We wake today to much positivity in the media, later on today we get the full details of the return to a new normal, with the amazing news that children will be back at school from 8th March. SUCH good news. I am so worried for my and all other childrens’ mental health, this is just the news they need that they will back at school with their friends. However it still seems like a long wait before we can get back to eating in restaurants and pubs, I miss eating out so so much. But here we are, saving money without a social life in a LOW Spends week.
My Spending Last Week was very low
Groceries
I feel like I did every little last week! Certainly very little that cost much money. It was a five day spell without my boys, I cant tell you how many Netflix films I watched! Oh and Firefly Lane, that a great series if you need a recommendation!
Food was the biggest spend for the week of course with £38 on groceries. This included another discounted Mindful Chef box, this was £15 for four meals. I made the first meal on Saturday teriyaki aubergine with edamame quinoa. Very healthy and vegan. The ingredients were enough for three meals worth of food! I have been getting £10 discounts from my boxes since the start of 2021, this lasted for four boxes, so I think my discounts have ended.
Mindful chef is a really great food box delivery system, the food is super healthy, always tasting amazing. Lots of your daily vegetables included, my Saturday night dinner included 4 portions of vegetables alone! If you use me as your refer a friend you can save 25% off your first four boxes, a great discount. I also get a £10 credit to my account. Just pop in my email address in the referral box lynn@mrsmummypenny.co.uk. If you go for it, let me know what you think, and thank you!
Takeaways
Another £49 was spent on takeaways from Subway, the boys favourite. And from Fire Jacks a great local burger & steak restaurant. No savings at either of these. I allowed myself one treat takeaway at the weekend. Takeaways is definitely a big spending area for me, but really what else can we do for some kind of treat?
Other Spends
My other spends for the week include £6 on hair dye, I did a pretty good job right? Plus I spent £5 on flea treatment for Trev the cat. There was also a £38 auto-transfer into my Plum savings account, my current balance is now sat at £595. I am just letting this build and build as emergency money or a one day holiday fund. This is earning a tiny bit of interest at 0.25%. What I should do is transfer the balance over to my Marcus account where I hold my main emergency money earning, wow wait for it, 0.5% interest!
Total Spends for the Week
My total spending for the week was £145, of which £38 went into savings, so a very good week. It always makes me feel happy with myself when I do this analysis every week and see that I have had a good week for spending.
Setting Up Investment Direct Debits
I set up a £100 direct debit into my Vanguard Stocks and Shares ISA last week. My recent focus has been on putting money into my pension but realised last week after a conversation with a friend, that I should also be putting some money into my S&S ISA as well.
I also put £100 of my youngest sons money into my S&S ISA. It is kept in a separate pot to my money by putting his money into a different fund type. He asked me about investing after seeing it being mentioned on YouTube. We are trying it with some of his money so he can watch how it changes over time, and he can add to it when he chooses.
I decided to save it my name rather than his as for him I would need to set up a Junior ISA. This required regular monthly direct debits for most account providers and I don’t want to do this for him.
Lots of Annual Bills Coming Up
Over the next few weeks I have lots of bills to compare and negotiate. My MOT is due this week, hopefully not a big bill as my neighbour is doing it for me. Its the first MOT so should be minimal expenses.
I also have my home insurance and car insurance to sort out. So far my renewals have been sent through at £171 for home insurance and car insurance is around £180 for upfront payment. Then I pay 3p per miles pay as you go for every mile I do. I am sure I can beat the home insurance quote by using the TopCashback comparison site and shall report back. I think I am going to stick with By Miles for my pay as you go car insurance as I don’t think we’ll be doing too much driving over the next few months.
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4 Responses
I love seeing other people’s spending to see how I can save or make the most of my money. We’re having more takeaways than we usually do but I think at the moment it seems to be our only little pleasure:)
Agree, I love reading them too!
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