In March we produced our first ever monthly spending report. Here is our second!
Despite going away this month we have managed to stay very close to our March spending amount. We’re really happy with this and hope we can keep up the £2000 per month average!
We break our main expenses down into broad categories starting with the big 3; housing, food and transport. Everything else falls broadly into the entertainment category, with any large inclusions explained in detail. For a more detailed explanation of some of our spending please see our March Spending post. From now on we will only explain any abnormal expenses.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | £980 | See below |
| Food | £198 | See below |
| Transport | £304 | See below |
| Entertainment/misc | £572 | See below |
| Total | £2,054 |
Housing
The housing category consists of our mortgage payment, overpayments, bills, insurance, DIY costs etc. These are broken down below.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage | £467 | |
| Overpayment | £283 | |
| Bills | £112 | Gas, electricity, water |
| Council Tax | £107 | Has gone up! |
| Internet | £11 | |
| Total | £980 |
A very typical month for housing costs and with no DIY expenses as we were busy with other things!
Our gas and electricity costs actually just went DOWN. We are with a company called Octopus energy and are absolutely delighted with them. They are really transparent with billing and while other companies are increasing prices, theirs have just gone down! Our energy is from 100% renewable sources too which is a great bonus. If you are interested, click through this link and you will get £50 and so will we! It can be hard to find a decent energy company but we really do recommend Octopus.
Food
This month our food spending reduced from £287 in March to just £198 this month. However, this is explained by being on holiday for a week. We have counted our spending on food while away within the entertainment/misc category because we spent much more than we would at home.
Transport
Other than the tax cost, a fairly typical month.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Car Tax | £125 | Annual expense |
| Diesel | £134 | Mainly Miss Way’s work |
| Train Fares | £45 | Part of Miss Way’s bike + train + bike commute |
| Total | £304 |
Entertainment/Misc
A typical month. Large expenses included a friend’s wedding and our holiday spending. See below for more on that!
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Bills | £15 | Both sim-only contracts, £7.50 per month from Plusnet |
| TV License | £13 | |
| Lottery | £8 | |
| Clothes | £21 | Miss Way new trousers for holiday! |
| Easter Egg Gifts! | £10 | |
| Friend's Wedding | £153 | Hotel and gift |
| Sports Team Costs | £15 | Match fees and floodlights etc |
| Dentist | £23 | |
| Coffee | £3 | |
| Professional Fees | £23 | |
| Hair Cut | £8 | |
| Pub | £10 | |
| Holiday Spending | £270 | See below |
| Total | £572 |
This month we had a week long holiday to Portugal. We went away with Mr Way’s family and were very lucky that they paid for the villa and flights. All we had to spend was food costs while there which totalled £270. This was an incredibly cheap holiday for us and we are very grateful!!
We think we did quite well this month! Despite going away we have managed to keep our spending very close to last month’s. We have managed to cut costs in other areas to offset the additional costs this month.
We moved to Octopus a few months ago and I have to completely agree with you recommendation. They are cheaper than our previous supplier and I get a prompt every month for meter readings to keep usage calculations accurate. In addition, as you say, the electricity is from renewable sources. I found them through Money Saving Expert where we got a discount when we swapped. I find MSE always a useful source of information.
I was wondering about your savings rate. I had a quick look back at March spending, but couldn’t see it there. I know that you overpay the mortgage and plan to use that money in the future, but couldn’t see anything about savings.
Yeah we found Octopus through MSE too – as part of the ‘Cheap Energy Club’. They seem to be very open about pricing etc which is a refreshing change!
We decided not to publish our savings rate right now because we don’t want people to know our earnings if they find this site. If you check out our Twitter though, Mr Way did recently fill out Cashflow Cop’s FI Score Test.