I don’t know what the rest of 2018 will be like but last week was one of my favourite weeks of the year so far. It’s not so much anything to do with the fact that I successfully completed Dry January and so had my first drinks of the year but more to do with nailing a really good week where I worked hard, ate well and got to hang out with really great people while coming in under budget. Here’s what my week was like.
In the last few days of 2017 I thought I might do the ultra frugal month challenge this month and then I looked over my 2017 budget and realised that for many categories, I’d made rather unrealistic spending targets. Sure, I’d known at the start of the year that I had a fairly lucrative side-hustle that would fund some of that spending but I really wanted to be able to budget more accurately for 2018. This week’s money diary means that I’ve got a more accurate picture of what I would spend in a month where I was dating, socialising and living the way I’d like to carry on doing through 2018. The only thing that isn’t quite reflective of how the rest of the year might go is that I’m not drinking at all. Here’s what I spent last week.
I know that I’ve spent more money than budgeted for last week but I don’t feel bad about it. I can only make a plan and if life gets in the way – positively – of executing that plan there’s very little I can do about it. I was thrilled to finally execute my teaching gig and get paid for it, preview early retirement life with a perfect day off and generally live what felt like I was on the path to luxuriously thrifty life.
I really tried this week to chalk up a few “no spend” days (other than my PAYG travel) but I kind of had the worst luck in terms of my health and injuries so Monday turned out to be the only day I didn’t spend. I had to cancel a trip to Oslo in favour of dedicating the time to my side-hustle (nailed it!) and spent some intentional time with friends. In spite of the rubbish run of luck, it was a rather decent week. Here’s what happened:
Anyone who spends more than an hour in my company gets a sense of how varied my interests and activities are. I often run out of time to do things that I’ve planned in advance, I’ve often double-booked myself and it’s often happened that I have to go to 3/4 different places in different parts of London in one day. I play badminton and football with regularity. I’ve also got various side-hustles. It often feels like I’m doing too much and spread rather thin. It also sometimes feels like I’m only delivering at a level that is a little shy of my full potential.
I didn’t track my November and December spending daily like I’ve got accustomed to over the last year or so and I can see the difference in spending for those weeks relative to the rest of the year is rather high. For one thing, I went for at least 2-3 weeks at a time eating every single meal out. I shopped indiscriminately and didn’t really set a budgeted amount for Christmas shopping. My spending was not very intentional. To help me get back into the habit of recording daily and provide more accountability, I’m going to try to keep a discretionary spending money diary post going for at least a couple of months.
I took a walk round Hampstead heath . It was awesome and free!
I’ve loved reading all the 2017 round ups that have been doing the rounds (yes pun!) this week. Last year I had a big hairy (financial) goal of saving more. I also had associated goals related with eating better, getting fitter and de-cluttering. Here’s a summary of my progress, or lack thereof last year:
This is a rather shamefaced blog post. It’s over halfway through December and I’ve only just got round to doing my spending review for last month. I’ve also been very bad at documenting my daily spending, keeping track of my discretionary spending envelopes and have generally been behaving rather badly the last few weeks. I’d like to blame it on the festive season but I know it isn’t really that. I think that I’ve got a little bit too caught up in today, instant gratification and the a little less bothered by the things that should matter i.e. paying off debt and saving toward the lifestyle that I [think I] want to live. Here’s the dirty on November.
My friends, who had previously lived a couple a minutes away from my place, moved to Scotland in July and promptly booked a holiday for us all to reconnect with them and check out their new digs. I spent a night with them in Glasgow then we took a wee road trip to the Trossachs where we’d rented out a cottage for a few days of rest, relaxation, hiking and tons of board games. This absolutely fabulous holiday was not only an amazing way to reconnect with amazing humans, but it cost me less than £200 for a 4 night stay.
Loch Katrine a few minutes away from the cottage
Here’s the breakdown of the spending: Continue reading
I finally have a breather from what turned out to be quite a busy and rather intense end to October. I got tackled and suffered sprained knee ligaments and some bone related ankle injury that has prevented me from cycling or doing sport since the 23rd of September. That’s context for the rest of this review.
Diary of a reforming spendthrift 