September 2015 Income/Expenses
It’s payday today which means time for this month’s Income/Expenses!
I think it’s important to keep track of your income/expenses every month as it allows you to spot trends and areas for improvement. I find it really useful to track the spending changes each month, and really motivating to see the networth improvements. Sometimes it can seem like financial independence is so far away, but by watching your networth steadily increasing you’ll know you will reach that point eventually. I’ve created a new page to keep track of total networth, you can find it here.
September was a really busy month for me; I came back from visiting the parents in France, went for a weekend away at Centre Parcs with a volunteer organisation and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day down at Goodwood Revival thanks to a family member who managed to get us a load of free tickets. I even managed to squeeze in a telephone interview with a BBC reporter about Financial Independence and Early Retirement, no idea if they’re going to use the material yet though so watch this space! All of this however meant I neglected the blog slightly and so post count was down but I’m happy to see the Forums are remaining active. If you haven’t registered yet – please do so and join us in the conversation.
Google Analytics tells me we’ve had 8,250 pageviews from 2150 users. I’ve also joined the cool kids and started a Twitter account to post updates and a few random thoughts. Please feel free to ‘add me’ or whatever the Twitter equivalent is. I’m @EarlyRetireGuy
On to the report:
Income
Salary: £2047.38
Pension Contributions: £506
Total: £2,553.38 (-0.2%)
Expenses
Mortgage/Bills: £718.11
Groceries: £109.52
Petrol (Gas): £50
Maintainance/DIY: £0
Eating out: £60.11
Healthcare: £27.89
Entertainment: £37.54
Other: £99.36
Total: £1102.53 (-13.7%)
An awesome reduction in expenses this month even with the busy schedule! Most of that was helped by a huge drop in groceries expenses; My partner has recently started a new job with a pretty significant salary increase and all her travel expensed as well which puts her on a higher income than me so we’ve decided to start splitting the grocery bill more evenly. We’ve also started shopping more at the discount supermarkets with great results.
A savings difference of £1450.85 which is 57%!
Networth
House Equity: £33,153.79
Cash in bank: £3,735.75
ISA Investments: £5,500.69
Pension 1: £15,701.90
Pension 2: £4,264.37
Total Networth: £62,356.50 (+1.8%)
The ISA investments have again taken a hit, however an increase in cash in bank and house equity see a continued increase in overall networth.
16 thoughts on “September 2015 Income/Expenses”
Well done on a fantastic savings rate, despite your trip to France and to Centre Parcs. Let us know if that BBC report ever materialises and hope that when it does, it gets some more exposure to your blog and to FI/RE in general in the UK! :-)
Thanks Weenie! Will do, If this one doesnt then at least theyve got my details on record for anything in future.
Nice frugal month there especially considering you were away twice.
The BBC thing sounds great, I hope that comes to fruition!
Cheers TFS, I was actually surprised by the low figures myself. I think it helped that my parents insisted on cooking for us alot and while I was away at Centre Parcs everything was paid for by the company.
Great work on keeping on top of those expenses, especially when it included two trips away! At least this early in the cycle with the hit on the stocks, it gives you the chance to buy a bit more a bit cheaper, so think of it as a positive!
Keep us posted on the BBC interview, I wait with interest! :)
Very true Rob! I did get a bit saddened last month to see my ISA had dropped, but im in it for the long run and should really see this as a discount period ;)
Spot on view of it – the way I treat some of mine (ok, the penny share gambles aren’t quite the same!), but its a great time to top up for the next 10 years or so, I am just struggling on what to go for :)
Great stuff buddy. BBC interview will be interesting! :)
Thanks Mr Z!
Great looking numbers. I’m always impressed with your spending levels, they certainly make me very envious :)
Out of interest which Center Parcs did you go to? I’m headed to the one in Milton Keynes later in the year but I know they are famously expensive once you are in to do pretty much anything. Any frugal tips on how to avoid getting stung?
Really? I consider our spending to be quite high really. Remember this is only my half of the expenses, my partner then spends around the same amount out of her income (which is now higher than mine).
I went to the brand new one; Woburn Forest. It can be a VERY expensive trip if you do alot of the paid for activities. Instead, check out the pool and take some bikes to cycle round on. When I’ve gone with family previously we spent alot of the time just hanging out together, having a bbq and some beers on the terraces and just enjoying the time cycling round. A few of the activities aren’t too horrendous for prices, my partner and I went horse-riding which was no more expensive than if you’d done it anywhere else. Avoid the bars/restaurants, they are very expensive compared to normal places!
Well done on having such a great month, despite being away a couple of times. It’s awesome that you’re still able to keep up a wonderfully high savings rate!
On the groceries – we managed to reduce our bill somewhat significantly – to the tune of 50% (actually a bit more than that!). The ‘discount’ supermarkets are not as cheap as you think – our basket of shopping was checked every week on mysupermarket.co.uk and Sainsbury’s came out best every single time. You can our last grocery bill slashing report here:
http://theresvalue.co.uk/how-to-cut-your-grocery-bill-in-half-week-four-report-2/
All credit to ThrifyLesley.com for the super cheap meal plans!
Cheers
Thanks M! I was actually surprised myself when I ran the numbers and was sure I’d missed a laod of stuff off but I double checked and its all good.
We’re finding the discount supermarket to be alot cheaper than Sainsburys, I think a big part of it is that due to limited choice we (chough* my partner) has less opportunity to be an impulse shopper and buy expensive brand name goods. I did see a few of your posts about the super cheap meal plans, I might try one in future although it’s difficult with a fussy eater.
Great job on your savings rate of 57%. That’s awesome! As of right now our savings rate is closer to 30% but as soon as my wife completes schooling I will be increasing that amount closer to 50%. Retirement guy your killing it.
Thanks Michael. It’s not always that high for me, occasionally I hit around the mid-40s but months like this just show how it is possible to save more than you spend in a month. I hope you manage to get up to 50% too!
Great job on the 57% savings rate!! Turning that saved capital into something that works for you will only increase your chances of early FI.
Keep up the great work!
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