One of the main reasons I started a Blog was to publicly record all of my Income and Expenses each month.
There were two main reasons why I decided to do this:
- Accountability - Just knowing that I'm going to be writing down all the pounds and pennies that I spend each day is reason enough not to go crazy with my spending. It also encourages me to invest as much money as I can to boost my monthly saving rate. The act of writing everything down will motivate me to spend less and save more. I have a Goal of saving more than 50% of my monthly wage every month and spending less than £950 per month for the rest of 2014.
- Evidence - I want to prove that anyone can become financially independent, including someone like me on an average salary (under £30,000 pa). You'll be able to see what I spend every little penny on, each month. You'll also see what I earn and what percentage of that I'm able to invest with. I want this Blog to represent a real-time document of how someone can go from earning less than £10 in one year (2013) in dividend income, to earning enough passive income to cover all monthly expenses and spending (2022).
Income
I will rarely have the same wage each month as I have a commission based job. I might also be eligible for bonuses at certain times of the year, which will impact on the total of my wage. My wage figure will be the net sum I'm paid after tax, national insurance, company pension, salary sacrifice for pension, and student loan. I will only include one figure for my wage but I will mention if my commission is high/low and I will also let you know if I've triggered a performance based bonus.
Expenses
The first two expenses are fixed amounts. 'Mortgage/House Bills' is an account where Miss FFBF and I pay into each month (£470 each) to cover mortgage payments, council tax, water, TV licence, telephone, electricity, and broadband. 'Food Account' is another joint account we use to contribute a fixed amount (£50 per month) for food shopping.
Here's a breakdown of my Income and Expenses for the previous month:
| Income from November 2014 |
| Wage |
£1,540.96 |
| Dividends |
£83.76 |
| Ebay |
£21.49 |
| Interest from Savings |
£2.32 |
| Topcashback |
£5.25 |
| Birthday Money |
£150.00 |
|
|
| Total Income |
£1,803.78 |
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|
|
|
| Expenses from November 2014 |
| Mortgage/House Bills |
£470.00 |
| Food Account |
£50.00 |
| Mobile |
£9.12 |
| Petrol |
£0.00 |
| Birthdays |
£0.00 |
| Groceries |
£28.65 |
| Alcohol |
£0.00 |
| Coffee shop |
£15.25 |
| Eating Out |
£0.00 |
| Fast Food |
£0.00 |
| Fancy Dress |
£49.96 |
| Boiler Service |
£62.51 |
| Wedding Gift |
£27.50 |
|
|
| Total Expenses |
£712.99 |
Income
November's wage is always low for me. It turned out to be the third lowest I received in 2014. My overall income had a boost from other sources.
It was my Birthday on 5th November, and I received some money from my family. I used to spend half and invest half, but recently, I've been investing everything. This year is no different. I plan on investing this money on a NEW income generating venture I'm exploring. I'm going to trying something out for the first time and I have no idea how fruitful it'll turn out. I plan on writing a post on it soon so you can track my progress with that.
My dividends for November were high for me. I've kept the money in my broker account and I'll use it to invest with when I get paid later this week.
I had another decent month of Ebay sales and a small payment from Topcashback which all made up for the lower than normal salary.
Expenses
I had a really low month for spending in November. This was partly down to the lack of one off expenses, and my recovery from surgery.
My Mortgage/House Bills, Food Account, and mobile payments were standard for me and I didn't spend any money on petrol or birthdays.
It's my brothers birthday 2 weeks after mine, and I had a chat with him to see what he wanted. After a few minutes we both agreed to knock presents on the head this year. We were both interested in saving money, and we weren't sentimental about celebrating our birthdays. Some of my friends think this is a little weird, but we're both cool about it. What do you think?
My groceries were in line with last month, which is an average amount for me. I was recovering for 3 weeks in November after my operation, during this period I bought more smoothies and fruit than I would normally, so my groceries were higher on the back of this.
I didn't spend any money on alcohol, eating out or fast food. This is a first for me! I went out to the local coffee shop twice which made that spend a little higher than normal.
We had our annual boiler service, which is getting a little bit cheeky nowadays - £125!
Miss FFBF and I also split the cost of a wedding gift for my friend who's getting married this Friday.
Now to the ridiculous
We celebrated Children in Need at work by dressing up as superheros on the 14th November. We all have vices, and one of mine is Fancy Dress. I don't know why, but I love making an effort for these events. I think it's partly because I don't go out much nowadays, so when we do go out, I go for it, especially when there's fancy dress involved. At last years Christmas Ball, we had a Rocky Horror theme and I went all out as Dr Frank N Furter. It freaked a lot of people out!
2 years ago, my colleagues and I created pictures of ourselves as superheros to go on our target board. I created Huw-man, which was based on He-man. The picture below is the one I used in our office. (I miss having hair!)
When I was searching the internet for a superhero costume, I came across a He-man one. I HAD to get it! It was a muscle suit, boot covers, sword and of course..... the hair! I didn't tell anyone at work, I was purposely playing down my efforts this year saying I had a lot to do, and I would see if I had time to get something.
Low and behold, the hospital called in the first week of November and asked if I was ready for surgery on the 6th November to remove my Gall Bladder. Ahhhh! I was more gutted about missing the fancy dress than the surgery itself. The surgery was a success but I wasn't in a fit state to dress up that day. I was having trouble sitting up, never mind putting a musclesuit with no pee hole.
I've stored the outfit for another day. I was going to send it back or sell it on ebay, and I couldn't. I have to wear it at least once before selling it on.
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| "I have the Power!" |
Expense Goal
I have a goal for 2014 which is to keep my expenses below £950 per month, averaged out over the year. Here are my total expenses to date:
My average spend at the end of October was £825.68. After a low month, I've managed to reduce the average by £12.52 to £813.16. Unless a significant event happens, I'm extremely likely to keep my expenses below the £950 per month average. My spending would need to be more than £2,181.
I don't think I can get it below £800 for December, as it's going to be an expensive month for me. I'm yet to buy Christmas presents, I have a wedding to attend, two Christmas parties, as well as the usually social gatherings that come up at this time of year. I'm not going to stress about it either. I've had a great year, and I'll have some fun this month!
| Expenses - 2014 |
| January | - |
| February | - |
| March | £856.36 |
| April | £922.86 |
| May | £966.20 |
| June | £585.54 |
| July | £833.15 |
| August | £859.99 |
| September | £766.17 |
| October | £815.20 |
| November | £712.99 |
| December | - |
| 2014 Total | £7,318.46 |
| 2014 Average | £813.16 |
Savings Rate
I have a goal to save/invest at least 50% of my income every month for the remainder of 2014.
I saved and invested 69.2% (£1,247.67) of my income this month. My average for the year has now decreased to 70.1%. I've previously admitted to wanting my average to be above the 75% mark, but that isn't going to happen for me this year. The percentage has steadily dropped over the last four months, and I'm now clinging on to 70% if I can. I would be delighted with 70% for the year, so that's my aim for December now - 69% and above, wish me luck!
Thank you all again for supporting me and for taking the time to read about my month.
How was November for you? Are you still on track to meet your goals this year? How do I look with a with an orange bob?
Labels: Income & Expenses
