With April now done and dusted it’s time to see if I managed to keep to my plan to reduce my monthly spending and increase how much I save. I have turned April’s spending into the same pie chart as February and March’s spending with the same groups of outgoings. If you compare this chart to the previous months you can see that it’s quite different — housekeeping is (slightly unexpectedly) noticeably larger, as it travel. Purchases around half that of the previous two months, while food is higher than either of the previous months. Overall spending was roughly the same as the previous months so it makes a good comparison. [read more]
My housemate made a comment with regard to finances the other day and it made me think. She commented on how I should be able to put a certain amount of money into saving each month. While I do save money, and I have a salary-sacrifice pension too, I don’t think I am saving as much as possibly I could. I was also thinking recently about a possible future change to my outgoings and wondering what I could afford. So I decided to do some analysis on my spending over a few months in early 2012. The following is a break down of February and March, and I will take a look at April once the month is complete.
I have broken my spending down into 10 broad categories: housekeeping, basic outgoings for rent, electricity, home insurance, TV license, etc. (I think it’s worth noting that I don’t pay 100% of these expenses, they are generally split 50/50 with my housemate, but as they go through my account they are all included in this analysis); entertainment, including going out, books, DVDs, music, games, etc.; cash, as I have taken this information from bank statements I can’t define what cash is spent on, it is most likely a mix of the other categories; purchases, general material purchases such as clothes and camera equipment; [read more]
I just got in to find Dana shouting directions down the phone to Tim who is trying to find his way out of Birmingham (the place he lives, incidentally). This wouldn’t seem like a strange thing if it weren’t for the fact she’s having to shout everything three or four times before he listens and takes action. He also seems to have no clue where he is. No clue at all. God knows what he would do if he was left alone, or if Dana wasn’t quite so… accomodating. I know I’d have got fed up with having to shout things over and over and over for half an hour (and still going!), no matter who it was.
And the best bit of all? He demanded she ring him back.
A couple of weeks ago Paul, a work acquaintance of Dana and I, got married. While they married in a small ceremony in Spain, they had a reception back here for around 200 people at a posh hotel. I was invited, as was Phil, Dana and Tim.
We were told about it quite a long time ago, and Dana had spoken to Tim about him going. He’d not been very keen on the idea and had initially tried to convince Dana that she shouldn’t go, simply because he didn’t want to. Thankfully she stood her ground and said she was going, and that it was up to him if he wanted to. He agreed to come along after he’d finished work and made his way back from Birmingham. She offered for him to give both me and Phil a lift back after the reception. [read more]
What a twat. Excuse my language, but what a fucking twat.
Guess who I’m talking about. Yeah, it’s Tim. Dana’s not very well — she’s got a pain in her lower abdominal area which has been bothering her for a few days, and today it got worse. So she went to the doctor today and they gave her some antibiotics for the infection she’s had, but they also said it might be apendicitis. That’s a bit worrying in my eyes and I know it can take a turn for the worse very quickly. [read more]
So Tim lost his job. Oh well.
Let me explain. Tim is an animator, he draws stuff. Currently he works for Rare, a computer game studio owned by Microsoft. It seems that this industry, like most industries based around the arts, is pretty fickle and unstable. When there’s work on it’s great, when there isn’t then there’s a whole load of talented people all looking for work doing the same thing. His contract was only ever short — 3 months I think initially extended to 6 months — working on the little rip-off Wii Mii things Microsoft are releasing as part of their XBox 360 dashboard enhancements this autumn. He heard today that they wouldn’t be extending his contract simply because they don’t have any work for them to do. [read more]
I’m so tired. I can’t concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing — I tried to do some work but I just can’t think stright. On that front it doesn’t help that I don’t have access to the internet on this train. They call this a main line. [read more]
Well there goes another entry (heh, it seems to be calming to write this from college after exams, lol). I should be in general studies now, but I’m not going to go – my excuse is that I’m stressed about the exam I just had (or something…). That’s one thing that is odd – we don’t have exams leave as such. They decided that they would carry on running lessons up to the exams, but we get the day before any exam off so we could revise. I think generally people are taking that as being ‘it doesn’t matter if you don’t go to lessons, no one will complain’.
Anyway, enough with talk of exams (that was the last entry!). Its spring bank holiday next week, hurrah. It will give me chance to have at least some kind of rest, even if I have promised to go into Age Concern at some point over the holidays (rather was nagged into it by my mother, lol). [read more]
Honestly, the police told us. Yesterday when I was in the afternoon, my mum came up and said there was a police woman downstairs who was trying to find out if there was anyone who had seen an attempted break in next door. Apparently someone had tried to get into his conservatory, but had been scared off. Now our kitchen looks out straight over his conservatory, and they think that a light coming on in our kitchen scared them off. Next door went to bed at about 12, and my parents went to bed at about 11, but I went downstairs at 1.30 to put the bread on for the next morning…and put the kitchen light on. I can’t say I realised, or that I saw anything, but they think that me going down to make the bread scared them off, lol. I don’t think they would have got away with anything if they had got in – the alarm would have just gone off, and they would have gone then – but its always nice to know I probably prevented it.
I haven’t written since Christmas so I will try to get this up-to-date now. [read more]
Hehe, yep, I have been in an earthquake! I know its not usually something that people are happy about, but it didn’t do much harm, and I was awake when it happen, and its something that not everyone can say, hehe. [read more]