June spending review

Posted on July 6, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard Reply

I’ve spent a lot of today trying to get my budget and spending tracking spreadsheet in a better shape for the second half of the year. It’s no secret that I’ve been dating someone who lives on a different continent the last few months and this new romance plus the challenge of maintaining communication when we’re not together has taken precedence over everything else in my life. I decided last month (and shared the news with some of my colleagues) that I’ll be moving away from London at the end of the year. This has prompted a desire to get my finances in top shape for the move – more on that in my next post – which means I can share my June spending with any voyeurs out there.

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Money diary #9

Posted on May 21, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard 4

After many weeks of not prioritising my finances, I have finally got my act together with tracking my spending. In order to get a sense of what the (new) landscape looks like, I’m going to carry on with money diaries at least through to July when the person of interest (now to be referred to as bae) goes back. What does a week of treat yo’self look like? Feast your eyes:

I discovered my favourite flowers last week – black Petunias! Aren’t they pretty?

Where have I been?

Posted on March 31, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard 3

The last time I blogged was at the end of February. This is also the last time that I tracked my spending judiciously. I’d like to say that it was all down to my occasional extreme bouts of laziness but it’s been a little bit more than that. I have a strong suspicion that I’ve found “my person”. I met a cute girl when I was in San Fransisco at the start of March and even though nothing has happened, I’ve been caught up in a whirl of feelings that has manifested as insanely long phone calls and a complete disregard of most other things in my life.

A delightful afternoon at the beach in San Fransisco

Money diary #8

Posted on February 28, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard 1

I thought this might be my last money diary for a while – because I thought I’d got my act together. This is rather far from the truth. The second half of last week saw quite the spectacular increase discretionary spend for the problem areas – dating and socialising. I didn’t feel guilty for all of it though because I had a spectacular weekend. Here’s how things panned out:

Ally Pally was a spectacular venue for ice hockey

Money diary #7

Posted on February 19, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard 4

Argh! Another poor week. I should stop moaning after the fact. I consciously, willingly and decisively made some poor money choices last week that mean that I exceeded my budget in several categories as well as overall. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though so let’s look at how I spent my money last week.

I went to a Mexican restaurant that had a wide selection of hot sauces

Money diary #6

Posted on February 12, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard 6

In typical reforming spendthrift fashion, last diary’s awesomeness could only be followed by sub-par frugality last week. I ate out three times and bought groceries from the small, high-brow grocery store that’s conveniently located as opposed to the large one about a twenty minute walk away. Here’s where my money went:

Basketball for date night

Money diary #5

Posted on February 5, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard 4

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.

January spending & goal review

Posted on February 2, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard 2

I survived! January felt really long. This was mostly because the pay cycle was about 6 weeks long. Why, oh why, do we get paid before Christmas? It’s the end now and I got to do the very exciting task of reviewing how this first month of the year went. I initially thought I’d be doing the Uber Frugal Month challenge but then when I started looking at 2017’s budget – more on that in my next post – I figured that I had set some unrealistic targets for last year and wanted to use January as a template for what I really want my 2018 spending to look like. Let’s see how that went

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Money diary #4

Posted on January 29, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard 5

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.

Money diary #3

Posted on January 22, 2018 by luxuriouslythrifty Standard 6

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.

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Diary of a reforming spendthrift

A spendthrift's journey to becoming thrifty

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