August 2014: A Month In Review.

August has gone by so fast, I can’t quite believe it. It’s been a fantastic month for us though, and I’ve enjoyed every minute.  At the end of the month I like to do a reflection on how the month has gone and reflect on the aims I set at the beginning of the month.

 

August has been good for us in terms of money. We have spent more in August than July, but we knew that this would be the case as we were on vacation for two weeks of it! We had a fantastic time in America touring down the East Coast, and we’ve made memories that will last forever. I’ve finally been to America! Something to tick off my bucket list.

 

August marks the third month of blogging and I’m still really enjoying it. I like reading financial blogs and I’m also enjoying the process of coming up with blog posts and then writing and posting them. I love reading comments that people take time to leave and they often conjure up other thoughts to do with how people manage their money. I now have 160 followers on Twitter and I have had 6,169 views on the blog at the time of writing this post. Thank you if you follow me on Twitter and read my blog – it really does mean a lot to me!

 

Our Financial aims for August were:

– Have 10 No Spend Days (or NSDs)

– Overpay our mortgage by the interest added on only

– Put £600 into savings

 

NSDs have not gone to plan this month. The number was lower than normal anyway and I still didn’t manage it. I’ve managed 9 NSDs this month, which is pretty poor really. But, I knew it would be a struggle and it was! Our overpayment this month was going to be the interest only. I did this, plus an extra couple of pounds to make the mortgage number a round number. We have made an overpayment of £311.23 which meets our aim. I’m pleased with this and think that it will continue by just the mortgage interest only per month for the foreseeable future. After a disappointing savings amount in July, we’ve smashed our target for August, which I’m very pleased about. We have put £739.79 into savings this month, which is fantastic! This has gone into our “new to us” car pot; we’re hoping to get a newer car in the next year. But more of that in another post.

 

Personal Aims for August were:

– make a lemon drizzle cake

– have a BBQ and invite family round

– go out for a bike ride at least twice

 

I have made a lemon drizzle cake – twice in fact! I’ve got a post coming up later in the week with the recipe for that if anyone wants to try it out. It is very straightforward but results in a very tasty cake. We’ve also had family round for a meal, but in the end, it wasn’t a BBQ. That was due to the weather, so I think I can say I have accomplished this goal too. It was a lovely evening; I made a beef and ale stew with meg and veg followed by cheesecake which everyone seemed to enjoy. I do like cooking for others and trying out new recipes. The only thing I haven’t done this month is go for a bike ride – at all! I seem to have lost all motivation for exercise which is really bad. I really need to get back into doing something as it does make me feel better.

 

How was your August? Have you hit your aims? I would love to hear about it!

 

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