#35 Variable Spend Budget

For 16 of the 17 months I have been tracking budget spending we have over-spent on our variable spending.

The last 3 months have seen a combined variable spend of £3,831. This is £800 over budget.

I'm now going to attempt to break down the budget further to allow for better visibility of where the budget is wrong and allow me to focus on resolving.

Firstly, breaking down the spending into sub-categories.

We have Need, eg petrol, misc, debt interest. Kids.

Could. House, Mr Work.

Nice. Mr/Mrs/Family treats.

Then the one-off big items. The general idea of these being all must haves.

How much we spend on big-one off items?

Over the last 12 months we've spend £3,245.89 on one-off big items. This equates to £270 per month.

Our budget for variable spending per month is £450.

If we aim to reduce big spending to £250 per month. That leaves £200.

Things that can be removed, or not budgeted for as we want to remove them...

• Debt interest
• Top up Mrs account
• Mr work - buying lunches etc

Things which remain...

• Mr/Mrs/Family treats
• Stuff of kids
• Petrol

How this could break down...

• £250 on one-off big items. 
• £50 on petrol
• £100 on Mr/Mrs/Family treats
• £25 on kids stuff
• £25 on misc little items

I will update the budget and track this going forward.

Hopefully it will focus our decisions and allow me to identify where the over spend is coming from,

#34 Sept 2016 Summary

So, did we stick to the budget?

No. Overspent by £537.55.

If not, why not?

Fixed spend small amount over, inconsequential.
Grocery shopping - on budget.

We fell down on variable spending:
£330 on one-off big items.
£182 on family day outs/treats.
£143 on petrol.
£124 on the house.

Plus other spending meant that our variable spending was £935, which is over double the budget.

Some of this was needed, new freesat box to replace SKY TV (£184), car parking fine (£60).

Any positives?

The overspending of the last three months has been very bad. However, at least each month has got better.

Debt has dropped below £9k, now stands at £8,661.92.

Grocery shopping was again on budget thanks to using pre-pay card.

Lessons / thoughts?

Need to break down the variable spending budget to allow for better planning and understanding.

Expectations for next month?

My expectations for each following month have been well off recently.

However, we have our family holiday in October and still have the car-hire to pay for which will be roughly £150 plus other holiday spending. So expecting October to still be expensive and over budget, aim will be to spend less than this month to keep it going in the right direction.

Effect on overall finances?

S    Student loan – Does not exist anymore :)

·         House loan – £298 was paid off direct debit. Total remaining now is £6,547

·         Credit Card -  £48.68 was paid off. Total remaining now is £2,114.92

   

Total Debt = £8,661

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Savings

Paid for our foreign holiday to the Canary Islands so savings taken a beating.

Emergency savings / Savings for France 2017 family holiday

• £168

Shares

• Current value is £349.88 (decrease of £17.20)

Total savings =  £517.88

Pension

• Current value is £12,500.55