Happy Wednesday everyone! The end of August already; this month has absolutely flown by in the Frugal Cottage household. I have been lucky enough to have been off work for the entire month, and it has felt like I’m back on maternity leave with the Frugal Baby. August marked the month he turned one, and we had a lovely party at home with some family and friends, which was just enough. He enjoyed his birthday cake! We have also spent a lot of time outside, exploring, creating memories and having a wonderful time in the sunshine.
In terms of our finances, as you shall see in a minute, August has not been as positive as the previous couple of months have been. I suppose that was going to be inevitable when I have been at home all month, and the little spends have crept in here and there. Even if we are going somewhere which shouldn’t cost a lot, just having to pay for parking for the day means another spend day. I think September will be much better as there is nothing particularly planned in the diary, as of yet!
My Financial aims for August were:
– Have 18 No Spend Days (NSDs)
– Overpay our mortgage by £100
– Put £700 into savings
Urgh, no spend days. I cannot seem to get a grip of these at the moment! I am almost embarrassed to write how many I managed in August; I have never had a month where I have had so little, ever. Things like paying for parking, or going out with friends, has seen lots of little spends on consecutive days and it has well and truly scuppered my NSD effort. Not that I begrudge that at all, it’s just I’m a bit disappointed by the number. In August, I managed to have just 9 NSDs. Half of my target! Not good at all. Must do better!
As I mentioned in a previous monthly aims post, I have now decided to have a concrete figure for overpaying rather than having just “an overpayment” as the aim. I work better with numbers in mind, so went for another month with a three figure overpayment. Being mortgage free is definitely a big factor in our long term aims, so plodding along with this is a (very small) priority too. In August, I managed to overpay £99.49 so very close to my aim! I’m pleased with this.
As August has been a more spend-y month, as it always seems to be in the summer, I knew that the savings goal might be a stretch this month. I was proved right, as I have only managed to put £548.24 in our savings, which is better than nothing but so far away from target. I’m hoping that September will be much better for our savings as we have nothing planned and so spends should be much lower. Here’s hoping!
My Personal Aims For August were:
– lose 7lbs
– continue to declutter things from our home
– have a date night with Mr FC.
As it seems to be a theme, I have not met my weight loss goal for August either. In fact, I weigh the same at the end of the month as I did at the start, so a big fat zero for this. I have fluctuated a lot during the month, plus we’ve had days out and birthdays and other celebrations where eating healthily has just gone out of the window. Going back to work in September should help with this, as routine definitely helps me when trying to lose weight.
Still continuing to declutter things from our home and donate what we no longer need. I have sold a couple of items on eBay for £11.99 in total, so a little extra something from those. I have got another four text books listed but they are very subject specific so I’m not hopeful about those selling. I guess you never know? I need to look at perhaps selling some of our dvds to one of those companies where you can send them off in the post too – does anyone have any suggestions? We have so many that we just never watch anymore and I don’t think it’s worth putting them on ebay.
Finally, me and Mr FC have been on two date nights this month! TWO! The first one we went to the American diner in town, where I had a peanut butter and jelly burger with fries and onion rings. It was good, though the burger got a bit sickly towards the end due to so much peanut butter! The second we went round to some friends for the evening, but it was still lovely to be out as a couple, rather than as Mummy and Daddy 🙂
One final note, the top three posts on The Frugal Cottage during August were:
So, August is over and what a lovely month it has been. I’m not looking forward to going back to work as I’m going to miss the Frugal Baby so much. But, I shall continue to plod along as always 🙂
How was your August? Have you hit your aims? I’d love to hear about it!
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