7.10.15

Spending Report Week 5


This week has felt easier. It's beginning to feel more normal to be spending quite a long time planning my menu and shopping. I'm falling into the habit of planning next week's menu and shopping list well in advance. I'm also giving myself plenty of time to check the fridge, freezer and cupboards. I think I'm getting a bit quicker at the whole process. I hope so, I've got many more weeks to go during A Year of Less Spending. Here's what happened in week 5.

Grocery shopping: £75.41 (budget £92 per week/£400 per month for three to four of us which includes food, household items and toiletries). My lowest week so far probably because some of the meals were from the freezer.

Spending diary: There's only been one no spend day but the other days were very low. My only extraordinary spend was £10 spent on plants and bulbs for a tub (picture below). It's very purple and very cheery at the front of our house.

Motivation: I'm finding I'm enjoying searching for new recipes. Spending less on groceries is motivating me to be more adventurous with our meals. I've borrowed Jack Monroe's A Year in 120 Recipes from the library and I'm looking forward to testing some of her dishes.

Clothes shopping: I've tidied my wardrobe and edited out a few pieces. I wished I'd done it weeks ago as having space around my clothes looks good and makes me feel better. No new clothes needed * breathes deeply*

Treats: The autumn planter was a treat but I kept the cost as low as I could. As you can see from the menu last night we were treated to a meal out with family. However, Tuesday is the start of my spending week so that's technically week 6's spending. My menu runs Thursday to Wednesday just to add to the confusion. I should, I suppose, try to synchronise my spending week with my menu.

Temptations: I was tempted to visit a hairdressers but I decided to have a go myself and just trimmed my fringe. My last salon visit was in August so I can hopefully last longer without a professional cut. In 2015 I've spent £88 so far on my hair (three visits in February, May and August). This is much lower than in other years due to the fact that I'm cutting my own hair in between salon visits and no longer colouring my hair.

Menu: We've eaten well this week but maybe having roast beef and then steak wasn't the healthiest option. I tried Rachel Khoo's harissa minestrone soup for the first time which was as warming as I'd imagined. It made six generous portions (two are in the freezer). I also varied our usual shepherd's pie recipe by substituting half of the lamb with red lentils (as seen on BBC One's Eat Well For Less). This also tasted good. The beef was a brisket cut and cost just under £7. It gave us enough for second helpings (youngest son) and we also had it as leftovers on Monday instead of our staple feel good Monday meal (egg 'n' chips). I also made Eton mess trifles with frozen berries, cream, meringues, strawberry jam and custard. I've got a mess of meringue nests in my cupboard and I'm trying to whittle them down. Four gone this week, six to go. 

I'll leave you with my week 5 photos. How's your spending and motivation going?



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9 comments

  1. The new month has begun, we've had our little holiday, no more birthdays for a while, youngest back at uni so now I can make a new effort with the home economics! I'm going to first sell/donate some of my clothes as packing a small bag for our holiday made me realise that actually I will never wear 80% of the clothes I own and even though I took a small bag, I still only wore about half of the things.

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    1. That's the great thing about holiday packing - it makes you realise how little you need and select your favourite pieces that you're happy to wear more than once. Good luck with saving this month xo

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  2. I'm enjoying the Year of Less Spending posts, Claire. This project is such a wonderfully mindful way of recognising and acknowledging how and where we spend money;being more thoughtful and appreciative of the treats we allow ourselves. I am very careful with how and where I spend money but have in the past been a little too caught up in the frugality and austerity of it all. What resonates about your lovely posts is the peacefulness and thoughtfulness of your approach, balancing pared back spending with a wonderful quality of life. Thank you.

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    1. Thank you, this is such a lovely comment. I only hope these posts don't get too repetitive. I think I'm learning something new every week about my habits, attitude and motivation towards spending.

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  3. You're doing well to keep track of your spending Claire. I still do it everyday, it's a habit I never feel like giving up. It comforts me to know where our money is going.

    Your garden tub looks lovely x

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  4. You are doing really well tracking your spending. It does help to keep the mind focused doing a blog post about this doesn't it.

    That tub looks lovely, I have a thing about old zinc planters, and have a bigger bath as my main herb garden just outside the back door :-)

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    1. Thanks Sue. This tub was found in my Great Uncle's garden (also the home where Dad grew up) when we were clearing his house out. It was full of leaves and was home to a frog but I love it now it's all cleaned up!

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  5. Thank you for this, it's lovely to read xo

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