Summary
Welcome to our April spending post! Our total spend for the month was £1,984.
Much better than the last few months!. We’ve been a bit over budget recently, mainly due to wedding expenses. April was much more ‘normal’.
We break our main expenses down into broad categories starting with the big 3; housing, food and transport. Everything else falls into the entertainment category, with any large inclusions explained in detail.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | £998 | See below |
| Food | £335 | See below |
| Transport | £139 | See below |
| Entertainment/misc | £512 | See below |
| Total | £1,984 |
We break each of these categories down in the following sections, giving detail for any large expenses.
Housing
The housing category consists of our mortgage payment, overpayments, bills, insurance, DIY costs etc.
Our April spending was fairly standard in the housing category.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage | £415 | |
| Overpayment | £335 | |
| Bills | £115 | Gas, electricity & water. |
| Council Tax | £107 | |
| Internet | £26 | |
| Total | £998 |
We continue to be very happy with our energy supplier, Octopus Energy. 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
Our April spending on food was £335. As explained previously, this includes everything on our supermarket shop receipts for the month.
Transport
This month some absolute donkey broke into our car. They stole Baby Way’s changing bag from our boot. It wasn’t really worth a huge amount, but was a total pain in the backside. We had to pay £100 excess to get the window fixed.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | £39 | |
| Autoglass | £100 | |
| Total | £139 |
Entertainment/Misc
A good month on the misc spending. We booked a spa day for the week after our wedding, but still managed to keep a low total here.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Bills | £10 | |
| TV License | £13 | |
| Lottery | £8 | |
| Eating Out | £63 | |
| Presents | £45 | |
| Gardening | £34 | Soil, seeds, plants etc |
| Honeymoon Spa | £230 | |
| Wedding Clothes | £21 | See below |
| Wedding License | £70 | See below |
| Baby Classes | £18 | See below |
| Total | £512 |
Running Totals
There are a few big things going on in our lives at the minute. We wanted to add this section to the end of our Monthly Spending posts to keep track of our total spending on both the wedding and Baby Way.
To be honest this is as much for our own interest/records as it is for our readers!
While these aren’t all spending items from this month, we think it’s useful to keep ‘running totals’ for these longer term categories.
Wedding
We’re under 3 months away now. A couple of minor additions this month as below.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 'Save the Date' Cards | £26 | |
| Postage | £22 | |
| Registrar | £100 | Deposit paid. £525 more due before wedding. |
| Photographer | £238 | Deposit paid. More due before wedding depending on package. |
| Band | £100 | Deposit paid. £700 more due before wedding. |
| Cards | £10 | |
| Evening Food | £246 | Deposit paid. £983 more due before wedding. |
| Dress | £350 | Deposit paid. £388 more due before wedding. |
| Food | £52 | Deposit paid. £154 more due before wedding. |
| Returns Postage | £14 | |
| Shoes | £84 | |
| Clothes | £68 | |
| Bridesmaid Dress | £12 | |
| Crockery | £535 | |
| Clothes | £161 | |
| Table Cloths | £150 | |
| Clothes | £21 | See below |
| Marriage License | £70 | See below |
| Total | £2,259 |
Clothes
Chinos for the page boys!
Marriage License
So apparently you have to pay money just to then be allowed to pay more money for a wedding.
Baby Costs
Only a few classes added this month.
All of our baby-related spending will appear in Entertainment/Misc for now, but we’ll also track it separately here. We’re convinced we can spend significantly less than our peers so it’ll be interesting to see how we get on! We’re currently 10 months in!
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pregnancy Vitamin Tablets | £8 | |
| Antenatal Class | £80 | |
| Cot | £80 | |
| Nappies | £100 | Second hand reusable nappies |
| Pram | £0 | Free!! |
| Baby Book | £9 | |
| Baby Scan Photo | £5 | |
| Baby Bath | £5 | |
| Yoga | £21 | |
| Reusable Post-partum Pads | £25 | |
| Baby Bed Sheets | £30 | |
| Second Hand Baby Sleeping Bags | £20 | |
| Yoga/Birthing Ball | £13 | |
| Second Hand Baby Clothes | £18 | |
| Breastfeeding Cream | £8 | |
| Breastfeeding Bras | £3 | |
| Perineal Ice Packs | £19 | |
| Baby/Mum Vitamins | £53 | |
| Baby Thank You Cards | £26 | |
| Boots | £6 | |
| Baby Related Tablets | £41 | |
| Music Classes | £12 | |
| Birth Certificates | £22 | |
| Baby Carrier | £11 | |
| Baby Clothes | £7 | |
| Baby Book | £11 | |
| Music Classes | £24 | |
| Breastfeeding Cream | £9 | |
| Wean in 15 Book | £7 | |
| Baby Cups | £14 | |
| Sing & Sign Music Class | £80 | |
| Baby Class | £64 | |
| Finger Puppets | £9 | |
| Cheeky Wipes | £15 | |
| Weaning Bibs | £32 | |
| Nappies | £16 | |
| Baby Carrying Sling | £35 | |
| Cream/Tablets | £15 | |
| Stair Gates | £27 | |
| Running Buggy | £150 | |
| Clothes | £17 | |
| Sign & Sign Classes | £80 | |
| Classes | £18 | See below |
| Total | £1,245 |
Classes
Now that more baby classes are allowed, Miss Way has been taking part in a few!
That’s All for Now, Folks!
See you next month!