Summary
Welcome to our May spending post! Our total spend for the month was £2,247.
This was an odd month because of a few large wedding expenses. Much more detail below. Other than that, we actually had a fairly cheap month.
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 | £1,007 | See below |
| Food | £419 | See below |
| Transport | £115 | See below |
| Entertainment/misc | £706 | See below |
| Total | £2,247 |
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 May spending was fairly standard in the housing category.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage | £415 | |
| Overpayment | £335 | |
| Bills | £115 | Gas, electricity & water. |
| Council Tax | £111 | |
| Internet | £31 | |
| Total | £1,007 |
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 May spending on food was £419. As explained previously, this includes everything on our supermarket shop receipts for the month.
Transport
It was a heavy month for fuel costs. We had a trip down South and came back with our car as well as a hire van full of wedding stuff. More on that below!
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | £115 | |
| Total | £115 |
Entertainment/Misc
Aside from the wedding expenses, this was quite a good month!
We’ve been very lucky to receive help towards the wedding from our parents. This month we received the sum detailed below, which almost cancelled out our spending on the venue.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Bills | £10 | |
| TV License | £13 | |
| Lottery | £10 | |
| Eating Out | £86 | |
| Presents | £5 | |
| Gardening | £8 | Plants! |
| Wedding Venue | £5,370 | See below |
| Wedding Crockery Boxes | £40 | See below |
| Wedding Van Hire | £154 | See below |
| Wedding Parental Help | £-5,000 | See below |
| Baby Classes | £10 | See below |
| Total | £706 |
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
It’s getting very close now! We still don’t know we can definitely go ahead because of the uncertainty around rules. Fingers crossed! Our full balance for the venue was due this month so that’s a big addition!
| 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 | |
| Marriage License | £70 | |
| Venue | £5,370 | See below |
| Crockery Boxes | £40 | See below |
| Van Hire | £154 | See below |
| Total | £7,823 |
Venue
We’ve paid the full balance for our venue now! This makes it all feel very real – even though we aren’t 100% certain it can go ahead!
Crockery Boxes
We’re having afternoon tea at our wedding and decided to buy all of the crockery ourselves. This means we can sell it on afterwards and hopefully make our money back. Unfortunately, the stuff we bought was at the opposite end of the country, where Miss Way’s parents live! They have stored it for a while, but we finally had to get it all back up to us. We bought some sturdy boxes so transport it all safely.
Van Hire
As above, we hired a van to transport the wedding crockery!
Baby Costs
We’re nearly 11 months in!
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!
| 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 | |
| Classes | £10 | See below |
| Total | £1,255 |
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!