August 2021 Budget

So this month went as badly as I thought it was going to.  In fact, it probably went a little bit worse.  We had gone into August knowing it was going to be a financially tight month as there was going to be two weeks in which I wasn't earning anything and where my partner wasn't going to be earning the full amount he normally does.  We did expect to have one week where we weren't going to be spending much at all as we would be walking and camping, but unfortunately, due to some knee issues, that didn't really happen (that'll be coming up in another post).

Let's just get into it and start with the positives.  Our individual emergency funds have stayed at £1000 and we still haven't accrued any credit card (or any other) debt. Yay!  And now let's step into the bad.

Savings - haha.  This month was mainly about getting the balance in our current account back to where it needs to be to cover all the bills that will be coming out at the start of September.  We have managed to do that, but it has meant that we haven't been able to put any money into our sinking funds or into our four-month savings funds.  To make up for this and to reach the 2021 goals we need to now put away about £500 a month until the end of the year. 

I also wasn't able to put any money aside for my pension.  I would say that I had to priorities paying bills, and that is partially true, but I did also spend quite a bit of money on other things I didn't necessarily need this month and which could have gone towards pension payments and savings.

One of those things was eating out and takeaways.  The knee problems not only meant that we couldn't do the coast to coast walk but also meant that we weren't able to do any other walking or swimming that we had planned.  These trips would have helped get us out of the flat and away from possible spending.  I also find that when I sit around doing nothing much I get incredibly lazy and that laziness also includes not doing sensible, healthy, money-saving things like cooking my own food.  So, we got a lot of takeaways and snacks and ate out quite a bit.  Some of that is because we went out for my brother's birthday, but not nearly enough to really justify the amount.

We also had a lot more time to stare in shop windows and at things online, which is never good.  Some of it was on wedding things and things we needed to do the week-long walking that never happened.  But really those are just justifications and a fair amount of the spending could have waited until next month or, in fact, the next few months, to get.

I am actually writing this post a little bit early as there are still a few days of August still to go, but now that we're back at work hopefully the spending should be a lot less.  We've had two bad financial months now and we can only really blame ourselves.  So, goals for the next few months are to cut back greatly on our non-essential spending and to reduce our takeaway /eating out spending to just once a week (and this includes all the snacks we get here and there which will be the most difficult thing).  We pretty much have everything we need now and there are only a few items on our to-buy list - a pair of walking boats each and some elastic for a project I have going at the moment.   And as if looking at my budget isn't enough of a reminder that we need to do better I've actually put on a little bit of weight from all the eating out we've been doing.  I think my body is trying to tell me something. 😂

Tidying and Decluttering: Kitchen Cupboards

You know that thing where you're hoping that the few walking trips you have planned will mean that you can completely ignore the areas in your home that need sorting, but then one of you gets injured so that you now have extra time on your hands and no excuse not to do it.  There are two cupboards in my kitchen that fall under this category and, whilst getting a catch practise every time I tried to pull out something is probably quite useful, it really was time to get them sorted.

Before I started I brought some storage items I knew I'd need.  They're not ones that I really wanted, but those would take a while to find and I didn't want to give myself any more excuses.

I also finally brought a stool as I can't actually reach the top shelf, and even the middle shelf is a bit of a push.

The cupboard above the sink where we normally keep the food containers was the one that needed the most work, especially as it has become a catch-all for things that didn't really fit anywhere else.  First thing first, pull everything out and then sort them into categories.

Then get rid of (recycle) anything we hadn't actually used in a while and didn't seem likely to use again.

We had been storing the cooking outdoor gear in the kitchen, but it actually made more sense to store that in the outdoor gearbox in the wardrobe as we never use any of it at home - not surprisingly.

I also moved some utensils, colander, etc into more suitable places.  Which, of course, led to a little tidying up of those areas as well.  Though I tried to keep that to a minimum so that this didn't turn into a mammoth task.

The plastic food containers were organised into the storage bins I'd gotten.  

And everything was placed back into the cupboard in a way that meant it was easy to see where everything actually was.  It looks so much better now, hopefully, we can keep it that way.  One of the great things about those containers is that even if you just throw the stuff back into them you still know where everything is and it doesn't then take up the rest of the cupboard.

Next was the food cupboard.  This didn't really need too much work as we use the items pretty often, but we had gotten into the habit of just throwing the food back in.  We also had some glass food containers we use to use so we could contain the items better actually see what was in there but had stopped using recently.  As before I pulled out everything I could fit on the counter and then organised it into categories.

I used the containers we already had to store our most used items and placed them near the front.  Everything else was then put back into like for like areas.  In the future, I want to get some more storage solutions to keep them more contained, but as this cupboard is less of an issue it wasn't completely necessary right now and I can just pick those up from charity shops as and when I find them.

And that's it.  A pretty quick project really but I now don't feel so bad every time I open up the cupboards and I also don't have to worry about anything falling on me which is a bonus.  Now all I need to do is the same thing in other spots in our home........multiple times.  I'm going to loosely use the word 'fun'.

July 2021 Budget

It would be fair to say that July didn't go to plan at all when it came to spending and saving.  If I'm honest the main reason is that I just lost all motivation this month and there's not really much else I can say about it, so let's just jump right in.

Starting with a plus, we manage to build back up my partners emergency fund and still have no credit card by the end.

However, we didn't put any more money into four months funds or our car repairs and Christmas sinking funds.  Both of those are quite big ops and something we really need to do much better on over the next five months.

I did manage to put some more money into my pension though so that at least is a good thing which is marginally tempering the guilt of doing so badly this month.

And we also managed to reduce our household and takeaway spending this month as well.  If we can just carry that change over the next few months that should really help us out.  Food spending has remained high though and that is definitely something we need to work at.

Unexpectedly our flat and car parking rent came out this month which we thought wouldn't come out until August, and that is something that stopped us from being able to put money into our savings account.

There was also quite a bit of general spending happening this month.  A big part of this was me needing to replace my sports bras, and unfortunately, my size doesn't make that cheap, and partly because we're planning at least one long-distance walking trip in August and needed to buy a few things for that.

There have been some good things this month, but mostly it was a pretty down one.  I think I'm most annoyed at myself because I won't be able to earn for two weeks in August and so being good with our finances in July would have been a good idea.   However, there's no point in wallowing in it now, what's done is done, and now we just need to get on with being better for the rest of 2021.  No pressure then. 😂

To make myself feel better I'm just going to add a cute picture of a cat.

Visiting Lundy Island - part 2

The weather on day three didn't exactly turn out how we were expecting.  Instead of the hot, sunny day that had been described by the weather forecast before we left for Lundy, we had a very cool fog.  There was actually something a bit mesmerising watching the mist rolling across the field through the tent door and, I have to admit, it was a welcome break from the heat we'd been having so far.

It did slightly change our plans though as there was no point in going to the Halfway Wall to watch Puffins again if they were just going to be hidden by mist.  Instead, we decided to first go to the church, a pretty little thing with a number of boards providing information about the social history of the island, before heading to the Battery we'd missed on day three.  We figured that, based on the locations of the newer lighthouses, it was probably not as misty closer to the sea where the Battery was located, and we should still be able to get a good view of seabirds from there.

It turned out to be a really lovely spot to sit watching the birds flying in and out, with the fog above us and a great view of the sea spreading out in front of us.  The Battery is actually a fog signalling station that was built in 1863, with cannons being fired every ten minutes during foggy conditions

We spent all morning just sat there watching the seabirds and we finally got a good view of some Fulmars flying by us (a bird I absolutely love).  As we sat there the sun began to burn off the fog and by the time we had returned to the tent for lunch, it was completely clear again.  

We had wanted to have a look at a section labelled on the map 'earthquake' and where the ground had been split open a bit like a book, so we did that on the way back.  It was an interesting site to look at with all the ridges and drops, and the little bowl at the end that we sat in for a bit gave us an opportunity to see a Kestral fly by.

After lunch, we had a beer at the Marisco Tavern and spent the rest of the day just pottering around, relaxing, and generally just enjoying doing nothing on our holiday.

Despite the glorious sunshine returning, day four was a bit of a sad day as we really didn't want to leave Lundy Island and the enjoyment of having so few people and so much wildlife around us.  We spent the morning packing up our things and I have to say that the tent was particularly quick and easy to put away.  

We decided to treat ourselves on the last day to a cooked breakfast, which we had at the Tavern, before heading back to the Halfway Wall to carry on watching the Puffins again on our last day.  One of the best bits here was actually seeing the Ravens as we walked up to the wall.  And I finally plucked up the courage to actually give watercolours a go again.  Definitely not the best thing I've ever done, but it's a start at least.  

We then headed back to the Battery to have lunch and enjoy the view one more time, this time with the sun.  Along with the sea birds we saw yesterday, we got a good view of some Gannets flying and fishing, as well as a Harbour Porpoise - which was pretty amazing.  Unfortunately, there were more people this time as the ferry had come in that day, so it wasn't quite as enjoyable as the first. 

It was then time for us to start making our way back down to the quay to catch the ferry, but we wanted to take our time as we wandered down and went for a swim on the beach beside the quay.  It was absolutely freezing, but I managed to stay in the water a bit longer than before despite not having my wetsuit on.  However, we warmed up quite nicely afterwards doing a bit of rock-pooling, something you should never grow out of.

The ferry home was a much calmer affair than the one in.  We had decided to sit inside this time and I was glad to get out of the sun for a bit as we had basically been sitting in it all day.  It also didn't stop us from seeing the Common Dolphins again, jumping alongside the ferry, and a number of Razorbills, Guillemots, and Puffins.  

The drive home was a long and late one, made even more unpleasant by the fact that we didn't really want to be heading in that direction.  However, we'll definitely be heading back to Lundy Island at some point - hopefully in the not so distant future, and I would recommend visiting there if you get the opportunity.  Our bird tally in those four days was a pretty good one and they really didn't require that much effort to see either. 

To find out more about Lundy Island you can either go to the National Trust site here or The Landmark Trust (which is where you can also book accommodation) here.

I'm not sure if there'll be a blog next week as I have a few things going on, but I will do my best.