'It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness' Proverb

Sunday 9 April 2023

Goals 2023 Update #1


Things didn't exactly gone to plan this quarter with a move across country has been the main reason why not, but I have to admit that not being very motivated has also played a part.

Financial

  • Four Month's Emergency Funds - this went down this quarter instead of the intended up.  There are a few reasons such as we had an overlap of the properties we are renting so we had to pay two different rents at the same time and a deposit before our other deposit has been returned.  However, this is what this fund is there for so I don't feel too bad about it.  We'll just need to start building it up again.  It does mean that for us to reach our goal of saving a third of the savings this year we'll need to put aside £835 this coming quarter.
  • Sinking Funds - our car repair sinking fund is now back to £500 and we should hopefully not need this for our new car, but it's always good to have it just in case.  We have managed to put the £75 a month into our Christmas fund this quarter and will need to carry on doing this over the next quarter.  We have also been putting money into a surfing lesson sinking fund and we only need about £60 for this.  Once I've done my tax return this year we should hopefully have some money to put toward these funds and our emergency fund.
  • Pension and Personal Spending - I did manage to put 12.5% of my income into my pension whilst I was earning, though now that I'm jobless there hasn't been any more going in these last few weeks.  Hopefully, that won't last for much longer though as I am job hunting at the moment.  We have also been pretty good at keeping our spending to just £25 per week, apart from in March when everything just went south.  Next quarter we will need to get our spending back into control again if we're going to reach our 2023 financial goals.
  • Changing My Bank Accounts - I haven't gotten around to this yet as I haven't set aside the time to make the change and to double check how this new bank account will work with my other financial accounts I have, such as my savings and credit card.  I also need to have an income coming in as well as the new bank account does have a monthly standard fee.
  • Secondary Income - this also hasn't been done yet as I just can't get my head round what I could actually do for a secondary income, skill wise.  Though this coming quarter I need to concentrate on getting a primary income first and then think about a secondary income after that.
Learning New Skills

  • Skateboarding - we haven't done any skateboarding yet this year and that's a shame on our part as we had a perfect park beside us to do it before.  Now that we've moved I'll need to find somewhere new for us to go and make it one of our priorities whenever we have time off together.
  • Surfing - we were going to book to have lessons where we had gone the last time, but now that we've moved to Wales it would make sense to find somewhere here instead as it would be a bit costly to travel to Devon every time we wanted to go for a surf.  Once we're completely settled in that's what I start researching.
  • Sailing - this is still something that's just on the back burner for now, especially as we're now further away from the sea.  We need to get our finances in order first as well before we can start spending it on this quite expensive little dream.

And that's it.  It actually hasn't turned out too badly despite everything.  Next quarter it would be really good to concentrate on getting our finances back on track so that the rest of the year can be a bit more relaxed and enjoyable.  It is possible, but it will definitely be easier to do if I can get work and soon.  That is my main focus now.

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