Squeeze panel: Andrew Smyth

Age: 25 Job: Project co-ordinator, Belfast Income: Income: £30-40,000 per annum Lives with his civil partner Simon (shown on the right)

Andrew Smyth is 25 and a project co-ordinator from Belfast.

He lives with his civil partner Simon who works as a business excellence manager.

This month he has considered applying for the car scrappage scheme to replace his old car as he is spending a fair amount of his budget in maintenance and repairs.

I have tried to be extremely strict with my finances this month as its becoming ever more apparent that my car is well and truly on its last legs.

It was surprising how negative many of the dealerships were about the scrappage proposals, and how little information they had about them

I'm clearly going to have to spend yet more on it in the short term but I'd prefer to do that and hang onto it a little longer given the amount I've already spent on it this year than have to change just now.

This month I allowed myself a set amount of money to spend once bills were taken care of.

Even as closely as I have been watching the budget over the last year, I was amazed at just how much of it went on the car, £55 for a new tyre, £50 for a tank of diesel... it very quickly adds up to a substantial percentage of the budget.

With the amount of money I am currently spending on keeping my old banger on the road, I visited a few car showrooms (I should be eligible for the scrappage scheme in August, though I would like to wait longer than that and save for a larger deposit).

It was surprising how negative many of the dealerships were about the scrappage proposals, and how little information they had about them.

The general advice that most sources are offering is that it's actually more sensible to buy a car at a year old than to buy new with the £2,000 discount.

In terms of everything else - not an awful lot to report, the log I've been keeping of how often I top up the gas meter shows that our usage is decreasing with the better weather - and it's certainly nice not to have the tumble dryer on anywhere near as often.

This has been something of an unusual month for us. We have been pretty careful with our spending.

I have been putting money aside to do some of the things around the house and garden that we have been wanting to get sorted ever since we moved in.

We have definitely noticed a huge increase in the number of our friends who are either unemployed, in danger of redundancy or having their hours cut

It's now pretty much all done (and I'm still shocked at how much it all cost), so with all the extra expense that we incurred, this has definitely been a 'budget' month where everything else has been concerned.

Simon's car is due for MOT this month, and that is also working out to be quite expensive - but his is definitely worth spending money on.

However my car is something of a bottomless pit.

I'm definitely keeping my fingers crossed that the government will go ahead with the proposed scrappage scheme.

Although from the few conversations I have had with the bank, the cost of borrowing has definitely risen since I bought my last car some years ago.

We have definitely noticed a huge increase in the number of our friends who are either unemployed, in danger of redundancy or having their hours cut especially over the last month or so.

Food, fuel and essentials still seem to be creeping up in price - I can't believe we saw an increase in fuel duty at the beginning of the month.

The cost of a lot of electrical items and clothing seems to be coming down, and a lot of the major retailers seem to be having massive sales.

Depending on what you can afford/need to buy, there are some bargains to be had.

One new habit I have acquired recently is challenging retailers when they try to charge a different price to what is advertised.

Previously if the difference was small I'd let it pass but now it just makes me even more aware of how prices are creeping up.

I've had quite a few arguments with cashiers but I have saved over £10 so far in the last week alone, so its definitely worth it!

It's been a fairly busy month for us, we went to England on our first holiday in a very, very long time.

INFLATION CALCULATOR This month's personal inflation: -3.5% Use the calculator

It was great to get away, but I noticed that prices in London and Birmingham were about the same, or possibly cheaper than we are paying in Belfast - which I have to admit rather surprised me.

I didn't buy one round of drinks during the week we were away that cost me more than the round I bought in Belfast the night before we left. I think we always imagine that in rural parts of the UK we pay a lot less than the larger cities, and that simply doesn't appear to be the case.

We're definitely feeling the pinch less since I changed jobs at the beginning of the year, but I'm still trying to keep a careful lid on spending

That aside, everything else is pretty much as before. We're certainly noticing that we're using a lot less gas now that the weather is improving, though I'm still trying to top the meter up with as much as I can to avoid being caught out by price rises like we were last time.

I'm looking forward to not having to rely so much on the tumble dryer if it ever stops raining, and that should bring down our electric bill considerably.

I'm keeping a close eye on the rumours that there will be an announcement in the budget that the government will give £2,000 to anyone who scraps a car more than nine years old to buy a new one.

I can't really afford to change my car for another few months, but my eleven year old Rover is definitely due retirement. That said, it did pass the MOT earlier this month, which has given me a few months breathing space.

We're definitely feeling the pinch less since I changed jobs at the beginning of the year, but despite the fact I'm earning more, I'm still trying to keep a careful lid on spending until we see where this recession is headed.

February has been a somewhat stressful month for us, and not just financially.

The car accident which I mentioned in my last entry has taken up an awful lot of my time although thankfully the other driver has now admitted liability and things are at last progressing.

However, as liability was disputed, no accident management company would touch us, which meant that we had to replace the car which was a write-off, out of our savings, without a courtesy car being provided.

My car is also up for its MOT and has needed some major work.

Sorting out the garden, which we'd been planning and saving towards for months, is working out to be more complicated and costly to put right.

The last few weeks have been a tad nightmarish.

However there does appear to be light at the end of the tunnel, at least in relation to the accident.

By my rough calculations the cost of daily essentials seem to have gone up by about 30% in the last 4 years.

The insurance company have agreed to reimburse the value of the car within the next few weeks.

On the groceries front, I was amazed last week when I went into the supermarket for a few essential items, just to wander round and look at the prices and compare them to when I was a student 4 years ago.

At that time I could have reeled off the price of just about everything.

By my rough calculations the daily essentials seem to have gone up by about 30% in the last 4 years.

Obviously some things have come down in price over that period but the things I relied upon as a student such as bread, sugar, eggs etc have gone up significantly.

Petrol and Diesel have both crept up considerably over the last few weeks.

Its hard to find Diesel at under a pound a litre now and there is no sign of the gas and electricity prices coming down anything like the amount by which they have gone up over the last year.

We had really wanted to take a holiday abroad this year, something we have never actually done together, but with the current weakness of sterling I suspect we will head to GB rather than the Eurozone.

Still, we realise we are lucky in that we at least have secure jobs.

If anything positive can come out of this recession it might be that we begin to realise the value of what we have.

INFLATION CALCULATOR This month's personal inflation: 1.9% Use the calculator

This month has seen the usual January blues amplified, although Christmas was nowhere near as hard on our finances as might have been the case. There have been so many bills due this month in terms of car tax, insurance and breakdown cover that our careful spending over Christmas has been blown out of the water.

To top all that, Simon was involved in a car accident (not his fault) and it looks as though the car involved will have to be written off, which is particularly annoying, as it was the one that was sitting ready for the MOT.

It hasn't all been doom and gloom this month, however. I started a new job at the beginning of the month which is an exciting new challenge and will make our budget somewhat less restrictive.

In terms of weekly shopping and inflation, we noticed as we were doing our grocery shopping this month that there are bargains to be had on items which were shooting up in price only a few months ago.

I started a new job at the beginning of the month which is an exciting new challenge and will make our budget somewhat less restrictive.

Simple things like dishwasher tablets, which had gone through the roof over the summer, are now on special offer and well worth stocking up on.

Petrol and diesel prices are wavering at the pumps, though in terms of diesel remaining just under the £1 mark, it remains to be seen whether this is a temporary blip due to the situation in Gaza or a levelling off in prices after the sharp falls of the autumn.

Thankfully, gas and electric bills are beginning to fall. However, they are still significantly more expensive than they were a year ago and more falls will be needed, particularly if this cold snap continues.

Click here to read Andrew Smyth's reports from 2008

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