Oct ’18 Income and Expenses

So it appears that it is that time of the month again – another month of my life flown by without me realising, and the inevitability of the grave comes to mind – or is that just because it was Halloween?

Income

I am on a roll here – third month in a row and the taxman hasn’t changed my tax code!

So the same old pay cheque dropped in the bank account for a fleeting visit before all of my direct debits and standing orders went out (savings mostly!).

My other half’s ISA seems to be truly powering ahead now – it is really making a significant (sorry, bad pun I know) impact on the finances, however I can’t claim it for this month as it had to help last month!

Expenses

Item	Notes	Amount
Things I choose not to avoid*	Mortgage, Insurance, shared bills etc. – yes, we could move somewhere cheaper, not have insurance, reduce our bills a bit and so on, but we are where we are.	31%
Groceries	All the food and other stuff needed for home	2%
Alcohol for home	Home alcohol consumption only	4%
Bicycles / Car related	Any costs related to either the bikes or the car	1%
Alcohol Out	Generally, its the pub….	1%
Eating Out	I include purchased lunches in this as well as meals out etc.	3%
Other	My catch all for anything I may have missed….	1%
Holidays	Any spending related to holidays, flights etc.	1%
Savings	Anything left over! This includes money into ISAs, mortgage payments and non relief pension contributions. My company pension comes out before it hits my bank account so isn’t included, nor do I include the “top up” of money when my money goes into my personal pension (i.e. I put in £100, I register it as £100, not the £125 that gets credited in my pension)	56%

* This covers a number of things that I would class as essential for me. Yes, I could move to somewhere cheaper to reduce the mortgage (which in turn would reduce the insurance I have to pay), yes I could reduce my bills by switching energy supplier etc. but it comes down to what I am happy with. There are a few other things in there that are classified as essential that others may object, and so I have just lumped it into there. This has reduced as our mortgage has been redone, and the difference being used to overpay the mortgage, but is still counted by me as savings

WOWSER! I knew I had seriously tightened my belt, but 56% (ok rounded up as actually 55.69%). This is my highest EVER savings rate – that’s 3 times this year I have clocked over 50% savings rate

Could I do that level every month? As I was writing this, my view was no. Then I thought back, what did I do in October. One thing I love about writing this blog is it forces me to go back and look at things like this on reflection. I would have said I lived like a hermit, but actually there was the FI meetup, a friends birthday lunch, couple of meals down the pub and a few trips to Majestic / local vintners – so it wasn’t really that bad.

I think I need to challenge myself to do this more, especially for November with Christmas just around the corner!

The things I do nothing about is a bit higher this month due to me taking the income from my other half’s ISA for last month, otherwise it is all steady in absolute terms.

If I am truly honest – I wonder if my alcohol spend is maybe just a little high as it regularly seems to take up some of my income every month – it isn’t healthy, in terms of return on investment (assuming I consume it), it isn’t great either. But you know what? F**k it – I don’t half enjoy it 😀

Overall? A truly stonking month I think I would say after all that – a few more like this and I may even start to repair the damage done to my cash funds earlier in the year!

How was your September?