The Month So Far

Well, so far this month, I have been quite frugal and sensible and have stuck largely to my planned budget.  I was trying not to spend any money at all, in various areas, but I have to say, that a few very small purchases have been made thus far.

Mostly, I'm just spending money on food and household/toiletry/pet items, plus paying for a couple of medical/dental appointments that I've got coming up later this month.  I have, however, had some unbudgeted vetinary expenses this month, due to the tick bite that affected our dog, so this has impacted my overall budget quite a bit..

I've been much better at the CS and have not spent much at all, save for this week when I purchased this basket to use in our living room.

I wanted it to store the throws that we use, so that I could remove a shelving unit and make the room look less cluttered.

Here's the before

and the after.

Much better.

The basket is tucked behind the sofa in the corner.

I also bought a guide book for our forthcoming holiday on the island of Crete, a dvd for LB and a jacket for OH, which will serve as part of the Christmas present that I still owe him. The only other things I've bought have been gifts, a couple of inexpensive books, some photograph corners and a chalk pen, the latter 3 on eBay, some of which were bought with money I earned by selling a book at the beginning of the month. I don't, however, intend to buy anything else this month, save for one more small gift and some compost.

I'm still within my food budget, despite placing an order for some bulk items from Goodness Direct, (rice/pasta/laundry liquid) and another order with Approved Food for more bulk and other food and household items. (More in another post) I'm hoping these will help me through the rest of the month and beyond, and mean that I will spend less in subsequent weeks on food as a consequence.

I could have done better by not buying the books, especially as I'm still supposed to be on a book buying ban, but I can't resist a good read, it's my main pleasure in life these days. How's your month going?