Made another payment on my student loan and bought some groceries over the weekend. That takes this month’s outgoings to £736 which is £35 over the budget I had set. I should be able to get to the end of the week without spending anymore as I have all the stuff I need for lunches etc. Decided to have a good look at where that extra went and I discovered: £19 over on groceries, £1.63 on snacks, a massive £62 on gifts, £1 on phone bill, £1.81 on fuel, £8.40 on public transport, £3 on parking, £23.99 on guides, £60 on theatre and concerts, £10.51 on postage, £1 on books, 70p on charitable donations, £2.15 on stationery. Now, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that all of that adds up to a lot more than £35. (In fact it makes £195.19) So where did I go under budget? Rent -£40, Food at work -91p, clothes -£10, Car maintenance -£40, car tax -£20, craft -£10, pilates -£20, eating out -£10, social drinks -£5, toiletries -£2.91. This makes £158.82. Some of these things make sense as they will balance out over e few months (for example, my Pilates class is paid for 6-weekly, but comes to £20 a month, and my entertainment overspend includes a year’s worth of theatre tickets, paid for in advance). Some of these things are reclaimable from work (parking and transport). It interests me that I was able to come in under budget on most of my "fun categories". On the upside even with this overspend I can still afford to put a good chunk of my monthly income into savings.
Not been forced into a decision about my tax free savings yet, as I've not had anything back from the bank I plan to open the account with. I should chase them up about that this week before the tax year ends next Wednesday.