As promised I am bringing back my lockdown diaries for 2021 and the start of full lockdown 3. I started them at the beginning of Lockdown no 1 back in March 2020 and they were super popular. It feels right to bring them back again.
I will be sharing ALL of my spending each week, including bills, every day spending on groceries, car costs, children’s costs, takeaways, business expenses, fun money, everything.
I will also share how I save money on my costs and how you can do the same.
Monday 4th January £1781
Most of my bills hit on the first Monday of the month so this was a high spending day. The biggest of these bills being my mortgage at £1,236. I re-mortgaged back in April 2020 and took on additional borrowing after my divorce. Its a big monthly commitment and it does scare me a bit. I know that I have a great deal on my mortgage thanks to independent mortgage brokers Trussle. Its worth talking to these guys if your fixed deal is due to end soon, interest rates are so low and it could mean a saving to your monthly commitment. If you use this link and your mortgage is approved we both get £100 in Amazon vouchers as a reward!
Other bills to hit are my council tax of £150 a month, but soon I come to Feb and March where I have two council tax free months hurrah! Dont forget if you are the only adult in you home you can get a 25% discount on your council tax.
More Bills Hit…
My car costs hit, £174 for my car loan payment and £12 for car tax. I am hoping to pay off my car loan in full this year. Sept 2021 is when my PCP deal expires and I will pay off the balance of the car loan and keep the car.
My water bill of £22 a month was paid along with my energy bill of £92. I need to contact both of these as I keep building up credits as the monthly payment is too high. Also my energy fixed deal with Octopus is due to end next month so I will contact them to ensure I am moved to another great value fixed rate. Its worth comparing your bill to Octopus if you havn’t switched for a while, they are great value for money, if you can save and then switch we both get a £50 credit to our bill!
Other costs include my income protection insurance of £34, again if you need to check you life or income protection insurance I recommend speaking to Lifesearch who are independent and will help you find the best deals that are right for you.
Just two other spend for Monday, lunch at Subway for the boys. Their favourite place to get a takeaway from. And a quick visit to Co-op for a top up of essentials.
Tuesday 5th Jan £28
And then the spending calms down! I had a £12 monthly Microsoft office subscription. We popped to Tesco and spent £16 on groceries. I also set up my Mindful Chef delivery to start again. It was free this week as they gave me 4 lots of £10 credit for signing up again in January, plus I have a refer a friend credit sat on my account. Woo Hoo. If you would like to give Mindful Chef a try pop in my email address as the refer a friend and we both get further money off, you will get 25% off your first four boxes ordered. I get a £10 credit.
Wednesday 6th January £189
I got excited and thought it was a no spend day. Alas no I paid my book printer for the last order of books I made back in December and spent £189 of business expenses on book stock. I now have plenty of books here to send out, if you want a signed copy head to here.
Thursday 7th January £110
I went for a run on Thursday and am really pleased to share that so far this year I have been on four runs! Yes four runs, running a total of 11k. Running is the best free activity and you feel so good afterwards.
£84 went from my current account into my Plum auto savings account. I was a bit surprised to see such a large amount going over, but this is because my current account has been in credit for a while. There is £480 saved in my Plum account. I was saving it up for Christmas 2020, but have now decided to let it stay in there and save up for Christmas 2021.
Friday 8th & Sunday 10th Both No Spend days
Hurrah for two complete no spend days for the week!
Saturday 9th January £31
Bit of an emotional spend day where I fancied something nice from Tesco as a treat for the weekend after a week of healthiness. I got some lovely blueberry gin and some cheese and a few other treats. Plus I restricted myself to just one purchase on a game app of £3.69.
Total Spend for Week £2,113
A heavy spending week, but most made up of bills, car costs and business expenses, these three come to £1950 alone. I am really happy that my grocery spend was fairly low at £60 and that I have given my savings an £84 boost. Also there is just a small takeaway spend of £15 for the boys. All in all a good spending week on all the extras, very much driven by the inability to do much in lockdown.
I hope you enjoyed this diary and it includes lots of tips to help you save. Or inspires you to keep your own spending diary. Its such a great way of keeping tabs on all your spending, and will form the basis of a brand new budget for 2021, based on reality. Have a great week.
This post contains affiliate links, all stated, where I get a small fee for referring you as a customer.
