This is a funny Money Diary split over almost a month between my paydays because, well I’ve not bought much interesting stuff I don’t think and I’ve tried to not waste too much money but, I probably didn’t manage it.
Friday
Payday! But I’ve already moved a bit of money around yesterday as I got ‘paid’ for L’s half of the bills a few days previously. I decide to boost my Lifetime ISA with a bigger chunk of money than I usually do and challenge myself to have a bit lower disposable income until I next get paid. I’ll probably receive a bit of birthday money if I need any extra to get me by and also know I won’t be going out too much so I can definitely get by on £300 for this month, it’s actually a lot of money so I want to document what I spend. MyLifetime ISA is nearly full for this tax year too so I’m really proud of myself again for this – third year running!
I already have some money saved aside in a separate pot for some home renovations we’re hoping to get booked in so I won’t need to dip into my disposable income for anything like that. I’ve made/saved around £100 from round ups and selling some bits on eBay before this pay day so I do have that to fall back on top if I really need it. But, what will I have to spend on really over the next month? I don’t need anything!
Saturday
Make cake. Snow, workout. Chippy tea £9.30 for us both – L pays so it’s on ‘Acasa’ – the app we use to track household spends. I also buy a tripod thingy for £4.79 on eBay and in hindsight this was a waste of money because what I was going to use it for (my Valentine’s Reels), I didn’t end up using it. Annoyingly.
Earlier today we sold a random Meerkat (the Compare the Meerkat toys!) on Facebook Marketplace and the lady paid postage too so £5 made.
Sunday
£11.14 made on eBay Jeans & books eBay after postage etc. Not a huge amount but I’m popping all ‘extra’ money like this in a savings pot to see how much I get to! I buy a Valentine’s pressie for L – a ‘craft gin’ box which was on offer for £20. Actually a really good deal as the box included a full bottle of gin and some nice tonics.
We pop and see our bubble buddy as she’s a single adult and grab some flowers, milk & bread on the way. £4.36
Monday
Pop to Aldi on a mayo run and end up spending £7.68 on ice lollies and a spoon for the kitchen. £5 also goes out for BeautyPie – I’m in two minds about whether to cancel or not because I really like the cleanser that I’ve repurchased from there a few times but it ends up costing about £15 each time with the subscription, postage and the product so I think I might cancel it actually. I’ve typed myself out of it.
Here’s where I stopped the diary for that week because I didn’t spend anything else apart from our Asda shop arrived.
Saturday
We jointly spend £63.99 on Boots – only around £20 is mine. I grab shower gel, hand cream etc, lots of things I needed but also some face masks to cheer myself up.
Friday
£12.74 on MyVitamins – I grab Vitamin E & Zinc and Magnesium supplments.
Monday
Order some doughnuts for my friend as she’s alone on V Day – £13.95 delivered to her.
Sort loads of eBay sales from Sunday as we’ve jointly had a massive sort out. I make £32.52 which goes into my pot.
Tuesday
£3.60 on treats for my Valentine’s Reels treat board – pick n mix and also parcel tape and probably a Pepsi Max.
Wednesday
My Skin + Me payment goes out, £19.99 – I really rate this prescription skincare, I’ve been using it for about 6 months now and it’s really cleared up my spots and gives my skin much better texture. £29.97 on H&M on a new top and some new underwear and £7.20 on another face mask on ASOS this morning. This was a bit of a spendy day.
Thursday
Our joiner is here to do some work upstairs whilst I’m working downstairs. Covid safe, don’t worry. £155 each for the work we had done but this was from my savings pot that I’ve been chipping into for a while.
Monday
Birthday! We head for a lovely walk and Luke treats us to Pizza Hut for tea. £22.49 on H&M again, I have a problem. Also pay off £14.24 on Klarna from a Topshop order I forgot I’d not paid for yet.
Order some Dulux paint samples for our office makeover – £5.88
Tuesday
Buy myself some AirPods from Apple with a voucher my lovely team got me and some birthday money from grandparents and my dad. £199 and I had a £50 voucher.
The verdict.
So, I spent definitely more on clothes and beauty than I probably planned to, probably spurred on by the treat yourself birthday mentality. I’m definitely not going to buy anything from H&M or any more skincare for a while and I’m going to cancel Beauty Pie. It’s payday again this Monday coming so I’m going to try really hard to have a ‘No Spend’ month and just try and sell more things that I don’t wear or need instead.
Eek – how’s your lockdown spending been? Have you spent more or saved more in this winter lockdown?
