August Aims

I cannot believe it’s August already! I know they say that time goes faster the older you get, but this is ridiculous. Our little boy turns 1 on Sunday, and it truly has been the fastest year of my life so far. How have I got a 1 year old already?! We’re having a little party at our house on Sunday with family and a couple of friends too 🙂 We’ve got the Frugal Baby a ball pool for his main present, as we went to a soft play recently and he loved it! Looking forward to seeing his face when he sees what he has got 🙂

 

I feel like I’ve got a bit back on track with our finances and have quite a nice balance at the moment between spending and saving. One of my most popular posts on The Frugal Cottage is why I’m aiming to save 50% of our income, and although that is still an aim of mine, I’m not so focussed on percentages at the moment and more about building up my holdings in dividend paying stocks and going from there.

 

Every month I like to set myself aims for the month, to keep myself focused and to make sure I actually use the time during the month wisely! There are two sets of aims: Finance and Personal. July turned out to be great in the end, so I’m hoping that August will be just as positive. There might be some unexpected smaller spends as I am off work at the moment and want to spend as much time doing things with the Frugal Baby as I can. But, I’m hoping to still stick to our budget roughly throughout the month.

 

Financial aims for August:

– Have 18 No Spend Days (NSDs)

– Overpay our mortgage by £100

– Put £700 into savings

 

As I mentioned in my July review, I seem to have lost my way when it comes to NSDs. I do think they make a big difference, but I find in the summer months particularly I tend to have more days where I end up spending. So, with that in mind, I have reduced my aim for August to 18, and I hope I make it this time. I mentioned in a previous post about not knowing what to do about overpayments; I want to continue to make them as being mortgage free is a big part of our plan, plus the saving in interest from paying off your mortgage early can be huge. I met this target for July, with apparent ease, so I’ve kept it the same for August 🙂 Finally, as I smashed my savings target for July, I’ve upped the number for August, and here’s hoping I meet it! I am positive I can if I keep focused.

 

Personal Aims For August:

– lose 7lbs

– continue to declutter things from our home

– have a date night with Mr FC.

 

So, a new month means the continuation of my #30beforethirty challenge and I really need to focus we’re well over halfway through the year now! I didn’t do as well as I wanted in July so I need to get back on the wagon in August. I want to continue to simplify our home and that means sorting out and getting rid of the excess things we don’t need. I am definitely thinking about a car boot sale, which will get rid of more clutter and hopefully bring in some pennies at the same time. I don’t know if there’s any good ones near us though; the only one I have found so far you have to pay £10 to have a space and it doesn’t include the hire of tables, which seems expensive. Finally, I want me and Mr FC to have a date night at some point during the month. We’ve not been out just the two of us in ages!

 

Here’s to August being great, for all of us!

 

Do you have any aims for this month? What will challenge you the most? I’d love to hear from you!

 

Follow me on:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest