When I first started saving for a deposit, I was so dedicated to the cause that I’d question every single purchase and avoid buying non-essential items. However, in recent months I’ve found myself picking up old habits and wasting money on pointless stuff. Not only is this preventing me from saving as much as I could do, it’s also having a negative impact on my waistline. Ooops!
Enough’s enough! I need to change my ways and become frugal once again. So for the whole of April I’m going to keep track of everything I spend my money on and log it here. I’m hoping that by writing everything down and sharing it with you guys, I’ll shock myself into changing my ways.
In case you’re new to my blog, it’s worth noting that I live with my parents but spend half the week at the house that my boyfriend rents with strangers.
Friday 1st April
| Spotify Premium | £9.99 | GF Chocolate Cake | £2.00 |
| Diet Coke 500ml | £1.25 | Shampoo | £1.75 |
| GF Sandwich Thins | £2.20 | Conditioner | £1.75 |
| GF Chocolate Brownies | £1.66 | 3x Tesco Al Fresco Tapas | £5.00 |
| Honey Roast Ham | £1.77 | Bananas | 80p |
| Morrisons Medium Salad | £2.30 | Diet Coke 1.25L | £1.00 |
Total: £31.47
Today was a bad day. I was disorganised, forgetful, and gave into temptation too many times.
I woke up this morning to discover that I’d completely run out of gluten free bread. I tend to get it on prescription but, despite ordering it from the doctor a fortnight ago, it’s still not arrived. Sadly, this morning I realised I’d run out of supermarket stuff too. Nightmare.
After sitting on the bus with a rumbling tummy for over an hour, I popped into Morrisons on my way into work and wolfed down a ham toastie at my desk… followed by a chocolate brownie. Oops!
To make matters worse, I forgot to put my homemade bolognese in the fridge. Since it had been in my bag for 6 hours I decided not to risk it. Back to Morrisons I trecked before paying £2.30 for a salad bar concoction.
I met up with Jake after work and we spent 15 minutes discussing whether or not to go to La Tasca for tea. Thankfully we decided against it and opted for microwaveable stuff from Tesco. I bought us 3 dishes of Tapas for a fiver, while he bought us some paella for £6 (not included on this list since it wasn’t my money).
Saturday 2nd April
| Loo roll | £1.00 | Stir Fry Sauce | 65p |
| Handwash | 85p | GF brownies | £1.80 |
| Mr Muscle Drain Cleaner | £3.00 | Salsa Dip | 79p |
| Diet Coke | £2.00 | Milk | 45p |
Total: £9.54
After making use of stuff in Jake’s fridge for breakfast and lunch I felt excited at the thought of having a completely No Spend Day (NSD). But then we realised he was out of loo roll, low on handwash, and the plug hole in the shower was blocked for the 100th time. We tend to take it in turns to buy this sort of stuff and it was my turn today.
While in Tesco we decided to have a stir fry for tea (Jake bought the noodles, prawns, & vegetables). We’ve been having stir fries quite a lot recently as they’re relatively low-cost, quick to make, and pretty healthy. We also like to pretend we’re eating something from Pho rather than Tesco.
That was all well and good but then we ruined it all by having tortillas and dip…followed by chocolate brownies with ice cream. Woops!
Sunday 3rd April
| Tesco Multipack Crisps | 85p | Gala Apples | 75p |
| Dairy Milk Buttons | £1.00 | Diet Coke | £1.68 |
| GF Sandwich Thins | £2.20 | Ham | £1.00 |
| Microwave Chicken Tikka | £2.00 | Salad | £1.00 |
| BBQ Chicken Pizza | £2.00 | Jacket potato | 34p |
Total: £12.82
Most of the food I’ve eaten today consisted of either leftovers or stuff in the freezer. In the afternoon I nipped to Tesco to get a few other bits such as pizza for Jake’s tea, microwaveable chicken tikka for my lunch tomorrow, and erm…chocolate.
Monday 4th April
| Twirl | 75p | Rent | £200 |
| Crisps | 60p | Metrolink ticket | £3.60 |
Total: £204.95
Since I bought my lunch yesterday, I didn’t need to buy any proper food today which was good. The only naughty purchases I made were a Twirl and bag of crisps on my way into work. Frustratingly, I had to pay £3.60 for a Metrolink ticket back to my parents’ house in Sale though as the buses were in standstill traffic.
I got home to learn that my gluten free bread had finally arrived. Hooray! No longer need to buy pricey stuff from the supermarkets.
I also paid ‘rent’ to my parents today. Can’t really complain about that.
Tuesday 5th April
| Weekly Bus Pass | £14.00 | Diet Coke Multipack | £3.40 |
| 2 Twirls | £1.00 | Cadbury’s chocolate buttons | 70p |
Total: £19.10
I LOVE CHOCOLATE AND I WILL NOT BE STOPPED!
Wednesday 6th April
| Lemonade | 40p | Grapes | £2.00 |
| Jacket Potato | 41p | Pasta | £1.25 |
| Prosecco | £5.50 | Yogurt | 68p |
| Grated Cheese | £2.00 | Crisps | £1.99 |
| Chocolate Cake | £3.00 | Chocolate bars | £2.10 |
Total: £19.33
Prosecco, cake and chocolate bars…let’s pretend today didn’t happen.
Thursday 7th April
| Market Stall Chocolate Cake | £4.00 | X Box stuff for Jake’s Birthday | £45.00 |
| Meal for 2 at Pho | £47.90 | Bus ticket | £1.20 |
| Food shop | £7.52 |
Total: £105.62
Today was an expensive day. It was Jake’s birthday though so I bought him a last minute birthday gift (already bought some of it in March) and treated him to a meal at Pho. It was AMAZING and totally worth the money. We went to Tesco on the way home and so I paid for that too since it’s his day of birth n’all.
Friday 8th April
| Market Stall Chocolate Cake | £4.00 | Salad Dressing | £1.60 |
| Cheese | £1.80 | Twirl | 70p |
Total: £8.10
I really ought to stop buying this chocolate cake every Thursday and Friday but it’s just so good. Delicious gluten free treats are hard to come by so when I spot a little market stall selling homemade gf goodies, I can’t help myself. I need to remind myself that dropping £8 a week on 4 slices of cake isn’t cool. I should start making my own!
Saturday 9th April
| Metrolink Day Ticket | £5.00 | Diet Coke Multipack | £4.00 |
Total: £9.00
Today was a pretty good day! I’m spending the weekend at my parents’ house for a change so I’m locking myself away and not buying anything! I ended up taking the dog out for a long walk but I deliberately left my purse at home to keep temptation away.
Sunday 10th April
NO SPEND DAY!
Wow. This weekend really has been good when it comes to not spending any money. Usually I’d sneak off to the shops to buy myself some snacks but I’ve managed to exercise a bit of self control this time. I really miss chocolate though.
Monday 11th April
| Costa coffee and chocolate brownie | £4.50 | Lucozade | £1.20 |
I had the afternoon off work today to sign up for a Help to Buy ISA in branch at the Halifax. Before my appointment, I met up with a mate for a drink and a catch up at Costa.
Tuesday 12th April
| Weekly Bus Pass | £14.00 | Pho meal for 2 | £42.00 |
I’m weak, guys. I treated Jake to another meal at Pho because I’m weak.
Wednesday 13th April
| Diet Coke Multipack | £3 | Chocolate | £2.20 |
Just so you don’t think I’m consuming a multipack of Diet Coke every few days, the one I bought on Saturday is at my Mum’s house. This one is being left at work. Giving up Diet Coke altogether would of course be preferable, but for now I’m imposing a ban on buying cans separately. Since they can cost anywhere between 60p and 95p individually, I’m far better off buying a pack of 10 for £3 as soon as spot them on offer.
You might ask why I don’t do this with Twirls as well and the answer is simple… I WOULD EAT THEM ALL IN ONE GO! That really is how pathetic and greedy I am. I do have some self control when it comes to Diet Cokes though and tend to only drink one or two a day.
Oh and the £2.20 spent on chocolate today included some chocolate bars for Jake as well as one for myself. I only went in for the Diet Coke but since I had no change on me, I “had to” spend a fiver to avoid a 50p charge for using my card. In hindsight, I probably should have just paid the charge and saved myself some calories. I’m such an amateur.
Thursday 14th April
| Chocolate cake | £4.00 | Microwaveable curry | £2.00 |
Friday 15th April
| Chocolate cake | £4.00 |
Saturday 16th April
NO SPEND DAY!
Sunday 17th April
NO SPEND DAY!
Monday 18th April
| Toilet roll | £1.00 | Gala Apple | 35p |
| Cinnamon Bagels | £1.60 | Washing Up Liquid | 50p |
| Grapes | £2.00 | Chocolate | £1.20 |
| Mullerlight Yogurt | 68p | Simple Cleanser | |
| Conference Pear | 37p | Cotton wool pads |
Tuesday 19th April
| Salad bar tray | £2.30 | Weekly bus pass | £14.00 |
| Chocolate | £1.00 |
Wednesday 20th April
NO SPEND DAY!
Thursday 21st April
| Diet Coke Multipack | £3 | 2 Market Stall Chocolate Brownies | £4.00 |
| Diet Coke at Caffe Nero | £1.30 |
Friday 22nd April
| Meal for 2 at La Tasca | £40.00 | 2 drinks in the pub | £7.50 |
Jake’s started an 18 month internship in October but today he landed himself a proper job! To celebrate, we went and had a couple of drinks in the pub and a meal in La Tasca. I paid for it all but he paid for a ton of food and groceries from Tesco afterwards meaning I probably won’t have to spend much on the essentials over the next week.
Saturday 23rd April
NO SPEND DAY!
Sunday 24th April
| Metrolink ticket | £2.90 |
IT’S ALL DOWN HILL FROM HERE, GUYS
Argh. I’m writing this on the 1st May having not updated this post since the 21st. I’m having to wrack my brains and sift through my bank statement and reciepts to figure out what I’ve spent and where.
Monday 25th April
| 2 Twirls | £1.00 | Pepsi MMax Multipack | £3 |
Tuesday 26th April
| 2 Twirls | £1 | Metrolink ticket | £3.60 |
| Tesco | £22.10 |
According to my bank statement, I spent £22.10 in Tesco on this day and I don’t know what on!
Wednesday 27th April
| 2 Twirls | £1.00 | Weekly Bus Ticket | £14.00 |
Thursday 28th April
| 2 Chocolate Brownies | £4.00 | Tesco | £18.45 |
Again, another chunk of money has come out of my account from Tesco. Seeing as I didn’t go to Tesco on this day, I’m thinking this transaction must have been from a few days ago.
Friday 29th April
| 2 Twirls | £1 |
Saturday 30th April
