Summary
Welcome to our October spending post! Our total spend for the month was £1,952.
This marks another month below our target of £2,000, even considering we had to buy a new washing machine! Coronavirus restrictions have certainly seen a reduction in our spending, as there aren’t many things we’re allowed to do! With another ‘national’ lockdown looming, we expect this to continue.
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 | £1,313 | See below |
| Food | £344 | See below |
| Transport | £65 | See below |
| Entertainment/misc | £230 | See below |
| Total | £1,952 |
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 October spending was fairly standard in the housing category, with an unfortunate addition. Our old washing machine packed in, which is quite a disaster when you have a baby in reusable nappies! We quickly bought a replacement and Mr Way fitted it asap!
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage | £415 | |
| Overpayment | £335 | |
| Bills | £113 | Gas, electricity & water. |
| Council Tax | £105 | |
| Internet | £6 | |
| Washing Machine | £339 | Ours broke this month 🙁 |
| Total | £979 |
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 October spending on food was £344. As explained previously, this includes everything on our supermarket shop receipts for the month.
Transport
Another month with only a single tank of fuel. We also paid our annual car tax. Our new car is only taxed £30 per year!
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | £35 | |
| Tax | £30 | |
| Total | £65 |
Entertainment/Misc
The usual stuff!
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Bills | £14 | |
| TV License | £13 | |
| Lottery | £8 | |
| Eating Out | £56 | |
| Sports Team Costs | £4 | Match fees, floodlights, equipment etc |
| Face Cream | £25 | |
| Plant Pots | £20 | |
| Presents | £46 | Christmas is approaching! |
| Baby Book | £11 | See below |
| Baby Music Classes | £24 | See below |
| Breatfeeding Cream | £9 | See below |
| Total | £230 |
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
No extra spending this month but we have been active. We’ve set up a wedding website with all our info on and have started sending out invitations through this site. It’s free!
Total to date:
| 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. |
| Total | £486 |
Baby Costs
This month has seen another few small additions to the baby costs table. These are explained below, but overall we’re keeping spending very low. We have £21.05 per week rolling in in child benefit, so Baby Way is probably making us money right now!
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 | See below |
| Music Classes | £24 | See below |
| Breastfeeding Cream | £9 | See below |
| Total | £657 |
Baby Book
We bought a book which explains some of the developmental leaps babies go through.
Music Classes
We booked another few weeks’ worth of online baby music classes. They’re ran by the National Youth Choirs of Scotland and are really good fun! We wouldn’t usually be able to access them because they’re in Scotland, but being online means we can join in!
Breastfeeding Cream
We won’t go into any more detail here, but…. things get sore!
See you next month!
Previous Posts
Monthly Spending – September 2020