Simple Pound

Thanks for visiting! If you like what you're reading, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed.

I’m shocked when I look at today’s date and have to realise that the last month just flew by and that I didn’t have the time to post a single thing - despite having an enormous list of things I want to post about. In any case, my time in New York is drawing to a close now and once I’m back at home more regular updates to the site should commence.

Luckily I was still diligent enough to keep tracking my expenses over the last month and thus you will get at least a proper end of the month update. My only stated goal in terms of a budget was to undercut my expenses from July. I knew that trying to set myself an actual budget would simply not work out. This is my first time in NYC and I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to come back, hence there were plenty and plenty of things I wanted to do and see (and spend) before returning to the UK.

So, have I achieved this only goal I set myself? Well… it depends . August brought many one-off expenses that are connected to finally finding a flat in London, paying the deposit and starting to buy certain items of equipment necessary when moving into my first flat.

Instead of the duvets I spent a lot of money on last month, this month’s main expense in terms of “consumer durables” was a desktop PC that set me back £450 - which in itself is only half of the actual cost. But since I’m going to be living with my boyfriend (who is also hosting this site in case you wanted to know ) I fortunately don’t have to pay all of these unavoidable expenses myself. Next month’s big thing is going to be a new TV, so I’m already preparing myself for another reduction in net worth…

The good news is I only spent about half as much money on eating out, cabs/public transport and clothes. Only 10% of last month’s sum was spent on gifts (July pretty much covered it for a while…) and only 25% on cosmetics.

Unfortunately - and a little to my surprise - I spent about £30 more on coffee, snacks and quick lunches. This happened despite me brown-bagging my lunch more often than last month, but looking through the receipts it’s pretty obvious whom I can blame for that increase: Starbucks Old habits…

I nevertheless put away 15% of my salary for savings (check out the progress page…) which was mainly because I finalised the paperwork for my Icesave savings account and had to transfer an initial minimum balance of £250.

The worst news of today’s review is the fact that I am now carrying an outstanding balance of roughly £100 on one of my credit cards. If you are a regular reader, you won’t be surprised to find that this is due to my “slight” overspend in clothes last month. While I could pay off this balance fairly easily, I also need to keep my funds as liquid as possible for my return to the UK in order to be able to make all the necessary purchases that come with a new flat.

My coin jar savings amount to $15.67 this month or £8.04 at the current exchange rate. This sum has been fairly steady compared to July, and is fairly high compared to the UK mainly due to the fact that no one ever seems to use coins to actually pay for stuff in this country…

What does the last month do to my net worth then? Well, it decreased it by 2% . And that is despite the fact that I’ve added a piece of art and some rare books towards my net worth calculations. Contrary to popular belief I haven’t done that to make up for my spending habits, but I wasn’t actually aware of their value beforehand. I got both the art and the books from my family over the years (occasions like my 18th birthday, graduation and my 21st birthday) and hence couldn’t really ask “Sooo… how much is this worth then?”. But since I will need contents insurance for all possessions held in the flat I had a legitimate reason for asking and can now pin down their actual value.

Adam has also updated me on his progress (without me asking for it and with a bit of a snide tone to make me aware of my lack of site updates!) and we can see a steady progress in his debt elimination attempt which resulted in a 10% drop. At least one of us did well this month then

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

It’s Tuesday the 7th of August and I still haven’t written up my monthly review for July… there are plenty of good reasons why I haven’t done this yet and you might guess that being in New York at the moment doesn’t exactly leave much time for financial research… But the truth is, I am actually quite scared to review last month, which is why I keep putting it off.

Anyway… it’s time to face the numbers. One thing is for sure: in terms of spending it has been a pretty bad month. I bought an entire business wardrobe, was eating and going out and generally enjoyed the fact that the dollar is so amazingly weak compared to the pound. Unfortunately even cheap things add up if one just keeps spending…

On the other hand, most of the things I bought were pretty essential and would have cost me so much more if I would have bought them back in London. Moreover, I’ve always bought good quality products over cheap stuff knowing that it would probably last me longer and make me happier.

Alright, enough rambling. Here are the numbers…

• £ 250 on a kingsize duvet and 2 pillows
• £ 140 on eating out
• £ 90 for coffee and quick lunches at the offices
• £ 1,300 on clothes and shoes
• £ 250 on gifts
• £ 120 on cosmetics and make-up
• £ 210 on cabs and public transport

See? I told you it would be bad… and yes the thirteen hundred pounds on clothes is a looot of money, but it also bought three 3-piece suits, one 2-piece suit, about 10 blouses and 3 pairs of shoes one of which are Dior. I definitely had a weak moment with the Dior shoes and clearly ignored my brain telling me I didn’t actually need designer shoes. On the other hand, they are a classic pair of black heels that I can hopefully wear for many years to come… *blush*

On the other hand, there are some good news as well. First of all, I still spend less last month than I earned, which can be mainly attributed to the fact that I’m not paying any rent at the moment (my employer is paying those expenses while we’re in New York).

Moreover, I automatically put £250 away at the beginning of the month (paid myself if you wish), which are earning me 8% interest as we speak (well, as you read…). This was the highest contribution possible and exceeded my expectations of what I could afford to put away. I am still leaving all my coins in a jar every evening when I get home from work, and last month I’ve accumulated $16.52. At the current exchange rate this equals roughly £8.26. Check out the progress page to see how I’ve allocated it across my different goals.

And finally, my parents’ graduation present will be added to my net worth as well since they bought me an amazing ring from Tiffany’s that I still regularly stare at…

After doing all the maths, we therefore still see a fairly nice increase in net worth of 60%. I’m quite relieved to see that, but next month I will have to pay the deposit for my apartment in London. Therefore, if I want to keep my net worth at least at the same level, I really need to decrease my spending. Most of the essential things are “out of the way” which should make this task a little easier. On the other hand, I am still going to be in New York in August and I have no illusions about the money I’m going to spend on drinks and cabs. My goal for next month is simply to undercut July’s spending and after I return to London to make sure that I don’t become a victim of lifestyle inflation.

Wish me luck!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites