Do you love to soak up the sun? Or would you rather cosy up with a blanket and a hot chocolate? From being the main topic of office small talk to controlling our weekend plans, the weather affects us all – and has a large influence on our spending too.

How much we spend and what we spend it on changes drastically from season to season. While everyone does things differently, there are common patterns that emerge, particularly when it comes to our utilities and leisure time. So where is our money going in summer and winter, and is there anything we can do to balance it out?

Leisure

It’s a fact that we spend more on certain things as the weather improves. The sun makes us happier, and with its rays beaming through our window we’re more tempted to go out and enjoy ourselves – and possibly blow our budget in the process.

More of us will make plans to meet up with friends midweek and head out on weekends in the summer months. This is in part down to there being more to do – the majority of music festivals and other similar cultural events take place during the summertime, while many of us will save our holidays for the summer months too.

The end of the post-Christmas belt-tightening is another reason. It’s common for people to be more stringent with their spending in the months closely following the festivities, then relax a little as spring arrives.

Utilities

It’s no surprise that we spend more on energy during the colder months. While those in warmer countries may be splashing out on air conditioning as it heats up, most of us Brits can get by with cracking a window – but it takes a lot more to keep us warm in winter.

In a typical working week, many of us will have our heating set to automatically turn on just before we get up in the morning and then again late in the afternoon to give us a nice warm home to return to. On the weekend we may even have it on throughout the day to fight off the chill.

With shorter days and worse weather, it’s easy to spend more on electricity too. From having house lights on for longer to spending more time watching TV and cooking hot meals, we’re more inclined to hole up indoors when it’s dark and cold outside.

Make a flexible budget

There’s no need to stay indoors during the summer or freeze during the winter, and creating a flexible budget is one way to plan your finances throughout the year.

If you know which areas you’re more likely to spend in from season to season, try to allocate your money accordingly. This way you’ll always have enough left for the essentials and be less likely to be caught out by a high energy bill – or a heavy spend on ice cream!Try to maintain the same saving habits all year round too.
Setting up automatic payments to go into your savings account is an effective way of making sure you’re putting a little away every month, regardless of the weather.