Last week was the fourth week of the summer holidays and I had the boys for most of the week. Hence a bigger spending week. You may remember last week me having a minor stress about my summer spending. I have just looked back over the last few weeks and excluding my bills I am spending on average £600 per week. This is hugely above my budget of £300 per week. HUGELY.
Money Saving Step by Step
I’m taking my money saving step by step. Firstly I have gone through ALL of my direct debits as I have managed to amass several after free first months. So this week I have cancelled the following Hello Fresh, Earth & Wheat, Amazon Prime (no idea how that slipped back, must have clicked it accidentally), Audible and Amazon Music. Phew that was a lot of subscriptions. This lots comes to around £75 per month. It is so worth doing this every 3 months. Subscriptions easily slip in, like Amazon Prime and you can end up paying for months but not using them properly.
My second plan is to cut down on the eating out. I am prioritising home cooking where I can be more healthy. This also means saying no the children, who through my doing, love a takeaway. The past few months, well the whole of this year, have been unhealthy food wise and lazy if I’m really honest. It was easier to order in food, and the excitement of eating out once lockdown ended never stopped!
Well Being Thursday
I had a well being day last Thursday and it has really helped to trigger my mind into focussing on healthy living, eating better food, exercising more and generally thinking better of myself. I started the day with a massage and crystal reiki session with my friend Sue Anderson of Body Bliss Yoga and Therapies. Such an amazing massage and she just knows exactly what is going on in my body.
I then zipped over to Hemel Hempstead to see my friend Heather for a session of hypnotherapy. The goal was to feel better about myself, my body image, my confidence and my business direction. We did some wonderful visualisation or what good looks like and she took me into my sub-conscious mind to imprint it there.
I felt hugely different afterwards and I can tell that I more motivated with everything. Since the session I have been to the gym (total freebie as Ive got 4 months free membership as I’m mystery shopping them), did a very active yoga class, played badminton and been for a swim. And my eating is so much better. I have chocolates in my fridge and I have only been eating 3 a day!! Before last week I would have sat and eaten the whole box in one sitting.
I also decided to do a fat/muscle weight check in at the gym. I am using a Boditrax machine just once a month to assess how I’m doing. The good news is that I am 3 kg lighter, but the not so great news is that is mainly muscle that I’ve lost. Upon consultation with some experts it likely that I’ve not been eating ENOUGH and my body has gone into starvation mode taking from my muscles rather than my fat stores. BUT I do feel thinner, clothes are feeling looser so I’m feeling good.
Work Meeting
I had my first face to face work meeting in a year last week with the wonderful Rachael from PensionBee. OOOOOHHH it felt good. To sit in a restaurant talking content ideas and drinking cocktails. They go hand in hand. Came up with a huge list of 7, yes 7 ideas, and we are very excited about them.
How I did a festival for FREE
I finally got back to writing and wrote my post on the wonders of Standon Calling and how I did it for free this year. You can read the article here, its a good one, and you are going to want to try this next year. All festivals offer similar options.
Back to the Spending Diary
Food as usual was pretty high, with £180 spent on food. £125 on eating out and £50 on groceries. The £125 on eating out included a couple of lunches at the gym as we spent two whole days there this week as a family and 50th birthday celebration dinner with Heather after the hypnotherapy session in Berkhamstead – Kings Arms. Recommend this pub!
Bills
Another few bills hit this week, £95 on broadband and mobile along with life insurance. Nothing exciting, my mobile bills have now stabilised at £55 a month, including my newish phone and 2 phones for children, one of which I must cancel next month to save another £10 from that. My broadband is cheap at £24 a month, its not the best but it does the job.
Treat Myself
As I mentioned I had a massage on Thursday, £40. I also did a little Space NK shopping on Wednesday whilst in Kings Cross. I had some spare time, I don’t know why I did it but felt like I deserved a treat. £65 was spent on some new prefect eye liner – Charlotte Tilbury FYI, plus some face mask and shower gel. My pamper products are amazing. £105 on fun spends.
Back to School
Back to School shopping has also began, this week we have got one pair of smart black school shoes and a hockey/rugby mouth guard, £43 spent. We like Next for secondary school shoes, nice non clumpy black lace ups and not hugely expensive like Clarks.
Still on the list to get is football training kit, new hockey stick, school shirts and possibly a new blazer. Will see how the old uniform fits. Secondary school uniform is expensive and mostly you have to buy it from a particular shop. Although those school shorts are 100% coming from Asda!
Other Costs
I also spent £23 on gifts for said friends 50th birthday. There was £40 of business expenses, including podcast hosting and travel. Plus £40 went to Plum my auto-savings.
Total Spend
My total spend for the week was £523, that eating out and fun spending took it up a notch. But overall Im happier. It’s less than my £600 average spending. Hopefully I’m on my way down with spending. I am making a concerted effort to get back to my budget and spend less than I earn.
Thanks for reading everyone!
