Now like most people. I started January with the good intentions of saving more money than usual. I’m usually pretty good at saving. And make sure that at the start of the month, I move money into my savings accounts. But as I’m still working from home. And therefore able to save more than usual. I wanted to really up my savings this month to compensate for the rather expensive Black Friday and birthday shopping I did before Christmas (you can read about that here). So how did I do? Well, here is what I spent in January.
First week 1st-3rd January £1,388.97
Well, the start of the month is always painful, right? Well, it is for me. That’s when the majority of my direct debits go out. So in this short three day period, I managed to spend £870.99 on the mortgage, council tax, TV license, electricity, and mortgage insurance. Plus £17.98 on a cheeky New Years Day Dominoes. Oh and £500 into savings.
Second week 4th-10th January £775.71
So this week wasn’t so bad. Money moved a bit which is why it probably looks worse than it really is. £500 went to clear my credit card. And £275.71 was broken into £58.48 on a new phone case and laptop cover. £27.05 on food at Tesco. £33 on more food at Marks and Spencer. £6.20 at Sainsbury’s. £34.99 on a pair of Converse at Schuh. £115.99 on a new tracksuit from Scamp and Dude.
Third week 11th – 17th January £193.93
This week was all about food and deliveries to cheer myself up! £42.09 was spent at Beauty Pie. £42.30 was spent at Marks and Spencer and £61.18 was spent at Tesco. £34.97 was spent on cookery books in an effort to eat healthier (let’s not talk about how that’s going). And £11.42 was my Tailwind subscription.
Fourth week 18th – 24th January £161.83
No surprises here to realise that the majority of this week’s money was spent on food. In addition to £39.90 being spent at Tesco for food, I also spent £35.16 on petrol. £37.80 on two cookie deliveries for friends. £9.99 on Now TV, £10.99 on Canva and £27.99 with BT for internet.
Final week 25th – 31st January £387.97
Final week and finally payday (although not until the last working day of the month). So where did my money go this week? Well £58 went to Mint Velvet on some leather look leggings (spoiler, I hated them, so they went back). £19.99 on Dominoes (I really should kick this habit). £46.55 on food at Tesco. £40.65 on more food at Mark and Spencer. And another £12.50 at Waitrose. £14.32 went on my Flodesk subscription. £30.40 went on flowers for a friend’s birthday. £9.99 on Spotify. £8.99 on Netflix. And a huge £146.58 went to Vodafone. BUT that was because I upgraded this month and had to pay an upfront fee for the phone.
So that is what I spent in January. Despite trying to be good with money, I managed to spend a huge £2,908.41. Although £500 of that was into savings. Still. It’s a lot for the first month of the year. I think my learnings for February are definitely to spend less on food. Or just limit it to one shopping trip per week. Not multiple ones. Have you ever tracked your spending for the month like this?