Working the numbers 2019 style

mark55man

Thank you DIA

Not stopped counting - just not doing many - pretty much head down at work so only doing a few hundred at a time rather than a long walk around the block - and then crashing out at home - although the weekend was spent jogging around the venue but it wasnt a very big venue!

I am WFH today - part time off in lieu and part weather avoidance, although for now its dry so will do an extra long one over lunch

mark55man

4 mile walk at lunch in the cold but dry air was very refreshing. just finishing off some admin at work then will call it a day a bit early and start on my next project at work tomrorow.

mark55man

A slightly lazy week 4 report, key results are

* Steps - 6393 average - Work Lunches 4/5, Vegan/Veg 0/7 , No Alcohol Purchase (it was all free at point of consumption)
* NSD 1/7 - CC Use 4/7 (bad). Other debt discussed in monthly report next post
* Food waste - a little bit creeping in, mainly half used packs and leftovers, but one vegan beetroot burgers which simply no one used, and then it was too late - so that was a bit poor

Highlights - Wedding Enjoyment
Lowlights - Wedding Spends

mark55man

So bottom line net balance for January -£570 - (more outgoings than incomings). However this includes mortgage and £900 other debt repayments.

Majority of deficit was covered by unexpected bonus "magic money" in my Dec pay cheque plus paid for OH car insurance + wedding costs + some residual expenses from New Year holiday, but still its all been spent now

My spreadsheet which has all transaction from all personal accounts, savings accounts and credit cards has 200 entries of which about a quarter are debt payments or transfers between accounts and I think that is way too many!! Although I have completely stopped using cash so maybe that's the new normal for transactions

Not providing to the penny estimates as there is an element of fuzz between categories - ie where does haircut spending go!. Also they would falsely indicate that I knew where the pennies were going, which clearly I don't. So I don't quite know what to make of the numbers others than I may have overcommitted, but there is plenty of slack. Also it has been quite a spendy month so we will see how we go in Feb

Details

* My grocery was £775 for a long month - which is far from MSE but is better than it has been - about 70% at Mr S / Mr L, and the rest spread across Mr T(Express) and Waitrose (we're on first name terms). More cooking from scratch and less ready meals and mainly less meat

* Car was £500 of which £300 was work fuel and £200 was personal

* Entertainment & Social & hobbies (mainly coffee/meals out with friends and family plus OH crafting and occasional meet-ups) was £400 which included a couple of meals out which were birthday or celebration related

* Then household and day to day costs (not shopping, but utilities, mobiles, energy, maintenance, ikea) was about £700

* Holiday costs (inc wedding) were about £300

* Finally Family costs - ie kids/uni subsidy / clothes / beauty etc were another £800 - the most of which was one rent payment before student finance kicked in

* The rest of the spends were work costs mainly £400 for hotel and meals staying away

ohdearhowdidthathappen

January was a ridiculously long month, it was almost 2 months rolled into 1.

Also, the words beetroot and burgers should never be in a sentence together... very wrong :rotfl:

I agree with DIA, you have a lovely balance... frugal without being mean

mark55man

thank you oshdth - I agree I am not mean, but going through the spreadsheet did make me wonder about whether I could truly claim the frugal bit. Home made vegan food is very nice - once you get used to a new set of ways to flavour things - and very frugal

mark55man

speaking of home made vegan food our pot supper event last night turned out to be a vegan feast - with humous, followed by veggie curry and dhall, followed by banana and coconut ice cream. total cost for 25 people £122 with at least one doggie bag per family (can you have a vegan doggie bag??). my expert eye suggested the alcohol assembled waa at least double that value! I recycled some of my xmas stash so that worked well

today wasnt a NSD as it is DS2 birthday, and we took him out for lunch - steak and cider for him - having grown up children does make eating out more civilised and we had a good chat - he is job hunting at the moment so we went for a wonder around town and he asked ad hoc at a few shops - but no joy

LondonGirl252

Jan was soooo long it hurt! You're doing well, you have a lot going on and even if you do go a little over you're reviewing it often enough to spot that quickly and then rein it back in.


Hope DS2 had a great birthday!

mark55man

Today has been a good day, in that I got to the gym and managed quite a few steps and an achingly slow 2K on the rowing machine.Then cheese on toast for lunch and mince rice and peas for supper - feeding 3 for £3 always a plus

It's also been sad in that I have spent most of the afternoon reading tributes and watching clips for the comedian Jeremy Hardy who passed away aged only 57 this week. Such a funny man, and someone who didn't let fame and wealth diminish his views.

doingitanyway

Well done on your activity levels today. Half the battle with the gym is getting there so well done.

I was also fond of Jeremy Hardy. He had integrity and not many have that. He also made me laugh.