Daily Spends – A Diary of Spending Habits

Every now and again I look back at dailyspends and realise that I’m not doing a great job of tracking my actual spending. I’ve also been a bit naughty and neglected the blog slightly over the last few weeks.

The thing about DailySpends is that I enjoy writing it and when I do write it, it actually makes me think about what I’m spending.

This weekend we’ve been a bit short on the readies because we’ve had to spend a few quid on the car (£270 to be precise on MOT, TAX & a new tyre). So it’s been back to basics with some old skool (yes! with a K) thrifty tricks:

1 – Nice cheap dinners: Home made pizza (50p per head) , Nachos (30p per head), Cheap Sunday Roast (£1.00 per head)

2 – Cheap weekend drinks: 20 bottles Becks (£7.59 on sale at Tesco), 4 litres Cider (£3.00)

3 – Family fun: Dog show (free), Craft (free), Park & Walk (free)

I don’t mean to make assumptions . . . but I’ll assume for the sake of this post that anyone reading DailySpends will enjoy the occasional drinkypoos.

There are generally 3 types of occassion (staying in, going out, celebrating) when I will want to drink, and 3 drinking decisions that I will make in each situation (what I feel like drinking, how much I want to avoid getting drunk, how much I want to spend).

Today I’m musing over budget drinks . . . the most bang for the buck if you will . . . beer, cider, wine or spririts.

I generally have two favourites for budget style home drinking:

Booths Claret – £3.99 a bottle. A lovely versatile red perfect for everyday drinking
SuperBock – £3.99 for 6. A fab (and strong) Potugese lager

There are other options of course (I hear Frosty Jack is Trying2Save’s recommended tipple ) cider, spirit and mixers. The lady who runs our local Fish ‘n’ Chip shop seems to swear by 1.5ltr of Spars finest Vermouth, but I’m not convinced.

Anyway. Just by writing this post I’ve clarified my favourites. Booths Claret or SuperBock. Good work!

Let’s keep it real eh? Month end . . . severe lack of funds . . . depressing trip to the docs. I need some relaxation in the form of beer. So here’s what I’m guessing as spend for today:

6 x Beer – £5.00
1 packet of pistachio nuts – £1.49
Fuel – £15.00
Total – £21.49

Wooo hoooo. Payday on Thurs and still had a little bit of cash left to treat the kids this weekend. We didn’t spend much though. Just kept it simple with some nice food and swimming:

Beers – £10.00
Alcohol free wine – £4.00
2 x swimming sessions – £7.50
Groceries – £23.50
Hospital parking – £1.50 (my son decided to do surgery on himself)
Papers – £1.50
Fuel – £10.00
Total – £48.00

Top weekend had by all

Might have a bit of a blow out tonight. Spend a bit of cash on the old Winicus Winicus and Ham.

Bottle of Wine: £5.50 (cheap rioja)
Lambrusco: £2.45
Serrano Ham: £3.45

Others from today:
Fuel: £15.00
Breakfast: £1.50

Have a happy weekend.

NB – Didn’t buy a bottle of wine last night so I’m knocking £3.25 off today’s spend:

Tuesday 29.01.08
Train Fare – £14.00
Soft Mints – £0.50
KitKat – £0.50
6 Bottles Beer – £4.40
(Minus wine from last night – £3.25)
Total Spend – £16.15

Could have left:
Soft Mints – £0.50
KitKat – £0.50
6 Bottles Beer – £4.40
Could have saved total = £5.40

Work day today, let’s try and keep it cheap:

Monday 28.01.08
Train fare – £8.50
Bacon butty – £1.50
Bus fare – £1.00
Bottle red wine – £3.25
Total spend – £14.25

Could have left:
Bacon butty – £1.50
Bus fare – £1.00
Bottle red wine – £3.25
Could have saved total = £5.75

Hi there. Daily spends is my new blog where I’m going to keep track of my daily spending habits. Every so often I’m going to look back at what’s been spent and see where I can make some changes.

I’m gonna start with yesterday’s spends. A cold January Sunday with not much to do except spend a little cash:

Sunday 28.01.08
Petrol – £10.06
Portion of Scallops from chippy – £1.76
Supermarket Shop – £9.96
*Wine
*Nappies
*Ice Cream
*Apples
Total Spend = £21.78What could I have left?:
Scallops – £1.76
Wine – £2.25
Total I Could Have Left = £4.05