February No Spend Review

For me, pay day is the 25th of the month. I am now ready to sit down and analyse how I got on.

This month definitely threw a few curve balls. At the beginning of the month my TV died. It was a dilemma for me – to decide whether or not to buy new or second hand. Old me would have definitely gone for the new option. You know what you are getting and it will last many years. However, in the spirit of keeping spend down this year I went for the latter option – second hand. Second hand TVs aren’t quite what they used to be a decade ago – the big bulky backs, too heavy to lift. Second hand TVs these days are thin and of good standard as most people tend to upgrade to bigger TVs or the latest smart TV. I’m a sky customer so don’t really need to worry about having the latest things, just needed to be 32″ or bigger so I chanced it to see what I could get at the time. I successfully got a 42″ LG tv for £35. It certainly beats paying £200 for a brand new 32″ equivalent to what we had before. Win, win!

So here is a breakdown of my spend this month:

• Gift for a friend £5
• Period pants £10 (I wanted to try these in an attempt to be more environmentally friendly)
• Pocket money to my son £2.50 (I should have been nearer £10 but I’ve forgotten to actually give it to him and he hasn’t yet asked for it 🙂 oops.)
• Bakery treat for me and Noah £2
• TV £35

This is a grand total of £54.50! Not too bad considering I had to purchase a new TV.

Outside of my regular spend, I did pay for my car’s MOT (this was allocated in the budget).

I successfully sold a few items on eBay to raise some much needed funds to pay off some more debt. Anything I have sold I have used as extra payments towards the car finance or used it to top up my LISA.

As for food budget – I allocated £175. I actually spent £134.25. I had lots of items that I could use up in the cupboards and freezer so it kept costs down. I try and bulk cook meals and this also includes packed lunches for my son. Let me know if you’re interested in seeing my meal plans for each week.

I am looking forward to another month and the challenges this may bring (here’s hoping nothing else breaks).

Rachel, That 30 Something Life x