Daily Spends – A Diary of Spending Habits

I love Pay Day . . . and today is that very day. For a few days I can rest comfortable knowing there is at least ’some’ cash in my bank account. How long it will last is anyone’s guess but I’m surprised what improvements I’ve made to my daily spending with the help of my blog.

I think its all about the discipline really. The discipline of just trying to keep a dailyspending blog helps you to keep track on exactly what you’re spending and changes your attitude towards those thoughtless little purchases.

Happy saving/spending!

We aimed to take it easy this Bank Holiday weekend and keep spending to a minimum – and succeeded! Managed to get away with minimum spend on Saturday, Sunday & Monday with cunning use of some old school days out!

Saturday, Feed the Ducks! – Took it easy at the park. Took the children to feed the ducks and for a run around. Two cheap ice creams & a good play on the park. Spend – £1.60 (two ice creams)

Sunday, Get to the Seaside! – Blackpool! Oh yes! Blackpool! If ever there was a place children could make you spend money – its Blackpool! . . . No if you’re savvy like me though. Park at the far end of the prom (find a free spot outside someone’s house), take a good long stroll up the beach and then spend a couple of hours on the fairground. Spend – £3.49 (large chips, candy floss)

Monday, Watch the Planes Land! – The most expensive day this weekend was a trip to the Aviation Viewing Park to see the planes come in at the airport. Fab afternoon out (if a little geeky) – Spend – £20.00 (fuel & entry)

I do enjoy football (sorry ’soccer’) but I’d be the first to admit that I’m not as big a fanatic as some of my friends & co-workers.

There are a number of reasons for this:

1 – I don’t have the time to spare
2 – It’s not one of my major priorities
3 – I just couldn’t afford it . . .

Being a fanatical football supporter can leave a serious footprint on your daily spending regime and with Premiership tickets now averaging between £30-£50 per match you can see why.

Even if you threw the odd match in as a special treat, you’d still rack up some serious additional spend.

On the back of lat night’s Champions League Final, one of my co-worker’s totted up exactly how much it’s cost him to follow his club this year . . . £5359.00 including tickets, travel & accomodation!

I suppose the story starts about here (where the media started to sew the seeds of consumer spending doubt) and ends about here (where middle England gets hit by the credit crunch). Somewhere in between, unprecedented financial conditions have made a previously unthinkable impact on UK consumers.

I fell foul to a great bacon sarny this morning for the princely sum of £1.50. I try to stay away from these little treats until the end of the week . . . but I just couldn’t resist on this occasion.

Just in case you’re interested. I like my bacon slightly underdone with crispy fat (depending on the quality of the bacon/establishment).

Travel Allowance Update – Mon 20.05.08
Budget = £256.00
Month to date (total spend) = £191.45
Surplus/(Deficit) = £64.55

It’s amazing how in such a short space of time issues that weren’t once an issue to you come to light and start to bother you.

12 months ago I’d never paid any attention to economics wider than the last £100 in my current account, but suddenly I find my interests embroiled in the workings of international economics.

I now pay attention when I hear stories of food price increases as I can now see how little changes can make a big difference that is felt across the globe.

My attention was drawn today to the Mexican Tortilla Price increase, an issue that will impact many millions of people in Mexico and other places no doubt. I wonder exactly how we can avoid this kind of crisis in the UK? Exactly just how much would prices need to increase by to cause major protests?

It’s scary stuff . . . and my eyes have been opened to an entirely new way of thinking.

Managing Debt - Should the Government Help the Consumer?

Apologies . . . another financial and political musing on the back of me reading yet more doom and gloom in the morning papers as I wonder how on earth UK consumers are going to manage their debts.

It seems pretty clear that the everyday consumer is being hit with various financial problems ranging from rising mortgage rates, to spiralling food and energy costs so I’m starting to wonder how people are going to meet their credit obligations. . . will they start to turn to debt solutions?

With numerous debt management studies, including this one, predicting that consumers are taking more radical steps (such as cancelling holidays) to manage their debts, I wonder just exactly how the Government is planning to help the majority of consumers in financial difficulty. IF indeed the should at all.

I’m opening this question to the floor . . . feel free to comment