This month has been a tough one, as I'm sure it has been for many people all over the country. I entered January with £500 on credit cards after Christmas and facing two big expenses this month, namely my sister's 60th birthday and my daughter LB's birthday.
As a consequence, I knew it was going to have to be a very tight month, with virtually no discretionary spending. This, however, is very hard to maintain, so a few things might have been purchased during the month, but not very much.
In terms of the budget, several categories were well overspent, and others were underspent. Food, for example, which I allow a £400 spend on, was well under budget at £315.70. It helped that we had quite a bit of food left over from Christmas. I'm not sure that I could keep it this low for a second month, but I'm going to try.
Also underspent was the Home category, on which I allow £50 spending each month. This month, I only spent £16.87. The Misc. category, which has the same spending allowance, was also underspent, but only by a small amount at £43.38 spent.
These underspends covered the cost of the overspends in a couple of categories. The Household budget, which again is £50, was overspent by £54.94, mainly because of a bulk order of toiletry and household products that I made in January. I only place these orders a couple of times per year.
Spending on myself, which is also set at £50, was also overspent by £28.25. The majority of my spending this month has been on gym classes and £20 of the overspend was what it cost to pay for the renewal of my yearly membership at the gym. As far as I'm concerned, attending the gym is non-negotiable, so I don't regret this spending at all.
Unsurprisingly, by far the biggest spending in January was on gifts, where I spent over £300, and as a consquence my credit cards have taken a bashing again this month. In all fairness, it was an unusally expensive month, so hopefully next month it won't be quite so bad, as I only have one, less expensive gift to pay for and a visit by LB to the dentist and possibly to the optician to accommodate in the budget. I'm hoping that these visits won't be too costly, but one never knows.
As a consequence, I'm going into February facing down another tight month. I once again have £500 to pay off my credit cards, which doesn't leave much money for the everyday spending categories, so I'm going to try to keep spending as low as possible again. I will need to use my credit cards again, towards the end of the month, but I'm hoping expenditure on them will not be to the same extent as this month. (By the way, I do realise that spending on credit cards to get through the month isn't ideal, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get through).
This year's Christmas financial hangover was caused by dental and optical costs in October and November, the first since Lockdown. These costs were necessary, but came at a time when I am usually using any spare cash to buy Xmas presents.
To avoid a repeat this year, I'm going to put aside £50 per month, from March to cover birthday and Christmas gifts, as I want to be in control of my finances in 2022 and I don't want to end up in this position again next January. Anyway, I got through it, and hopefully, by the end of February, which is a shorter month at least, I will be in a better position and will be able to enjoy myself a little more in March.
I hope you've all had a good month financially and it hasn't been a struggle, especially with the current rising cost of everything. If it has been a struggle, I hope you came through okay and that February will be a better month for you. If, like me, you're still a bit under the cosh, keep persevering and hopefully we'll all eventually come out the other side.
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