The first month of my supposed low spend year, has had mixed results. I can't really say that I've had a low spend month, for various reasons.
The first reason is because I went on holiday for a week, so my spending money of 300 euros was quite an outlay. It was mostly spent on groceries and eating out. I didn't really buy anything much for myself whilst away, I probably spent less than 10 euros on non-food items. We did eat out every day, whether it be lunch or supper. I also spent 50 euros on a gift for LB and I came home with 20 or 30 euros, so I don't think I did too bad.
The second reason that January was an expensive month, was that it was LB's birthday. I had bought her a few gifts before January, but I did give her some cash too, so that was another outlay.
Aside from the above expenditure, the main area of essential spending this month was the food budget, which I managed to keep low this month and still stocked up the pantry. I think I was able to do this due to us being away for a week and also having so much food left over from Xmas.
Some things I spent money on this month were necessary, such as a new pair of trainers for the gym, as I was getting pains in my feet and calves wearing my old ones and I think it was time to invest in a new pair. I use them multiple times a week, so it's important that they give me the support I need. I spent £40 on a new pair and wore them for the first time at the gym on Saturday.
In terms of non-essential expenditure, there was a quite a lot this month. It didn't seem like it at the time, but it has all added up to quite a large amount. I spent £14 on an ASOS sample sale haul, in which I bought 4 items of clothing, plus paid for postage. I spent a total of £16 on two separate visits to my favourite charity shop. This was, however, less than the monthly amount I am allowing myself to thrift shop with. (i.e. £25) I also got tempted by a couple of very inexpensive items of clothing in the store where I work and spent £12.50 on these, which wasn't too bad, but I could do better by resisting temptation altogether.
Scarily, I also managed to spend around £200 on a variety of other items during the month. These items ranged from bulk buying household products (£50), bulk buying vitamins/supplements that I use daily (£27), Xmas wrapping items bought in the sales (£32), Valentines/birthday gifts/cards/postage (£14) and toiletries/beauty products (£45) which did include stocking up on some quite expensive dental products that I use for my current dental hygiene regime. The remaining £30 or so, was spent on various small items for the house/garden/craft/travel.
As a consequence, it's not really been the most successful first month of buying/spending less, but I am hoping to improve as the months go by and reduce my spending still further. I always do find that coming out of such a spendy period as Christmas, it is a big challenge to break the habits of the previous months.
The good news is, that I did manage to put aside some money in savings. Not a huge amount, but anything is better than nothing. I did also set aside £100 for birthdays/Xmas 2025 this month and I'll continue to do this each month this year, so that the cost of Xmas is evenly spread throughout the year.
Next month, however, I will be getting paid a bit less, as I've worked quite a lot less hours, so that should prevent me from spending too much, as I just won't have the money. I will, however, need to book a dental check up and get my hair cut, which could prove expensive, especially if I need some treatment and I do have a 21st birthday this month, but I have already set aside some money to give as a gift. Other than these things, I don't have any planned spending in February, so I'll just have to see how it goes and try to do better.
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