October 2023 Budget

This month was never going to be a good month when it came to spending as we were going on holiday and, even though it was only for one week, I knew we were going to be spending quite a bit specifically on food.  We could have set a budget, but we wanted to just relax and not have to worry about that this time.  There were also a few presents we wanted to get other people and, of course, the spending we knew we were going to do on ourselves whilst away.

The general bills have remained the same as they have for most of the year, though we did manage to not need to add to our gas and electricity meters this month.  This was probably partly due to the fact we were away for a week, but also because we've been a little bit more efficient with how we're using our heating.  I've also been able to carry on keeping my phone bill down by using the We Are 8 app to earn a small amount of additional income.

There actually wasn't as much overspending on groceries as I had expected, but we definitely overspent on eating out by over twice the amount we usually budget for.  There was also a little increase in spending on household items, some of which were items we had brought whilst in Brittany, but there were also some items we needed such as a clothes horse.

Obviously, fuel was a little higher than normal as we drove down to Plymouth to catch the ferry to Brittany.  However, the rest of the weeks were pretty standard on this front.  There was also some extra spending on things like public transport and booking accommodation on our holiday.  Our own personal spending has actually been pretty good again this month, but I did have one additional expense which was getting my flute fixed, costing about £140.  It's been a while since I've played and I need to decide if I'm going to start playing or give it away.  Either way, it needed to have some work done to it and I wasn't sure how much that was going to cost beforehand.  So far, it's been worth it though as I've already played it a couple of times.

Another plus has been that I've managed to carry on putting money into my pension at around 12.5% of my wage and we've managed to put more money into our four-month savings.  It wasn't quite as much money as I had hoped, but it's getting us closer to the halfway mark that I've set as our new savings goal for this year.  We should get it done within the next couple of months as it's only about £250 to go.  For the amount we've actually been spending this year that's actually been a pretty good result.

So there has been quite a lot of big spending this month and we will need to do better over the next couple of months to get ourselves back on track, especially me with my personal spending to cover what I had to spend on the flute.  However, I don't feel too bad about it as I know that we have the main upcoming expenses covered in the form of our sinking funds, as well as our own emergency funds to cover if anything goes wrong.  It does help make the spending a little more guilt-free.  However, now it's time to get back to proper savings and spending.