September 2022 Money Review

One month down, only eleven left of my gap year! Crazy how fast time flies when you are professionally unemployed 😂 But the end of the month means only one thing on this blog – time for a September money review!

September did not really go to plan but I made the most of the situation. I ended up staying an extra two weeks with my parents because a housesit got cancelled. This was one I had organised with a friend so I wasn’t covered by any guarantee like I am when I housesit through Trusted Housesitters. But this meant for a very cheap month.

This will be the last monthly money review of this format for a while because I will no longer be earning a regular income. Rather the next year will be funded by my gap year savings pot. However, I am still doing various online side hustles so may introduce a monthly review of my earnings through them.

Disclaimer – This post contains affiliate links which means that I may receive a commission if you use them. This comes at no extra cost to you <3

What is a money review?

It is where I share reflections on my finances from the previous month and detail every penny in and out. I find doing this at least monthly is a good way to stay connected to your finances. Plus, I love reading them back in a couple of months!

Why do I share this?

I know it might seem weird to share this on the internet, but I truly believe in creating the type of content that I love, and I am obsessed with seeing what people spend and earn. I also believe that the best way to break the money taboo is to talk openly about it, so here we are! Hopefully you enjoy this type of content too!!

Context

September was the first month of my gap year where I am attempting to housesit my way around the world. I was suppose to spend three weeks of the month on various housesits but due to a cancellation this was reduced to just over a week. Therefore, I spent the majority of my time staying with my parents.

Let’s start with spending…

SPENDING

September was a strange month in regards to my spending. As I had two different pots of money on the go at once and struggled to know how to categorise my purchases. Technically this was the first month of my gap year which has its own dedicated pot of money. But I spent the majority of the month at home so I was spending money that was already in my current account.

Groceries = £25.01

Half of this was spent on food for my first housesit and the other half the second one I went on. I didn’t eat out at all during either housesit, preferring to save the money and cook for myself. Plus I was staying in rural locations so my eating out choices were quite limited.

Eating Out = £40.19

During my time at home, I met up a few times with various friends for either a meal or coffee.

Gifts = £9.20

Entirely spent on a gift for a friend’s birthday.

Transportation = £24

On the last day of the month, I drove to my friends house in Chester to spend the weekend. This £24 was spent on a three-day parking pass. Some keen readers out there might be like “hold on, I didn’t think you had a car”, well I don’t and I still don’t want one. But for various reasons I ended up borrowing my sisters car for a week. Like the other times I have borrowed her car I have insurance hacked.

This is where I take out a full year-long policy and then cancel it within 14 days, getting a refund minus the days I actually used it. Working out hundreds of pounds cheaper than getting temporary insurance. This cost will be accounted for next month once I know the total cost.

Social = £50.06

The day I was suppose to leave for my third housesit it got cancelled so I ended up gate crashing a girls night my mum was having with some of her friends. I bought a round for the group (£18.56), cheap because it was in Spoons. On the first night in Chester, my friends and I went for a lovely meal which the birthday girls’ parents very generously covered. After dinner we hit up a few bars so I covered one of the rounds (£31.50).

Personal = £23.36

This was all spent on various toiletries I needed ahead of my trip. I had been putting off buying these bits and trying to use up the stuff I already had in, so these were much needed!

Travel = £146

I finally got round to purchasing my plane ticket from London to New York. Through travel hacking, I snagged this flight for only £145. The other quid was spent on a train ticket during the Northern sale which I couldn’t even use in the end!

Entertainment = £54.19

A couple of friends and I have managed to snag tickets to go and see Shagged Married Annoyed live (£36) next December – I’m very excited about this!! Plus as we are paying so far in advance it’ll be a nice little treat for myself when it finally rolls around 😂.

Plus, as always, this category also includes the family Spotify membership I pay for (£16.99) plus fees for the book club I am in (£1.20). You might remember me rambling on about whether I should cancel my book club subscription as I wasn’t really getting anything out of it. Well this decision was taken out of my hand when I received a notification that it would be increasing to £9.99 per month. This price is just absolutely ridiculous for what is a glorified facebook group – like you don’t even get the book included. So I’ve cancelled it. Sad as I’ve been a member since 2019, but I just cannot justify that amount for something that I don’t even really use.

Furthermore, my dad has very kindly offered to cover the family Spotify plan for the next year as he knows I am trying to stick to my tight £5k budget. So going forward neither of these things will factor into my budget anymore!

Shopping = £78.99

All of this was spent on new clothes. I haven’t really bought any new clothes in a couple of years so a refresh was needed.

TOTAL = £451

Well all the little things really do add up, don’t they!! But this isn’t bad compared to the value I have gotten out of the month. I have only classified £76.85 of this from my gap year budget, the rest came out of my current account. However, going forward the only pot of money I will be spending is the gap year fund!

Next up, income! Sharing my spending is only valuable when put into context of how much I made…

INCOME

September was the month of tying up loose ends. I was paid out some left over holiday pay, that I actually had no idea I had built up. So that was a nice surprise. Plus I got the last pay-check from job #2.

Job #1 = £561.44

This was entirely unexpected! I was under the impression that I had used up all my holiday pay over the past year but it turns out I didn’t fully understand how the system worked. I thought we got a set amount but turns out we accured it for every hour worked. This meant I had a balance of like 90 hours – crazy!

I was paid this out in three installments, one at the end of August and the other two in September. This was a lovely little savings boost which I sent to be invested in my Lifetime Stocks & Shares ISA.

Job #2 = £521.69

This was my final paycheck for job #2, a job I was gutted to have to give up. But you do kinda need to be a student to work as a student ambassador 😭. All of this came from a week working the phonelines during clearing back in August – not a bad earner at all!

Bank Interest = £2.94

I didn’t have much luck on EverUp this month, my highest winning being only 20p. But every little counts right and I enjoy the gamble 🤩.

P2P Interest = £8.33

This is often an income stream I forget all about until it gets paid in because it is completely passive. As always it’s a nice little monthly boost!

Odd Jobs = £100

I spent a week housesitting for my godmother which was an absolute joy. During the week, I did a few jobs for her around the house and she was far too generous in sending me money for it.

TOTAL = £1194.40

Over the moon with my income this month because it was such a surprise! I ended up investing the majority of it as I am currently trying to max out my Lifetime Stocks & Shares ISA.

And finally, let’s have a look at how my net worth is doing…

NET WORTH

Start of the month = £34,171.53

End of the month = £34,668.91

My investments took another little dip again this month so my net worth didn’t increase as much as it should have done. But it’s still going in the right direction so I’m happy about that!

Enjoyed my september money review? Why not check out my past ones…