesting to try to keep within them and it helps motivate me to be a bit more careful.(Some of the time!)  Hopefully, next month I will come well under for both budgets. I'll keep you posted.