March 2021 Budget

Okay, so this month was meant to be a 'good' month where we pulled in the spending we had done in February for the flat and got back into budgeting properly.  Except, that didn't happen.  Instead, it was like we had opened the flood gates of spending in February and that just carried on throughout March - oopsie!

Before we fully get into it I should also probably say that the way I've set up March meant that some double-billing was happening, such as rent, council tax etc, which does make the out-goings look a little larger than a normal month.  This does also mean that April is going to look a lot lighter.

Firstly, let's start with the good.  I've managed to keep my £1000 sinking fund untouched and the credit card balance has remained at zero as we're only spending money we already have.

The car repairs and Christmas sinking funds are still on track to reach the goal amount by the end of 2021 or at least Christmas. 

We've also managed to put a little more money into our 6 months' savings fund.  It's less than I was originally hoping due to our spending elsewhere, but at least it's something.  As a little side note, the savings looks like it's suddenly made a large jump since last month.  That's because I realised that the £1000 amount we keep in our account to make sure we can pay the bills without doing into our overdraft should be part of our 6 months' savings fund. It's now been added to that. 

A big plus this month was that I actually made sure that I put some money aside for my pension.  Instead of the £200 I had initially planned to put in on a monthly basis, I upped it to £225 to make up for not putting any money aside during February.  I'm planning on put in this amount until the end of the year to make up for that deficit.

And now for the bad bit.  We've spent quite a lot of money on groceries and household goods (in fact basically double the amount we should have), mainly buying treat food we really don't need and shouldn't be eating.  This really needs to stop and that is definitely going to be a goal for April.  The plus side to that is by saving money on groceries we'll also be being a lot healthier, so that's a win all around.

We've also spent a lot of money on things like takeaways and items we don't necessarily need.  I've spent a fair amount this month on crafting supplies and patterns, but that's hopefully me covered now for the next few months if not the next year.  We also brought some wetsuits, which was probably the biggest out-going.  They did take a big chunk out of our budget, but as we are planning on going wild swimming a lot this year (lockdown permitting), they should really pay for themselves in the free activities these wetsuits will allow us to do. 

And that's it, the big spend of March.  Not the best way of getting back on the budgeting bandwagon, but there's no point in wallowing in it.  We just need to pick ourselves up and get on with it in April.  One thing I did actually manage to do this month was to work out how much we would need to cover all our bills and out-goings, and that is £1300 a month.   That means, to have 4 months in savings put aside by the end of 2021 we need to save £5200.  Good to know and even better to realise we're almost halfway there already.  April here we come.