Monday Money #169 Spending Diary – A girlie weekend in Exeter

Ooooohhh I’ve just had the loveliest weekend away. I have to admit divorce with a 50/50 childcare arrangement is rather lovely. I get a five day break to myself every two weeks and I make the most of it. I drove to Taunton on Friday to see my step-mum for dinner and a bed for the night. Then drove onto Exeter on Saturday morning to meet up with Sophie and Tamsin, my teenage friends, the girls who I hung out with from age 15 to 18, those big years where friends meant everything.

We met for brunch and the non stop catch up and conversation started for the next 24 hours! We had amazing brunch in Cote Brasserie near the cathedral, spent a couple of hours looking around H&M, New Look, Next, River Island, M&S. I finally found the perfect duvet coat from H&M for a bargain £40. We found an identical coat in M&S for £100! We also found Crystals, the West Country crystal shop chain and I bought a new bracelet.

We chilled for a bit in our amazing BnB that Tamsin had sorted, in fact Tam booked everything, which was so nice to be looked after!. If you are ever staying in Exeter do check out this beautiful place, great location, super beautiful rooms, great breakfast and a great price. We went out for dinner to an incredible restaurant called Rendezvous and sat there until we were the last customers. We couldn’t stop talking!

Such an amazing 24 hours. I highly recommend doing this with your friends, especially friends whom you have known forever. It had fed my soul with a lot of love and goodness.

I shared my thoughts on the State Pension Challenge.

The good, the bad and the ugly. I am pleased to report that I am still feeling the effects of the challenge and am thinking carefully about throwaway purchases, along with needs and wants. I really do think that everyone should try this challenge to live off £180 for seven days!

I nearly got scammed

A copycat Instagram page nearly fooled me into clicking on a link and looking at their investment ideas. Luckily I smelt b@llshit and worked out they were dodgy and reported them to Instagram. Read the full story here, with screen shots of conversation. Don’t let yourself be fooled.

How To Save a Stack of Money – Ep 5 of S4 Mrs Mummypenny Talks

By listening to my latest podcast and chat to Jordon Cox. We covered so much, broadband, energy, mobile phones, cash back, so much on food, mortgages, water, TV, fuel. We discussed our money saving tips for EVERY household bill.

My Spending Diary For Last week

Bills Bills Bills

The third week of the month always has a few bills, this week totalling £107. All my EE bills hit, broadband and mobile. But I did call up 150 today with EE to cancel one of my second lines that isn’t being used. There was also Netflix and Life Insurance.

Food

My eating out food spend was higher than previous weeks due to being in Exeter. I spent £90 on eating out, but spent nothing on groceries! I made do with what I had. Good going Lynn!

Car Costs

I drove to Exeter, as the train ticket was £120! Fuel costs of £60 this week with football miles and 400 miles to and from Exeter.

Fun Spends and Clothes

These were £98 this week. Three were various purchases throughout the week. A new bracelet in Exeter, my nails were in filled for £20 on Thursday. I bought some makeup bits and bubble bath. It was a difficult week and I wanted to treat myself with fun bits of spending.

I also spent £63 on clothes, including my new duvet coat, mega bargain. I also got socks and jewellery whilst in the long H&M queue. I also spent £2.50 on wreath stuff and made this!! I know its Christmassy, but I loves it.

Personal Care

My illnesses carry on so more money was spent on personal care chemist bits. £33 spent on drugs and vitamins.

Other Costs

The rest of the costs are smaller. Things like Christmas present candle spends of £35, a transfer to my Plum savings of £50 and a transfer to a new app that will be making monthly overpayments to my mortgage, more to come on this exciting app soon. There was also two charity donations and £40 given.

Total Spend

The total spend for the week was £595. Not too bad considering I was away for a weekend, I had a few bills hit and £75 has gone into savings. I am still doing well after the state pension challenge.

Thank you for reading as always. I write this most for me as well as for you. It helps with my financial mental health! I love to understand where I have spent well or not so well. October is going to be a great low spending month!