Monthly Roundup - September 2018

A busy month workwise this month, which has had the added advantage of keeping me out of the shops for the most part, but even so, it has been an expensive month one way or another, as you'll see from the figures below.

I'm afraid the majority of budgets went over again this month, but here goes anyway:

Food - This budget went over the £400 allocated by £82.70. I did a big shop in the last week of the month to replenish the cupboards, after a couple of weeks where I only bought the weekly basics, due to being at work so much, so this is the main reason for this. Some of these purchases will last well into next month and if we needed the items we needed them and that's that.

Household - Again the end of the month shop saw me replenishing items such as dishwasher tabs, dog food and wash liquid, that should see me well into October, so this was the reason for some of the £66.96 overspend in this category this month. I also stocked up on some make up and dental hygiene products too, which should last me a good few months.

Miscellaneous - This budget was busted by £67.87 due to a 6 monthly dental appointment which cost £80, as I needed an x-ray and a scale and polish on this visit. Fortunately, I won't need to pay out anymore for another 6-8 months, as no treatment was necessary, which I'm very thankful for.

Travel for Work - This budget was over by £20 this month for two reasons.  One was that I was working for 5 days per week for two weeks, whilst my manager was on leave.  The other was that on one of those days I forgot my Oyster card, as I'd left it in my jeans pocket after a night out with friends the night before.  As a consequence, I had to buy another one which cost £5 and then I had to top it up with a further £5 for my journeys.  The alternative was to spend a half hour or more returning home to get my original card and being very late for work, so I paid the price of my error. The extra card will come in useful for when people come to visit and need a card.

My Personal budget was also over this month, by £15.62, which is good for me as it's usually much more.

Other budgets fared slightly better:

LB's Budget - This was under by £15.

Home - This was under by £16.01.

Overall, I was happy enough this month.  Sometimes, when you're very busy, for whatever reason, you make choices that aren't particularly frugal, but are nevertheless very convenient and I think I fell victim to this kind of thinking this month. Having said this, it did help smooth the way in what was quite a stressful month.

Hopefully, next month will be better. No extra work journeys, in fact, I've got a week off for half term, so the travel budget should be well under. It's also my birthday next month, so I might acquire some money to treat myself with, rather than overspending on my personal budget. I've also budgeted for some Xmas gift money to help spread the cost of Christmas and stay in the black. Christmas shopping starts proper in October, although I am hoping to buy as many gifts as possible from the CS this year.

How was your budget this month?