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]