I am very happy to share that I have had a really good week for spending. Even when I take into account some fun money, takeaways and a grocery shop it was a low spending week. Long may it continue after a few higher spending months in Nov & Dec.
I also completed my tax return and paid my personal tax owed for 2019/2020. Such a relief to get this done and submitted. And my tax bill was lower than expected, always a bonus. My bigger tax bill is my corporation tax which is due every September. Its very important for me to set aside money each month for that so I can pay the bill without going into my savings.
Monday 11th Jan – No Spend Day!
I have to celebrate a no spend day as they don’t come very often for me. I have been trying really hard this year to NOT just pop to the Co-op and get some bits. Firstly this is expensive, as I was doing it far too often and secondly I would end up buying unhealthy food.
Tuesday 12th Jan – £35.40
A full on home schooling day was this day and the boys found it pretty stressful. To make up for it we popped out to Subway, their favourite food for lunch, £14 spent. I have the Subway app where I collect point for a free salad for me every once in a while!
We also got some bits from Tesco express near subway, diet coke and sushi for me. One other bill was paid £8.99 to Netflix.
Wednesday 13th Jan – No Spend Day
Another no spend day, and another day of home schooling. I only have to cover two days this week as I split the care of my children between my ex-husband and I.
I accepted that my planned trip to Antigua, originally booked for March 2020 was unlikely to happen even in 2021, so put the wheel in motion to get a refund on my flights and cost of trip. This will be super useful to add to my emergency fund. As time progresses I feel like I need more and more in my emergency fund with times being so uncertain. Until now I have kept moving the date for Antigua forward again and again, but no more, we really have no idea when we will be able to travel again. Maybe I will get a chance to do it in 2022!
Thursday 14th Jan £20
Thursday and Friday are my days without the children so managed to not hit the shops for junk food, cooking Pad Thai from my Mindful Chef delivery earlier in the week.
I did succumb to £3.69 of game credit on an app. But also rediscovered my mindful colouring in book (£5.99 on Amazon, aff link!) and spent some quality colouring in swear word patterns. My auto saving app Plum made an auto-save for me of £16, this now takes my balance to £467. Read this post for information on how Plum works, but if you want to set up an auto-savings account with no effort from you to save, Plum is perfect for you.
Friday 15th Jan – £90
Not part of my spending but I did pull out money and received some income from two places where I get refer-a-friend credit. If you sign up to Octopus Energy, my recommended energy company for value for money and customer service we both get £50 each credit to our accounts. I had £146 credit sat in my energy account last week so I requested a refund back to my bank.
I also checked my TopCashBack Account where I had a few cash back payments that had cleared from Christmas purchases and some refer a friend payments, I transferred £45 to my bank account.
Spending wise I went to Aldi and did a big shop in preparation for five days with the boys at mine, this was £69, I managed to cut this back by buying no alcohol. I also spent £15.50 on my next Mindful Chef box (4 meals included in box), due to be delivered Mon 18th, this included a £10 saving. I have 4 lots of £10 credits to be used in January as a returning customer. If you want to give Mindful Chef a try use my email address in the referral box and we both get money off our boxes. lynn@mrsmummypenny.co.uk
Saturday 16th Jan – £105
Notice that my spending significantly increases when I have my children here, understandably! Saturday was our treat day we had hot drinks and sandwiches at lunchtime plus KFC for dinner. Both of these takeaway foods came to £39, not that much less than the amount I spent at Aldi this week!
I also ordered/bought some treat fun things to give everyone amused during long cold lockdown days. I bought the game Frustration, a pack of cards and a memory game for the boys. These came to £ 35. I also bought myself a cross stitch kit for £27 to relieve some of my alone time boredom with lockdown and my desire to produce something impressive.
Sunday 17th Jan – No Spend Day
This makes it THREE no spend days for this week. Definitely something to be proud of.
Total Spend for the Week £251
Food makes up £150 of this in groceries, mindful chef and takeaways. I am pleased to have spent £70 on some fun activities to do as a family, or just for me!
I’ll be back next week with hopefully another low spending week, there will be five days without my children this week so we will see if my spending is lower than £250!
Oh and don’t forget to listen to my podcast that came out last week where Faith Archer, my friend, and fellow personal finance expert and I muse about finances for 2021, emergency funds, and many other things. Download the podcast here.
