Once again, it feels like it's been a pretty spendy month. It was OH's birthday in May and although I'd bought his main present in April (some very expensive cycling shoes), I still ended up buying a few more bits and pieces this month. I also treated myself to a few bits this month so my personal budget was affected by this. Anyway, here goes with the budget totals:
Food - This month my food budget of £400 went over by £25.17. I was helped by our going away to visit relatives for a few days at the end of the month, as this meant I didn't really need to do the last weekly shop of the month and could just about eek things out until the beginning of June, using things we had in the freezer and cupboards.
Household - Surprisingly, this month the household budget of £50 was actually £2.38 under spent, which is astonishing, as this has consistently been overspent for months now. I don't know what I did that was different, but perhaps I'd stocked up on some things in previous months and reaped the benefits this month I guess.
Misc. - The Miscellaneous budget of £50 took a bit of a hit this month due to birthday presents, cards, gifts for people leaving at work and eBay postage. It ended up being £58.68 overspent, which is quite a lot for this category, but with OH's birthday being one of the main ones I buy for each year, I guess this is acceptable. I also bought some car parking tickets for the gym this month which cost £12 and which should last me at least 3 or 4 months.
Me - My personal budget of £25 also took a hit this month and came in at £66.42 overspent. I bought myself a new black rucksack from ASOS, which I've only used twice (for my interview and Chelsea Flower Show) as yet, but intend to use when my current one starts to get too worn out. It's a bit more roomy, which will be useful to carry lunches to work. In addition, I also bought a brand new pair of Vans skater shoes from the CS, and another brand new pair of brown leather Chelsea boots for next winter, which I just couldn't resist, as they are just so comfortable and easy to wear. I haven't worn either yet, but I think I'll get lots of use from the Vans over the summer months. I'm kind of saving them, which is crazy, as I don't really know what for. I just like them and don't want to get them messed up too quickly.
LB - For once LB's budget of £25 was overspent this month by £34.90, mainly because I bought her some new school shirts for next year, to avoid any last minute panic in the summer holidays. I did this last year and it just made that getting ready to go back to school thing so much easier.
Home - The Home budget of £20 came in at £2.03 underspent this month. I bought a few bits from the CS and IKEA. OH, on the other hand, did spend a heap of money this month, on bits for the kitchen renovation.
Travel for Work - This budget which is set at £40 came in at £4.50 under this month, mainly due to the fact that I took the last week of the month off work, so had no travel expenses to incur for the week.
All in, the month was a bit more spendy than I would perhaps like, but not too crazy I guess and quite a bit of expenditure was at the CS, so at least it went to a good cause. I did spend a bit more money than that mentioned above, when I got the chance to go to Chelsea Flower Show with a friend for the first time this month. We went on the last Saturday of the show, the day they sell off all of the plants after 4pm. My friend had some free tickets, so I made sure to treat her whilst we were there, to thank her for taking me, as it was a bucket list experience for me. In total, the day probably cost somewhere in the region of £75, but it was so worth it. I also spent some Paypal funds buying a few small items on eBay this month, which didn't come out of any of the above budgets, so I didn't add them in.
I'm hoping that June will be a bit less spendy, as there's no birthdays to spend money on, or any big events planned and there isn't really anything I particularly need, but we'll see what happens. I may buy a few clothes for work, as I've noticed that some of the things I regularly wear to work are getting very tatty and scruffy, which isn't great. I would like to start saving or investing more money each month going forward so I may put some extra money into savings accounts or my share account in June.
How has your budget fared this month?
Good for you being under budget in so many categories!
ReplyDeleteWe ended up being a few dollars over for our total monthly budget. I must admit that overage could have been way under budget if I hadn't done a big stock up grocery and cleaning product wise at the beginning of the month.
Like you I am hoping for a less spendy month in June.
God bless.