The BBC Scotland news website asked three readers to keep a diary of their living costs across a week. The panel recorded their spending over last week and let us know their thoughts on how costs are affecting their lives. Stuart Chandler, 46, is unemployed and lives with his two sons in Clydebank. Anne Thomson, 41, lives with her partner and children on South Uist and works as a money adviser. Daniel Donaldson, 28, is a trainee solicitor who lives in Edinburgh.
COST OF LIVING DIARY - STUART CHANDLER Stuart Chandler
"A huge wake-up call on finances"SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER I spent the day at home today. I was invited to a night out at one of the local bowling clubs. Good time had by all and a relatively inexpensive night. I spent �13.00 in total, �3.00 of which I threw into a fruit machine ... was it worth the thrill? Not really. I did succumb to having the central heating on all day. This decision was only made as my knees were going numb. Has to be said since my last weekly diary I have been prudent with the use of utilities - both gas and electricity. I received my electric bill this week and I was pleasantly surprised. Considering I am at home all day as I am still unemployed my bill was similar to that of last year at this time, which proves my investment in low energy lighting and switch-off-when-not-in-use policy may well have paid off. My two boys are getting used to my consistent moaning when doors are left open and lights are left on. SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER Another day at home. I have promised the lads that I would buy them a McDonalds today for dinner by way off apology � �10.90. I wrongly accused them of damaging the screen of the TV. It turned out however that my youngest son had sneezed on the screen the night before, with my failing eyesight it looked like damage ... oops. MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER Monday is grocery shop day. The weather was pretty awful so decided to stick to Asda. I spent �45.79 and saved �3.70 with "multi-savings", guess that's the �3 back that I wasted on Saturday night! I have stopped buying two litre bottles of coke, lemonade etc. as it really does not last very long. Instead I now buy diluting juice, much healthier and tends to go much further. I would say that thankfully food prices have pretty much stabilised over the last few weeks. Interestingly the main supermarkets have just announced their financial results and they all appear to be doing really quite well, all things considered. Guess we all still have to eat! Would be very interesting to know the breakdown? Groceries, Luxury Goods, Wines Beers & Spirits? Most likely the latter, as alcohol remains at very low price points. One supermarket is selling bottles of red wine for �2. Beer promotions are in full swing for Christmas as usual. Most folks enjoy a drink and I certainly am one of them, it's a bit worrying however when a bottle of beer works out cheaper than a bottle of coke. Maybe it's a ploy? Gets everyone drinking more and perhaps we will forget we are struggling to make ends meet!! TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER Was planning to stay in today, however my youngest son's schoolbag fell apart so as a result had to find �11.99 for a new one, which of course had to have a brand name! Other than that an uneventful day. WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER Today I re-advertised my car for sale. Having already advertised twice already and costing over �100 I thought I would try again. This time the advert has only set me back �19.00. The car was purchased when I was in employment back in March and I have been maintaining payments from my savings. I can no longer afford the commitment so let's hope this time it sells so I can pay off the loan. From the last two tries I only had one genuine enquiry which did not follow through. Only a year ago the car was a highly sought after vehicle. I have to say that in the present climate I am not surprised that there has been a poor response. Come the end of the year payments to the car will have to stop and as a result I will no doubt be one of the many facing repossession and blacklisting. Up until now I have had a clean slate. Happy Days! Visited the local with friends for a few drinks in the evening, total spend �9.42. THURSDAY 20 NOVEMBER To avoid another day of watching daytime TV and fruitless job searching I thought I would take a trip to the shopping centre. Evidence of a retail downturn? Evidence of retailers slashing prices? Perhaps I was in the wrong shopping centre as I could not see any real bargains and to be fair the shopping centre was really quite busy. Perhaps they were having a good day! I was planning to buy myself a new pair of shoes but did not see anything that I liked ... I must have too much time on my hands. Most men only do the one shoe shop! FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER Today I did a top-up grocery shop when I realised that I missed quite a few things on Monday. When I was working I always used online shopping as it was very convenient. As I have not shopped online for some time I received �15.00 worth of vouchers to lure me back. This was a good opportunity to see how prices have changed as it is a good six months since I have shopped online. What I did spot was that butchery products have clearly jumped in price, but everything else is much the same price. What I did also notice however was a huge increase in special offers, half price and buy-one-get-one-free deals - net result I spent more today than I spent on my main shop on Monday - �50.04 (including the voucher discount). I will clearly benefit though as I have enough sausages to last me till Christmas. They were reduced from �1.68 to �1.00! See Stuart's July diaryBack to top
COST OF LIVING DIARY - ANNE THOMSON Anne Thomson
"Bracing for the cost of Christmas"SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER Food �25.35 Diesel �30 SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER Swimming �4.05 MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER School lunches �17.50 Food �25.98 Bus fare �2 TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER Household �9.61 Food �45.56 Bus fare �2 WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER Coal �15.60 THURSDAY 20 NOVEMBER Food �86.23 FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER Youth club �2 Bus fare �2 WEEKLY SPEND Food & household �192.73 Coal �15.60 Diesel �30 Leisure �6.05 School lunches �17.50 Bus fares �6 OVERALL TOTAL - �267.88 See Anne's July diaryBack to top
COST OF LIVING DIARY - DANIEL DONALDSON Daniel Donaldson
"Trying to keep spending in check"SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER Went shopping in town for a few things. Mainly Christmas shopping. I'm on the bus ride card so it works out monthly at �35 I think. Did not get much unfortunately, clothes shopping seemed expensive. SUNDAY 16 NOVEMBER It was really cold in the morning. Lunch at home consisted of cheese on toast. Nothing special. In fact, the weekend was fairly uneventful... MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER Was out of the office around lunchtime. This was not ideal because it meant having to buy lunch. Boots �2.99 for a meal deal. Dinner in the house. TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER Bought some supplies for work. Mainly fruit, biscuits and other things. It was around �5 spent here but working out over a week it's not too bad. WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER Mid-week lunch consisted of another sandwich place ... this time it kind of hit home. It was around �5 for the sandwich, crisps and drink etc. To be honest, I did not have time in the morning to make anything up for packed lunch. I also spent �2.20 on energy drinks for the gym. THURSDAY 20 NOVEMBER I started having breakfast in the office - bought cereal in the morning at �2.57 from the shop. I felt that this was healthier and would stop me snacking mid-morning. I also did some shopping during my lunch hour, trying to take advantage of the sales in Debenhams. I was out of the office again with work - no time for a packed lunch either so I went to the buffet at Pizza Hut (it seemed like a good idea at the time). It was around �8 for the food and drink. Spent �37 or so on stocking fillers. Not bad. After work, I went to the local Scotmid to get in the weekly shop. It was really expensive, but coming home late, dark nights etc., I just wanted the convenience. With bread, milk, cheese, cat food and other essentials it was about �13. FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER Had a bigger than usual lunch. It was around �6.20 this time because I had skipped breakfast again. We had arranged to go to the pub after work so drinks were around �6 then out after for a curry - �20. I went to Debenhams again - the sale was still on - it cost me �85 as they were open late. We went to a jazz bar - �4 entry and then drinks again at around �6. In one week I spent �156 (including Christmas shopping) but excluding fuel and utilities. See Daniel's July diaryBack to top
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