Summary
Welcome to our November spending post! Our total spend for the month was £1,432.
This is a bit misleading as it was actually a very expensive month. We moved into our new home!!
However, a large rent refund cancelled out a large amount of our spending. See below for more details.
We managed to purchase our house mortgage free, so we’re excited to see how low we can keep our expenses going forward.
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 | £-101 | See below |
| Food | £478 | See below |
| Transport | £184 | See below |
| Entertainment/misc | £871 | See below |
| Total | £1,432 |
We break each of these categories down in the following sections, giving detail for any large expenses.
Housing
Our November spending on housing is negative!!
Our spending was actually quite high due to moving into our new home, but a rent refund on our flat more than cancelled it out!
We had to pay 6 months’ rent up front for our flat. Luckily, we managed to get a refund as we moved out after only 3 months.
We decided to buy higher quality furniture/appliances/etc for our house than we typically would. Our intention is to keep this property as a base for a long time, regardless of whether we live abroad again. It therefore made sense to buy high quality items that last. An example is our Dualit kettle and toaster. They cost a fortune, but in theory are repairable and should last decades – we’ll see how it goes!
Mr Way also made our bed frame and dining table when we moved in. This saved a significant amount of money and looks great.
We’ll write a separate post about this, but the dining table is very low. We decided to give ‘ground living’ a go so we now sit on the floor to eat! We have yoga bolsters etc to improve comfort. We also have a play sofa as our main sofa!
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rent Refund | £-2,297 | |
| Water | £38 | |
| Council Tax | £288 | |
| Insurance | £163 | |
| Timber for Furniture | £260 | |
| Washing Machine | £499 | |
| Microwave | £215 | |
| Play Sofa | £293 | |
| Play Mat | £144 | |
| Kettle & Toaster | £296 | |
| Total | £-101 |
Food
Our November spending on food was £478. This includes everything on our supermarket shop receipts for the month.
Transport
Our November spending on transport is quite normal.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | £149 | |
| Bus | £10 | |
| Train | £11 | |
| Parking | £1 | |
| Insurance | £13 | Change of address |
| Total | £184 |
Entertainment/Misc
Our November spending on misc items is inflated by various miscellaneous spending on the house.
Large items of furniture, appliances etc are included in ‘Housing’ but anything else appears here.
We also spent quite a bit on presents as Christmas approaches! Otherwise a pretty good month with low outgoings on miscellaneous items!
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Bills | £6 | |
| Eating Out | £115 | |
| Presents | £96 | |
| Shoes | £31 | |
| Pharmacy | £9 | |
| House Stuff | £543 | |
| Activities | £71 | |
| Total | £871 |
That’s All for Now, Folks!
We’re looking to reduce our spending in pretty much every area as we settle down to life back in the UK. It will be interesting to see how low we can get our costs! We’re buying our house mortgage free, so we thankfully won’t have to worry about the astronomical interest rates.
Considering the average UK household spend is £2,700 we’re aiming to get down significantly below that level – probably more like £1,500-1,750.
See you next month!
Previous Posts
Monthly Spending – October 2023
Monthly Spending – September 2023