Goals 2021 Update #3

As I expected, especially with the way that August went, this quarter was definitely a bit of a flop.  It's to be expected really, what with the loss of two weeks earnings and added expenses for our holiday (which I spoke about in the August budget blog), and the additional expense of having to get the car fixed and then two of the tyres changed.  It also probably doesn't help that I just lost the will by this quarter and couldn't be bothered to worry about where the money was going anymore.  I guess we might as well get on with it - I'll keep it short.

Starting with the positives.  The plan to not accumulate any more credit card debt and to keep our own personal emergency funds has remained this quarter.  I have had to use my credit card on purchases, such as when I had the tyres replaced, but made sure that I paid off the debt straight away.

The Christmas and car repair sinking funds have unfortunately gone to the wayside these last few months, without any payments not only in August but also in July and September.  To catch up we will need to find £310 over the next two months for the Christmas fund (so that it's ready for December spending) and £230 for the next three months for the car repair.  We decided to not use the car repair sinking fund when we got the car fixed in September as we had enough to cover the repairs that month and decided to just use that instead of basically starting the fund from scratch again.

We also didn't put anything towards the four months emergency /expenses fund over these last few months.  It's unlikely that we'll be able to make up for this over the remaining year and so I think the best thing to do now is to concentrate on getting the two sinking funds completed over these last few months and move this goal over to next year.  The sinking funds are a bit more pressing right now.

Lastly, my pension.  I didn't put any payment into it in August but did manage to contribute in July and September so I am happy about that.  The last time I missed a payment I then spread it across the remaining months of the year, but I don't think I can manage that this time.  If I can carry on with the same contributions over the last quarter I will be happy.

I completely dropped the ball this quarter and lost the momentum that I had built up in the first two quarters.  I'm not that surprised really as it's not that unusual to have a blip now and then when you're building on your goals, but I do need to make plans for the last quarter to hopefully end on a high. The aim for this last quarter is to complete our two sinking funds, carry on paying into my pension on a monthly basis, and keep the credit card debt to nothing and the emergency fund at £1000.  Oh, and I need to look at life insurance, always a joy.  

I think I'll calm myself now with some beautiful scenery.