Summary
Welcome to our September spending post! Our total spend for the month was £2,822.
Another expensive month, with several large outlays. Our annual car insurance premium was due, as well as a few other items explaing throughout the post. Unfortunately this seems to be a recurring theme, with different items cropping up every month. Possibly time to admit our target spending was too low and revise upwards?!
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 | £458 | See below |
| Food | £656 | See below |
| Transport | £674 | See below |
| Entertainment/misc | £1,034 | See below |
| Total | £2,822 |
We break each of these categories down in the following sections, giving detail for any large expenses.
Housing
Our August spending on housing is fairly standard, with just the usual bills to pay.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gas & Electric | £187 | See below |
| Water | £54 | |
| Council Tax | £188 | |
| Internet | £29 | See below |
| Total | £458 |
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 September spending on food was £656. This includes everything on our supermarket shop receipts for the month.
We signed up for a fruit & veg box from Riverford Organics. So far, the produce seems very high quality and is generally sourced very locally. We’re really happy with the service, which offers various different types/sizes of box, as well as meat boxes and various other products. If you want to give it a go like us, try this link and we’ll get £15 off each! That’s a pretty significant saving.
Transport
Our September spending on transport includes our car insurance. Otherwise a normal month.
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fuel | £137 | |
| Bus | £8 | |
| Parking | £6 | |
| Car Insurance | £523 | |
| Total | £674 |
Entertainment/Misc
Our September spending on misc items is another high one. Mrs Way bought new glasses, we got 3 lots of new curtains for downstairs and we also built a mud kitchen! All good stuff, but unfortunately quite expensive!
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone Bills | £13 | |
| Eating Out | £38 | |
| Presents | £1 | |
| Activities | £112 | |
| Clothes & Shoes | £25 | |
| Dental | £41 | |
| Specsavers | £120 | |
| DIY | £69 | |
| Curtains | £465 | |
| Post Office | £4 | |
| Driving License | £20 | |
| Travel Insurance | £37 | |
| Mud Kitchen | £89 | |
| Total | £1,034 |
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!