May 2024 Budget

There isn't really a huge amount to say about this month as, as with most of the other months, our bills have basically remained consistent and we have now gotten into a routine of spending specific amounts on each category as we've tried to save.  We have had one big win this month.

And that win is to finally finish completely paying into our four months' emergency savings.  This now means that we are now covered if any big changes happen in the future and we can be a little bit more relaxed about it.  It does make me feel more secure and gives us a bit more flexibility when it comes to the decisions we make in the future.  We also had a little bit of money left over to then put some into our holiday sinking fund.  If we keep doing as well as we are now then we should be able to book our holiday by the end of the year.  It's a really big thing for us to look forward to and a reward for all our hard work.

We did spend a little bit more than we should have on our eating-out budget by about £20.  However, we underspent on our groceries by £70 so I'm not too worried about it as, overall, we actually made a saving on our spending on food.  Our fuel bill has gone up a little bit as well as we took a trip to the coast to do some surfing.  But that is an extra expense we're happy to accommodate as we enjoy it.

We've also both been good and underspent on our personal spending.  Not spending on things and really asking if we really want or need something just seems to have become a good habit for both of us now, and that's probably a big reason why we've been able to put so much into our savings this year.  We have spent a little bit more on days out, but one of the spends is to do with us booking stuff for our holiday we'll be taking soon in Pembrokeshire (a break my husband in particular really deserves right now).  There is also the surfboard hire, but that's coming out of the sinking fund we still have for surfing.  We have about five more times we can rent boards using this sinking fund, but it is only £20 a go for both of us so I think that's an expense we can accommodate.

It's still taking a little while for me to organise my pension payment through my wage at my new job, but when I finally get it finalised it will mean that we will have less coming in from my wage.  This will probably be around £200, which does mean there will be less going into our sinking funds.  However, this is less of an issue seeing as we have now completed our big long-term goal when it comes to our finances.  In fact, it's coincided with our saving success pretty well.

All in all, it's been a pretty good month and the habitats we have formed over the last year have definitely helped us get to the point where we can put money towards our security and have experiences that really mean something to us.  From now on we can actually be a little bit more relaxed about what we spend our money on, and get a few more experiences under our belt.  However, I never want to go back to the spending I did before.  It wasn't helpful, nor did it make me happy, and now not doing it means I can have experiences that are more meaningful and that I've always wanted to have.

May 2023 Budget

May was a slightly unusual month in the fact that there were five weeks instead of four, at least in the way our financial weeks goes work at the moment.  This meant that we did spend a little bit more money than we would have done on other months.  It was also the first month in a while where we both got a wage and that was a nice feeling.

As I had hoped at the start of May, we've actually done pretty well this month when it comes to our spending.  Our food bills, both when it comes to groceries and eating out/ take-away, have come within budget (slightly over in groceries but the same amount under in eating out).  I know that we could save a little bit more if we reduced or stopped the eating out, but it is something that we enjoy having as a treat on the days we do actually get to spend time together so I really don't see us stopping this unless we really have to.  One thing that I have noticed has gotten quite high now is my mobile phone bill, but I've put some work into that this month, looking at different plans etc, to reduce this in the long run and that should come into affect over the next couple of months.  It's not huge amount monthly but the accumulation over the year should make a tidy amount.

We have been a little over on our personal spending.  A few of weeks on my spending does seem high, but one was some craft items that I had already put money aside for and so actually didn't come out of this month's earnings.  The others were because I had to buy a number of items for work, which of course all deteriorated at the same time so the cost couldn't be spread out, and we'd decided to stay away the first weekend in June, which was another £99 off.  When these are taken into account we both managed to underspend when it cames to just buying random things, which is a good change in our behaviour.  We just need to now be more organised when it comes to saving up for trips, etc.

One thing that has become higher than before has been the fuel.  The actual price of fuel is a lot cheaper here than in Devon, but we've had to do a lot more driving now as neither of us can get to work through walking or public transport.  My husband's shift work also means that there are quite a few weeks where the car is being driven seven days a week.  This change in expense is something we can't really do anything about so we're just going to have to accept that our budget on fuel costs will need to go up to £300.  Thankfully, our budget can take this increase so it's not something I'm going to worry about.  There's not going to be anything in the pension sections this month (or for the next few months) as this is now something that gets paid straight out of my wage by my employer.  I am going to increase the amount that comes out of my wage though to the 12.5% I had planned for this year.  In all likeliness I'll get this money back at the end of my contract and I'll just put all of that straight into my own pension.

We did manage to put money into our four months savings as well, which makes me very happy.  It's nice seeing a good chunk going in and now that all the other sinking funds have been completed we can just concentrate on that for the rest of the year.  I'm hoping that, as most of the other months are four weeks long, we should be able to put even more in over the coming months and possibly even surpass this years goal.

So not a bad month and the plan is to carry on with the improvements for the rest of the year.  There will be a couple of months which will be a bit of a blip as we do want to do some touristy things and it is important that we balance being sensible with getting to have experiences.  However, I think we are going to do pretty well when it comes to our financial goals this year and that is a good feeling to have.

May 2022 Budget

It's been a little while now since I've been able to say that our finances are going well, but finally we have a month were we can.  This has been partly helped by me doing my tax returns early this year (I put money aside after every pay to cover my taxes at the end of the financial year, but I don't usually have to send all of it to the HMRC), the £150 we all got back from our Council Tax, and my husband having a full time job again - at least for now.  So, we're making the most of it whilst we can.

Our credit cards and personal emergency funds are still going strong, and we've managed to put some more money into our savings account.  It looks really unlikely that we'll reach our goal saving half of this emergency fund by the end of June, but we did have to use the savings to cover our bills after Ed lost his job and that is exactly what this saving is for.

I did use some of my tax return money to catch up on my pension payments so that's now fully paid up to the end of May.  This makes me very happy.  I also used some of the money to get out joint account back up to cover next month's general bills, so that was another worry off mind as well.

We've been pretty good on our spending on food, takeaways/eating out, and general spending, though I did spend some money on replacing an items of Ed's which was very important to him but unfortunately broke.  We do need to keep on improving on this though if we're going to reach our savings goals for 2022.

So, everything went much better this month compared to April, or in fact March, and it definitely made me glad that I'd been sensible and put aside that money every pay day.   Though we are in a much better place at the moment with both of us working full time jobs, we are very aware that the cost of everything is going up still, in some cases by quite a lot, so we're going to need to be very careful with our spending from now.  This is especially true as all predictions show that it's only going to get worse as we move into winter - oh joy.  At least this month has been a win and has set us up nicely for the months to come.