Well, hasn’t April gone by fast!? It always seems to be the same; I write these reviews more quickly each month, I’m sure of it!
April has been a lovely month. We went away for 5 days to Center Parcs at Whinfell forest with Mr FC’s family and it was just wonderful. I love it there; it feels like a different world. Frugal Toddler had so much fun in the swimming complex and in the different play areas. Just walking through the woods to the various places was entertainment enough. I’m genuinely sad that I don’t know when we’ll be going again 🙁
I also mentioned in our April aims that we were having a family photoshoot. It’s difficult to get photos of all four of us as normally, I’m the one taking the photo. I went yesterday to pick the final ones to be printed and I can’t wait to get them on the wall. There’s a lovely one of the four of us 🙂 I don’t often say that about a photo!
Other than that, April has been a fairly quiet month for us. I’m currently writing this feeling so ill and eating a bowl of Ready Brek as that’s all I fancied for tea (does anyone else eat comfort food when feeling poorly?) so it’s hard to think of things we’ve done.
Also, today is the last day that my course, Reduce Your Food Course is 50% off – making it £7.50! Just enter the code HALFOFFAPR at the checkout 🙂
My Financial aims for April were:
– Have 16 No Spend Days (NSDs)
– Overpay our mortgage by £85
– Put £600 into savings
I have struggled with NSDs for ages, as little spends have crept into our daily budget. Mostly things related to the kids! But, I’m pleased to say that for once, I’ve finally met my target. I have managed 18 NSDs in April 🙂
I changed my overpayment target for 2018, as it had been sitting on the back burner and not really thought of at all. But, as being mortgage free is definitely a part of our early retirement plans, it needs to be in focus somewhat. This month I have managed to overpay our mortgage by £98.20 which I’m really pleased about.
Finally, our savings target will be lower in the coming months whilst I’m on maternity pay. If we manage this consistently every month until I return to work, I shall be very proud of myself. I haven’t quite hit my target this month, but since I smashed my aim last month, I’m not too bothered. I have managed to save £527.27 🙂
My Personal Aims For April were:
– lose 4lbs
– keep up with my bullet journal
– start reading The Year Of Less
I was doing really well with weight loss until we went on holiday. Oops! Back on it since we got back though so hopefully tonight’s weigh in will be a positive one on the scales. I have kept up with my bullet journal and am loving it 🙂 it’s not as creative as some out there but it works for me. Would anyone want a post about how I’ve set mine up? Finally, I haven’t really done any reading at all. I’m so tired by the time we’ve got both Frugal Toddler and Frugal Baby to sleep that I just want to go to sleep myself. Don’t see this changing any time soon either!
The top 3 posts on The Frugal Cottage during April were:
How has April been for you? I hope it’s been a good month!
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So as per your post of the same name, how did your “April Cash Challange” go, any update on that?
Did you find spending cash only helped you to save more money or did it just make it more inconvenient to pay for things?
How did you cope when you wanted to buy something on-line, did you delay the purchase until May or simply do without?
I’ve got a post coming up on that 🙂
I pretty much do “No Spend Days” anyway without even thinking about it. It’s not uncommon for me to go 2 or even 3 days at a time without spending a dime. I buy all my groceries for the week on Sunday usually and I always take my lunch to work and cook dinner at home. If I do go out to eat, it’s not more than once per week. I don’t like coffee and usually only drink water, so that helps as well.