I didn't manage to pay off as much of my overdraft as I'd hoped this month, mainly because I used some of the money I was going to use, to buy LB's school uniform for next year. As mentioned in a previous post, I got offered free postage to buy it early, so I took advantage of it. To be honest, I hadn't really budgeted properly for LB's school uniform for the next school year, so I've revised my saving strategy to fully account for the expense and to include the expense of Christmas this year, which will mean it will take me a little longer, (i.e. to the end of the year) to pay everything off, but I'm okay with this, so long as it's gone this year and I can start 2018 debt free.
I did pay off another £50 approximately this month, so I'm happy enough for now. At the end of last month, I actually made a chart of my debt to enable me to visualise it going down each month. I shade out the amount paid off each month starting from the top down and when the chart is fully coloured in, I'll be debt free. I'll post a picture of it each month as I colour more of it in. Here's this month's chart:
It's not that clear in the photo, but you get the drift.
The final tally for spending in June reads as follows:
I was slightly over budget on Food, spending £6.35 over the allotted £400.
Similarly, I was £4.96 over on my Personal budget on account of purchasing the flip flops!
Household went over by £11.42, mainly due to bulk buying toilet cleaner this month. There were also a few small things that I bought from Poundland early in the month, that I probably didn't really need to, but never mind.
LB's budget went over by £76.44 - £67 of which was uniform and the rest was another trip with school, that I hadn't budgeted for.
The Home budget came in at £3 under this month and the Misc. budget came in at £9.27 under which both helped to make amends for overspends elsewhere.
Excluding the uniform, the overspends weren't too high, which was pretty acceptable.
I had my dentist appointment this month, whereby I paid £59 I had budgeted for a clean and polish and I also sent some money to my sister for my nephew's birthday. These were the only extras I had to pay for this month.
Next month, I'm being more realistic. LB needs a new school bag for next year, so I'll be including that in the budget, and adjusting what I'm able to save accordingly. It is the most expensive thing left to buy and she has a particular brand in mind.
As I don't buy her that much these days, I've agreed to buy it for her, providing that I can buy it from ASOS. I've got a 20% off voucher code to use in the next two days or so. They are trying to lure me back into spending on the site, as I haven't purchased anything in a while. I'm happy to accept their voucher, so long as I use it for something that I would be buying this year anyway.
Other than this expense, I haven't got any extras to pay for next month, although it will be the summer holidays towards the end of the month. I'm hoping to pay at least £150 off my overdraft, which will be fab if I can do it. I'll keep you posted.
With just a bit more attention to what I spend in the first week or so of the month, I think I can bring everything in on budget, I just need to flex that budgeting muscle a little bit more next month. I'll let you know how I get on.
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