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After spending a big chunk of my funds on a cutting machine back in June, and then more on sculpture equipment in July, it seemed like a good idea to rein it in in August.
There are still things on my shopping list, but they’ve been put back whilst my budget catches up with my eyes! So anyway, here’s what I did buy:
What goes into the spending diary?
All the things I’ve bought for my sole personal use. We decide on household items and shared interests, and they come out of the household budget.
Any cashback earned goes back into the household budget.
Zig Glue Pen
One thing that I wasn’t entirely aware of when I bought my cutter/plotter was how I’d have to re-stick the cutting mats that came with it. It makes perfect sense to me now, but I’d never even seen one in use before, apart from in videos.
I spent a bit of time researching the best (and cheapest) way of re-tacking a cutting mat, and after a while I settled on a Zig 2-way glue pen*.
The glue goes on blue and dries clear. You can use it immediately to stick things permanently, or wait until the adhesive becomes clear, and use it for a temporary bond.
It’s a lot more convenient to have in a pen format than other liquid adhesives that have to go on with a sponge, and I found it in a store called Emerald Crafts for £7.25!
Freetrade
Ok, this isn’t exactly “shopping”, is it? But I did finally fund my Freetrade account with the princely sum of £10 to see how it worked for buying stocks and shares.
Freetrade offers you one free share if you sign up with this referral link.
I had to get my skates on because I wanted to update my referral codes and refer-a-friend scheme blog post, and naturally I had to use it if I was going to recommend it. It really is simple to buy shares in companies on a tiny scale – I mean, as tiny as one share, sometimes for pence.
Since there aren’t any fees it makes it affordable for anyone who wants to buy shares but doesn’t have a lot to spare.
So why is this personal spending and not part of our general household budgeting? Well, we’ve arranged it so that we can each manage our micro-investments as we like, and if it falls within our fun money budgets, then there’s no stress. After all, I could have decided to spend the £10 on ice cream!
Having said that, I’d probably get into trouble for keeping that amount of ice cream to myself.
Oh, and I did receive a free share, so my holdings went up from £10 to £13.88!
Total spend: £17.25.
This is the first time my spending has included an asset that has directly grown in value… a bit weird, but we’re only talking about money out, so that’s that. And if ever the shares are sold, we’ve decided that the profit goes back to the household budget.
Maybe it seems a bit unfair, but the value of shares can go down as well as up, so if things go south, then that’s that, but if they go up, then the whole family benefits.
Budget rollover to this month: £108.22.
I started August with £75.47 and my spending brought me down to £58.22… not all that bad, considering that my tenner is worth more now. On September 1st, we each got another £50 added to our budgets, bringing me up to £108.22.
I’m really trying to be careful with my art supplies habit but there are a couple of things I would like to experiment with… but then, there are also a lot of things that I’ve already bought that I need to focus on!
Where’s the rest of it?
As usual, pop over to our grocery spending for details on what we’ve spent at the supermarket last month.
