Being the sort of bloke who counts things, I thought I'd spend last month totalling up all the money I spent on stuff and things. Just to see if I'm the sort of bloke who doesn't spend very much. And I think I might be. See if you agree.
• Rent & Bills (over £1000): Well, you have to, don't you? Thankfully November wasn't an especially bill-y month, but I think this means there are a lot due imminently.
• Food (£200-ish): Hmm, that's rather more than I was expecting. There were only two trips to a supermarket in there, but also rather a lot of lunches in the works canteen. And I somehow managed to "dine out" five times last month, which is very unlike me (although rest assured that one of the five was a greasy spoon in Plaistow).
• Drink (£75-ish): That's six beery nights out, and me buying a round or two each time. Six nights out, eh? I'm getting more sociable again (even if none of them were Saturday nights).
• Newspapers and magazines (£40-ish): That's a daily paper and a couple of weeklylistings mags. Nothing big and glossy with endless car adverts and pages that smell of aftershave, no thanks.
• Admission charges (£15-ish): Because researching this blog doesn't come free, OK?
• Music (£13): That's one CD (which I played twice and is now sitting gathering dust on a shelf) and one CD single (which I could have downloaded cheaper, but I never did buy into this iTunes lark). I'm slipping.
• Books (£10): Honestly, the publishing industry brings out all these supposed autumn blockbusters and I ignore the lot in favour of an end-of-daysthriller that came out in July.
• Mobile phone (£10 top-up): Ditching my contract phone and switching to pay-as-you-go was one of the best decisions I've made recently. But then I only tend to use my mobile for text messages and the (very) occasional call, I'm not someone who haemorrhages money surfing the net or downloading ringtones.
• Travel (£6-ish): Hmm, I appear not to have left London in November (and I only pay for my Oystercard in September). How green is my carbon footprint?
• Christmas presents (£1): Blimey that's pathetic isn't it? I can foresee hours and hours of December being wasted attempting to buy gifts that nobody really wants. But at least the single quid I've paid out so far was perfectly spent.
• Clothes/shoes (£0): There are sales every January. Why buy stuff inbetween?
• Credit/debt (£0): Go on, tell me I'm not normal.
• Other stuff (£60-ish): I bought a new camera in October but it didn't come with either a memory card or a carrycase, so a bought a memory card and a carrycase. Bit of a con that, I thought. And I bought a very nice map, because I like maps. And I didn't buy anything else. December may be quite different, however...
Retail checkup (November 2007)
