July 2023 Budget

This was a mixed month when it came to reaching our budget goals for July.  There were some things that went really well and others that really did not.  There were a couple of days where I wasn't expecting our finances to be great and these were when we decided to have a date day and when we spent some time with some friends who had come up to Wales.  Both were a little but spendy, but obviously worth it.

Most of our monthly bills were pretty much the same as always, but we did manage to save quite a bit of money this month on our gas and electricity.  It probably helped that, despite it being a very wet month, it has been relatively warm, but I did also fix our thermostat and that seemed to really help with the gas.  My mobile bill is also a lot lower this month after I made all those changes last month and it should be lower still next month as well.

Another positive is that we've been able to greatly reduce our personal spending this month.  After last month we manage to make an effort to be more mindful when buying things.  There are a couple of things that look like a big spend, but one me booking our surfing lessons and we'd already built up a sinking fund to cover that, and the other was an expected spend on an electronic that I didn't have time to save for but which I knew we could afford.  I've also still been able to put money into my pension again, so that I'm still keeping up with that goal for 2023.

On the not so good, fuel has been high again this month but unfortunately there's nothing we can do about that as we can't reduce the amount we drive as it's needed for work.  However, the biggest issue has been our spending on food, both groceries and eating out/ take-away.  In fact, our spending has been pretty excessive this month.  To be honest I'm not even that sure why, but I think we were just not really paying attention to what we were buying and going mostly going for convenience.  This is, of course, not entirely budget friendly or good for our health, so this is going to be something I'll focus on more in the coming month and that should hopefully help us put more money into our savings.

To end on another plus, we have been able to put a good chunk into our savings again.  Obviously this would have been much higher had we been more careful with our spending on food, but it does mean that we are now much closer to reaching our four month savings goal for this year.  If we do manage to reach it before the end of the year I think we're just going to keep going so that we can reach our final long term goal much quicker.  This would make this year a very productive year for us if we do.

So, a mixed bag really, but actually I would say that it was mostly positive and I'm very happy with that.  We just have to work on our spending on food - something that we actually struggle with regularly as we love our food.  However, if I'm stricter with myself and we keep to our menu planning and not eat out as much as we have been in July I think we should actually be able to do that just fine.  Guess we'll have to wait and see what August brings.

July 2022 Budget

It's been another month and another plague of illnesses.  I'm not going to lie, being ill this often is really beginning to wear a little thin for me.  This time I got food poisoning and ended up missing a couple of days.  Then Ed got COVID, which then led to me getting COVID (it's finally caught up with us) though thankfully his work still paid him for those days.  The joys of not being self-employed.  The heat also didn't help and there were some days that were missed or only half worked because of it as it just wasn't safe to be in that heat.  And on that note, here goes.

We've still managed to keep no credit card debt and have our own personal emergency funds fully paid up - always good to start on a positive.  I've also been able to put money into my pension every week this month and I'm very happy about that.

There's also the spending on groceries and takeaways which we've done a pretty good job at reducing this month despite being ill at the same time, especially the takeaways.  We can keep improving on this and that's the plan for the rest of the year.  If I can get the groceries down to £400 a month and the takeaways /eating out down to £200 I'll be very happy.  Fuel has been the main issue this month and you can see that the cost of it has gone right up over the last few weeks.  I've also been doing a little more driving than usual this month, but none of this can be helped and we just have to accept that this has become an increased expense.  At least we are able to do that without it having too much of an effect on the quality of our lives and for that I am grateful.

We have been able to put money towards our four months' savings.  Not as much as I had hoped to do at the beginning of July, but still better than what we managed in June so that's a start at least.  This is partly due to the fact that, due to how the budget months run, my husband's pay will actually go into next month's budget this time (along with our larger bills, thankfully), but that does mean that we will probably get two wages for him in August and be able to put more into savings then.  Everything else has pretty much been the same as the last few months.

And that's July over and done with, and over half the year already gone.  If we had been really strict with ourselves we probably could have been very close to reaching our main goals already.  However, we made a choice to allow ourselves some spending on the things we really enjoy knowing that this would mean it would take us a little bit longer to reach our goals overall and we're fine with that.  We'll see how August goes.  If the heat carries on the way it is at the moment we might be spending all the money we are able to earn on ice cream. 😂

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.