January 2024 Budget

This first month of 2024 has been a pretty good month when it comes to our finances and we have managed to reduce our spending in the way that we had planned we would by changing some of our behaviours, and not necessarily specific behaviours connected directly to finances.  We did have one big event this month which made our spending a little unusual for this month, which was our nephew's 18th birthday.

For my own health, I've decided to greatly reduce the amount of sugar that I have been consuming throughout the week.  I've not cut it out completely, it's nice to have some treats, but I no longer have it every day.  Reducing my sugar has meant that we no longer do regular trips to the shops to get it and this has ended up reducing our shopping bill by about £40.  Which is ridiculous when you think about it.  I've also made our meal plans a lot simpler so that I can meal prep all our workweek meals on Sunday.  This has meant that we now eat a lot healthier, it saves money on our grocery bill, and as it's already made we are a lot less tempted to order take-away.  We knew that we would be spending a little bit more in the last week as that's when we'd be travelling for our nephew's birthday, but what we weren't expecting was to both be ill which did mean that we ended up spending more on food than we originally hoped.

Due to how we've set up our bank account now, we were able to buy our TV license for the year in one go.  This was quite a big expense but it was also nice to know that we don't have to worry about it for the rest of the year.  This is something I'd like to set up for the other bills in the future, but that's once we've reached our saving goals first.  The rest of the spending has been pretty similar to previous months.

Our personal spending has also been down this month, mostly because we've been a lot more mindful about spending.  I've made a list of things I would like to buy in the future and the amount they'll probably be so I know how many weeks I need to save up first before I can actually get them.  Ed is also doing the same thing, so this should keep our spending in budget throughout the year.  We've also managed to put a good amount towards our Christmas sinking fund and saving goals, which always makes me happy.

So it's been a good start to the year and our new habits are doing well.  We plan on carrying on these for the rest of the year and, if we do, we should be able to reach our financial goals pretty quickly.  In the past, we worked out to set up the base for our finances, and now that means we can build on them.  Hopefully, by the end of this year, we'll have gotten much closer to being able to fully enjoy the money we earn.