There’s only one word I can use to describe July – without adding a swearword in front of it – and that’s expensive.
My implant journey continued and at this point, it feels like I’m helping my dentist achieve his own FIRE dreams with the amount of money I’m putting his way.
In happier spending, I booked flights to Denmark for a family holiday. Unfortunately August isn’t the cheapest time of the year to go, but that’s when the family party is, and I don’t grudge it.
Spending
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eating out | £56.20 | Two meals out and a takeaway. |
| Entertainment | £98.22 | TV licence, Spotify, six lottery tickets (no wins, and I shamefully chased a huge EuroMillions jackpot), a ticket for a cup football match not covered by my season ticket, competitions magazine, pool twice, and Latin dance classes. |
| Groceries | £141.66 | Budget of £40/week = £200 for the month. A combination of using up what I had in the freezer and cupboards as well as living on protein shakes, yoghurt and soup after my dental surgery meant that I had a cheap month. |
| Health | £1,610.99 | CrossFit (2 x week membership) £40 and PureGym (unlimited) £20.99. PureGym increased its membership by £1 a month. £1550 for sinus graft surgery, which is part of my implant treatment. Since I didn’t have enough natural bone to support an implant, I had to have surgery where my sinus membrane was lifted and a mixture of artificial bone and cow bone was implanted. It also involved much drilling, and tears (when I paid the bill). This will now need six months to heal before the next stage, so hopefully I’ll get a break from the expensive bills. |
| Holidays | £447.05 | Flights to Denmark and travel insurance. I bought the travel insurance through Compare the Market, so got another year of Meerkat Movies (2 for 1 tickets). |
| Housing | £717.71 | Mortgage, gas and electric, broadband, council tax. |
| Investment fees | £52.23 | Fee that Vanguard charges for using their platform. |
| Mobile phone | £6.90 | Switched SIM-only deals (staying with Lebara). Got an extra 2 GB of data a month and saved 5p (every little helps, right?) |
| Personal | £17.00 | Haircut. |
| Shopping | £2.65 | eBay purchase of a cloth for cleaning my sunglasses (this will be useful for a handful of days each year in the UK). |
| Technology | 79p | Google One cloud storage. |
| Transport | £105.02 | £3 on parking, the rest on fuel. |
| Total | £3,256.42 | More than double my typical monthly spend because of the dentist and the flights. |
Premium Bonds
This month I won £50! Hurrah! It will be reinvested in more bonds automatically.
Savings Rate
| Savings rate excluding pension | -18.46% |
| Savings rate including pension | -8.83% |
Yes, those are negative numbers. Ouch.
Net Worth
| Month | Including Pension and Primary Residence | Including Pension, Excluding Primary Residence | Excluding Pension, Including Primary Residence | Excluding Pension and Primary Residence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | £626,103.58 | £517,231.54 | £337,731.83 (-£5181.81) | £228,859.79 (-£5518.84) |
| Feb | £626,450.46 (+£346.88) | £517,150.95 (-£80.59) | £336,149.46 (-£1582.37) | £226,849.95 (-£2,009.84) |
| Mar | £635,806.88 (+£9,356.42) | £526,117.29 (£+8,966.34) | £343,576.63 (+£7,427.17) | £233,887.04 (+£7,037.09) |
| Apr | £634,569.78 (-£1,237.10) | £524,494.33 (-£1,622.96) | £340,410.28 (-£3,166.35) | £230,334.83 (-£3,552.21) |
| May | £637,067.24 (+£2,497.46) | £526,603.17 (+£2,108.84) | £340,978.24 (+£567.96) | £230,514.17 (+£179.34) |
| Jun | £632,859.07 (-£4,208.17) | £522,012.77 (-£4,590.40) | £334,840.82 (-£6,137.42) | £223,994.52 (-£6,519.65) |
| Jul | £645,969.55 (+£13,110.48) | £534,738.20 (+£12,725.43) | £346,021.80 (+£11,180.98) | £234,790.45 (+£10,795.93) |
My Vanguard account soared in value by just over £10,000 this month, driving my net worth higher and again highlighting the volatility of the stock market following last month’s heavy drop. Let’s see how I get on next month when my heavy spending this month catches up with me when my credit card bills come due! (I’ll pay them off in full, of course.)
