For the first time in a couple of months I ended up overdrawn this month, but by less than £100, which wasn't too bad. I blame Christmas coming at me like a juggernaut and the fact that I paid off the sofa covers this month, which was a major expenditure. Here are the final figures for the month:
Food Budget - Overspent by £65. No real excuses here, just a bit over indulgent.
Household Budget - Overspent by £37.61. A stock up trip to Home Bargains accounted for some of this overspend, as I'm now very well stocked up on most of the toiletries I/we use.
Miscellaneous Budget - This budget came in 54p under budget this month, which was good as it included a meal out with a friend, plus sending off the Operation Christmas Child box.
My Personal Budget - This budget was overspent by £24.37. I bought a few items of clothing from M&S, and the CS, plus a few small treats from TK Maxx.
LB's Budget - Overspent by £9.97, mainly because I bought her some clothes and jewellery from the CS this month as a treat and I also paid £20 towards some new glasses for her at the opticians.
Home Budget - This went £106.96 overspent, on account of my buying myself a cordless stick vacuum this month. I paid for this on my credit card, so it will be paid for out of next month's wages.
Travel For Work Budget - This went £5 overspent as I used some credit to go out and about a couple of times on non-work related jaunts.
Christmas Budget - I budgeted £300 for Christmas this month, but only ended up spending £177.82 which meant this budget came in £122.18 under. Just as well really to help cover some of my overspends.
Going into December I think I'm in an okay position to stay in the black this Christmas, or at least have only a very small overdraft, but I will try to avoid this. I have budgeted another £300 for Christmas, but I'm not sure that I'll need to spend this much money, so any left over should go towards paying off my credit card and overdraft. I should also receive my pay rise from work, which I've been informed is nowhere near as much as I was hoping for. It is frankly a pathetic amount, and equates to a pay cut I suspect when inflation is taken into account. Every extra bit of money helps though. I'll keep you posted on whether I manage to stay in the black this Christmas.
I hope your budgets weren't busted like mine this month.
We are having to be extra careful this year as we are not in paid work any longer so any overspend now has to come out of savings.
ReplyDeleteOur biggest cost through November was for petrol up and down the A1M and now our trip up to Scotland. At least with your new covers and vacuum cleaner you have something to show for the overspend and keep for a long time!