As we have now passed the half way point in 2015 (how did that happen?!) I thought it would be a good time to recap on my 2015 goals to see where I stand.
My Financial Goals for 2015 are:
– Put £8,000 into savings
– Overpay our mortgage by £3,400
– Have 220 NSDs throughout the year
– Open a S&S ISA
– Earn £1,000 in side income.
At this point, I have paid £3,690.57 into savings, which equates to 46.13% of the target. As 6 months has passed, which should see me at 50% of the aim so far, I am behind a bit from where I should be at this stage. It has definitely been an up and down journey in terms of saving, as we have had some lower than anticipated months which has made a dent at the overall goal. As my income will drop significantly from August onwards, due to being on maternity leave, I don’t know if we’ll meet this goal at all. I am going to try my best, but it seems doubtful at this stage.
I mentioned a while ago that we’ve changed our overpayment strategy and therefore target for overpayments, mainly due to the fact that we’re trying to get all outgoings reduced as much as possible, so that when our income drops, we won’t be in too much of a tight squeeze. Unless a miracle happens now, we won’t meet this goal, so far from it. Our estimated overpayments for 2015 is currently £1,780.00 which, although is still a good amount, is nowhere near where we started out thinking at the start of the year.
As of today, I have achieved 121 NSDs so far this year, which equates to 55% of the target. Setting myself the Working Week Challenge has definitely helped me with not spending during the working week, which in turn means that my NSD count each month is higher. I am quietly confident that I’m going to hit my goal of 220 for the year, not that I want to jinx anything!
Ah, the stocks and shares ISA goal. The one I had in my 2014 goals too, has still not happened. I do not understand why I am so fearful about opening one; what’s the worst that could happen? I could lose the (small) amount of money I invest in there, or it could go well and be the start of another branch of the Ultimate Dream Fund? There’s definitely some mind games going on here about this; I don’t have any other reason for not doing this yet. Please, someone make me take this step and stop being such a wimp!
And finally, the side income aim. When I wrote this at the beginning of the year, I had no idea about how I might go about making £1,000 in side income, and to be honest, I’m still a little in the dark as to how I might make this happen. So far this year, I have made £0 in side income. Now, any side income whilst I’m on maternity leave would be so helpful, so if I want to make a start on this before bump arrives, I need to get on this ASAP. Again, I’m a little fearful of what might happen, presumably because I’m scared I’ll fail miserably? Another thing to look at and take the plunge.
My Personal goals for 2015 are:
– Get back to baking and actually enjoy it!
– Make sure my husband and I have date nights and time away
– Decorate our living room and spare bedroom
– Be more kind to myself
– Stop worrying about things I can’t change and focus on the ones I can.
Now that we have a new oven, I have been baking more and enjoying it. Not as much as I used to, but definitely more than 2014. I have even tried a couple of new recipes, which is good on my part as I tend to stick to what I know, so I’m definitely making headway with this goal.
Me and my husband have had time away, in February and April, which has been lovely and a chance to recharge our batteries. I don’t know how much we’ll have in terms of time away or date nights in the upcoming months, but we shall see. That means having to find a baby-sitter (?!?!) which seems like such a strange and scary concept. How will I leave my child with someone else?
We’ve decorated the spare room, as incidentally, this is now the nursery. It still needs the furniture sorting and a new blind buying, but it has been painted and new carpet fitted. Now that the cot is up and a chest of drawers in there, it is definitely a nursery and not just a spare room where we used to put everything in that we didn’t know what to do with and shut the door.
The last two goals are still a work in progress; these are very personal goals and will be two mindful categories to work on for the years to come, if not for the rest of my life (bit deep there) so it is hard to quantify whether or not I’m succeeding in hitting the two goals. I am naturally a worrier anyway, plus being pregnant has sent my anxiety into overdrive, so I could probably be doing better in that respect, but I am working on it.
So, hit and miss in terms of being on track so far! Some of that is to do with changing our minds/goals as the year goes along, and adapting to the change in our lives which will have the biggest impact in a couple of months time. Still, overall, I am heading in the right direction, which is always good.
How are your 2015 goals going?
Hmm I have been putting off applying for a new bank account – what do you say to a challenge for you to have sorted the ISA and me to have sorted the bank account out by the end of July?
Ooh, I love a challenge! Deal 🙂
Bank account set up, just need to contact them this week about the 7 day change over thingy!
Ooh you’re doing better than me! I need to get a move on….
Mwahahaha!!! *cough* sorry not sure what happened there *grin*
Everything should be transferred by Monday (Tuesday at the outside) – how are you doing on the challenge?
Oh goodness, I need to get a move on!
Yep! 5 days to get it sorted *grin*
I know what you mean. It took me ages to finally open an S&S ISA. I am glad I did eventually. Once you recognise it is not going to be a smooth ride it is definitely worthwhile. You just have to go in with your eyes open with a clear understanding of how you should behave to do yourself justice.
Good luck!
I’m glad someone else took ages deciding what to do 😉 thanks!
Nicola, it seems like the NSD is really effective. I practice it myself and feel like I have boosted my savings rate by about 20%. We’re half way and it’s really time to keep up with our goals and be more focused to achieve it one after the other.
I find that having NSDs as a target has completed changed our spending habits during the week 🙂 20% boost is awesome!
Nicola, do you have the space in your refrigerator to make some meals to freeze so that you are not tempted to order take out food when your baby is born? This way you can keep having NSDs during this period. Pardon my ignorance, can you tell me what an ISA is?
I am aiming to do this once I start my maternity leave – it’s a great idea! And then I can keep my NSDs in tact 🙂 and an ISA is a tax-free account in the UK which has a limit set each year; this year’s ISA limit is £15,240 which any interest accrued on isn’t taxed.