February Aims

Hello February! It’s a quiet month for us for the main part, although we are going away for a week at the end of the month – our first family holiday! We’re going to Center Parcs for the week, which I’m really looking forward to. We’re in self catering so we should be able to stick to a budget, but we want to have fun and relax at the same time. I want to go to The Pancake House for breakfast, for a start! We’re also going to go for a couple of walks whilst we’re there, plus enjoy the scenery around us in the forest.

 

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. January was mainly positive, though I didn’t hit all of my aims. I really want February to be a success, so I need to focus every single day!

 

Financial aims for January:

– Have 20 No Spend Days (NSDs)

– Overpay our mortgage by something

– Put £400 into savings

 

As I’m hoping for a low spend month in February, I’ve set my NSD at 20, which is 4 less that my target for January. As there are 29 days in February, this gives me 9 spend days during the month, which doesn’t seem like a lot! However, it’ll be great for our overall budget if I can manage it. Our mortgage overpayment targets have changed again; I want to continue overpaying but I don’t know if we can commit to a certain number at this stage. However, as being mortgage free is a big part of our goals, I want to continue to overpay for as long as we can, even if it’s a small number. The savings target for the month has been lowered slightly, along with ever decreasing income but I’m hopeful to hit this even so.

 

Personal Aims For January:

– lose 4lbs

– declutter one bin bag’s worth of stuff

– don’t eat chocolate, crisps, cakes, biscuits or sweets for the month.

 

So, a new month means the continuation of my #30beforethirty challenge and it means I need to focus! If I can lose 4lbs in February I’ll be right back on track. I’m logging my food and I’ll weigh myself every Saturday to chart my progress. Anyone got any tips on how to avoid snacking when bored/tired? I’ve got to get out of that habit. I want to continue to simplify our home and that means sorting out and getting rid of the excess things we don’t need. And finally, I need to cut out some of the bad, snack-y things that have crept in my diet lately. They say that if you can do something for 21 days straight it becomes a habit, so maybe it’ll make me be able to resist these for the foreseeable future? It’ll be good for me to do anyway, but I think I’ll find it hard to begin with!

 

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