This is our first year of retirement so we are interested to see how the spending has panned out for us with no income compared to our budget when we were both working. I did consider not sharing our review of our 2017 finances as I am not sure how interesting or useful this information is to others. Everyone’s situation is so different, people have different priorities, hobbies and needs. So is it really helpful to know that two people with a campervan-habit living in a small flat in Salford need around £24,000 a year to have a good quality of life?
We are really head-over-heels to have come well within our budget of £27,000 a year. We always knew this was a generous amount but it is good to have it confirmed in hard figures. I don’t think we will slack off the budgeting in 2018 as we like the idea of having a good financial cushion for any future problems.
All that said, here are the numbers:
Holidays [our favourite spending line] – £5,285 – for this we have been away for over a third of the year [118 nights in the campervan, plus a couple of other holidays in self-catering cottages] [this amount includes £1,000 for two 2018 holidays] – a bargain!
Food – £3,612
Restaurants & cafes – £2,864 – [this spending increased in 2017 in part due to better tracking of where the money has gone]
Running the campervan [servicing & insurance etc] – £1,636
Diesel for the above ‘van – £1,641
Gifts & donations – £1,173
Tickets for concerts, football & attractions – £633
Other household spending [including parts for the bikes] public transport & miscellaneous – £2,271
Our health [including tai chi classes] – £376
Clothes & accessories – £525
Utilities, insurance & service charges for a 2-bed 58 sq mtrs [624 sq feet] flat – £4,166
TOTAL SPENDING FOR 2017 – £24,196 – comfortably within our £27,000 budget.
Back on the road again 
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