I said this in April, but I’m sort of glad May is over. Again, it’s not been the best month. I’m not even sure why! There are a couple of things hanging over me at the moment which probably isn’t helping. Plus, Frugal Baby is having a lot of disturbed night’s sleep which means we are too. The one thing I miss most from pre-parenthood is a decent night’s sleep!
May was quiet, as I knew it would be. I had a friend from London come up for the day in the middle of the month and it was lovely to see her. We went out for a nice lunch and had a catch up. Other than that, it’s been quiet. But expensive. May is when our car’s MOT is due. We decided to get a full service too and it needed some work doing to it. It cost us over £400 in total – ouch 🙁 but, I need a car to get to where I work at the moment. So, needs must.
My Financial aims for May were:
– Have a No Spend Month
– Overpay our mortgage by £50
– Put £1000 into savings
So much for a No Spend Month. Things like the car [see above] and other little spends definitely put paid to that. In the end, I managed to have 16 NSDs in May. Hardly ground breaking! I’m hoping that June will be better than this. I have managed to overpay our mortgage by £8.31 which is tiny. Better than nothing I suppose? Finally, our savings goal has taken a hit again this month. Due to all of the extra expenses, I managed to save £517.99 this month. Nowhere near!
My Personal Aims For May were:
– do some baking
– list 10 things on ebay
– finalise my plans for the future of The Frugal Cottage
I made some Malteser cupcakes this last weekend which were really tasty. They definitely looked a little rustic (I posted a picture on Twitter if you want to see!) but they tasted fine. I do enjoy baking and it always makes our house smell amazing too. Bonus! I think I listed a couple of things this month; we have had more sell than that. Plodding along with selling stuff. I have also, finally, made some decisions about The Frugal Cottage. More on that in a bit, so stay tuned!
The top 3 posts on The Frugal Cottage during May were:
- How Mindfulness Can Help You With Your Finances
- How To Have A No Spend Month
- Why Everyone Should Own A Slow Cooker
How has May been for you? What has been the best thing that’s happened to you this month?
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We feel you pain, at least on some fronts! May was a “horrible” month from a financial perspective, the rest was just fine. Still need to complete the financial overview. Personally it actually was great.
Hope June will be easier for you!
Hello! May was my first full month of being retired, with state pension not due for another 2.5 years and a slender budget to live on till then. I kept to my food, petrol and spends budget during May using the cash envelopes system. I made a batch of washing powder, first time ever and it is doing the job well, and was relatively inexpensive. I’ve just saved £130 on the proposed increase in my car insurance! And I stocked up on my preferred deodorant which was on offer. All this within budget, and I haven’t felt deprived!
I know how you feel about your car bill though, as I had one the same size back in March. That was for new brake discs and pads, and two new tyres. First big spends on a 6 year old car so it’s been doing well.