# 21 (2013) Zimbabwe Has Just £138 Left In The Bank

Zimbabwe's finance minister announced last week that the country has just £138.34 left in the state bank accounts. This devastating situation has been the result of years of financial rape and catastrophic, bloody minded decision making by the country's president Robert Mugabe, who in turn points the finger at others and blames them for the current situation.

The realisation that I have more money in the bank than an entire country is shocking but doesn't make me sit back and breathe a sigh of relief.

This year I am taking a tougher approach to spending less. I knew I wasn't sticking to the strict budget I had set myself because if I had, I wouldn't be living a life. I haven't gone mad yet so I must be spending too much. But I needed to know exactly where it was going. So at the beginning of January I started keeping an accurate list of where every penny goes.

This month I have spent £770 of which about £80 is what I class as socialising. It takes the form of  lunches out using 2-4-1 offers and other deals of which there are plenty about. The rest of it is house hold bills, presents for family, supermarket shopping. Because of the lunches out, my supermarket shop was only £32 this month so effectively I've spent about £28 a week on food which isn't bad although it's far more than when I was at Uni.

I drew a piechart for you but it wouldn't load on the page. The fact that I even made a pie chart makes me realise I really need to get out more,

But how does that fit into my budget?