Monthly Round Up - September

Well, I thought this was going to be the final monthly roundup whilst working as a paid employee at the CS, but as it happens, my contract has been extended for another 3 months until the end of December, so hopefully this will have a positive effect on my finances going forward.

My aim this month was to pay off my overdraft, before my birthday in October and I'm pleased to say that I did achieve this. In addition, however, I did spend quite a bit more than I intended to this month, mainly due to a few expensive necessities that had to be bought, a few indulgences here and there and some retail therapy after a particularly intense stretch of working whilst the Manager of the shop was away.

Anyway, here are the figures:

The Food budget came in under budget by £103.03, mainly due to OH accompanying me on the weekly grocery shop one week and paying for the groceries, which was very good of him. I did offer to give him the money back, but he didn't want it.

The Travel budget for work of £60 also came in under budget at £50, despite 7 days of travel one week, which was good news.

Sadly, the good news ends there.  All other budgets were overspent as follows:

My Personal budget went over by £72.22, mainly due to buying a couple of t-shirts for the gym and some new ankle boots from ASOS, plus various small items that I purchased over course of the month which tend to add up to quite a bit by the end of the month. The t-shirts were on my wish list though.

LB's £25 budget was smashed at £48.71 overspent.  This was due to buying her new trainers and other items for returning to school, so it wasn't as if I could do anything to avoid it, as they were all things she needed. I'm intending to spend some money on some new clothes for her next month, now I'm debt free, as she hasn't had a lot bought for her this year. I am willing to spend up to £100, so long as she can find things she likes and will wear regularly.

I overspent by £46.10 on the Home budget of £20 this month, buying a few unplanned things after a little bit of retail therapy was required. I did, however, buy; a new alarm clock, which was essential, some Tapas dishes from Home Bargains and a serving dish for making Tacos from the CS, as well as the items mentioned in the retail therapy post at TK Maxx, most of which were on my wish list. Towards the end of the month, I also spent just short of £20 on compost and spring bulbs at the garden centre.  I will look forward to some nice flowers from the bulbs in the spring, although I haven't actually planted them yet.

The Household budget of £50 went £49.76 over, mainly due to a bulk order of cleaning and food products from Goodness Direct, a stocking up on regularly used toiletries at Home Bargains and the purchase of a few other natural cosmetics for use by me. This does, however, mean that next month, there shouldn't be very much to purchase in this category, save for regular items such as toilet rolls, dog food, etc.

The £50 Miscellaneous budget went over by £24.21. This was mainly due to buying quite a few small Xmas presents that I hadn't actually planned or budgeted for, transferring some money to my dormant business account to cover fees and having to get a new door key cut for LB. At least I got a head start on Christmas!!

In conclusion then, I was over spent by quite a bit this month, but my wages from the CS does mean there was more money coming in.  As mentioned, I managed to completely pay off my overdraft this month, which is great news and I even had a couple of hundred pounds left in my account at the end of the month.  The only debt I now have is the balance on my credit cards, which I use for internet purchases and which will be paid off once the bills come in and then I should be completely living within my means.  Tbey currently have a combined balance of less than £200, so the money left in my current account more than covers it.

This is good news for me and a long time coming.  I've paid off my overdraft before, only to run it up again, because I didn't have the right mind set.  I'm hoping that this time around, I'm in a better place and will stay out of debt permanently. Having halved all of my budgets in an effort to pay my overdraft off quicker, I could now put them up again and may do so next month, as it would be more realistic.  I'll see what happens. I have also budgeted for buying Christmas presents over the coming few months, so I should now be able to have a debt free Christmas this year and start the 2018 New Year debt free too.  Hooray!!! - That's my debt free scream!