Hello October! It’s getting to be my favourite time of year. I love the cooler months and the darker evenings. It makes snugging on the sofa all the more tempting. Add in a fleece blanket and a mug of hot chocolate and I’m all sorted! That can often mean low spends too, which is an added bonus. So long as I don’t get tempted by online shopping.
October is quiet for us again; Mr FC and I are at work as normal and so we will still be getting used to our new routine. It is definitely interesting getting four of us out of the door with everything sorted in a morning, that’s for sure! I don’t mind it being quiet though; quiet can be good.
It might seem soon but my thoughts keep turning to Christmas. I might make a start on buying some Christmas presents and stashing them away. December is such an expensive month so getting started beforehand wouldn’t be a bad thing. Even just planning in terms of who we’re buying for would feel a little more organised. We shall see.
Financial aims for October:
– Have 18 No Spend Days (NSDs)
– Overpay our mortgage by £85
– Put £700 into savings
I finally hit my NSD aim last month, for the first time in ages. So, I’m putting the same number again. I’m hoping we can hit this! Just need to be disciplined and organised 🙂 The overpayment aim is going to stay the same each month throughout the year. The savings aim is more than last month, as we are now back to our normal household income levels, so hoping to hit this.
Personal Aims For October:
– find some time just for me.
– use my budget planner throughout the month
The first one sounds quite simple, but I am really struggling to find some time just for myself at the moment. When I’m not thinking about anything, or just can relax with a book or have a soak in the bath. Even twenty minutes would be better than nothing! I made myself a simple budget planner last month and used it throughout September. I am going to try and continue this in October.
What are your aims for the month? I’d love to hear them!
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I love the term Aims! Goals always sounds so intense. My aims are to continue to:
Eat out once per week (We’ve really been lax with this during September. The more we are in town the more we eat out and we’ve had a lot of errands and appointments that run almost day long so eating out just feels ‘easier’);
Get my houseplants ready for fall. That means re-potting several – as in 6 or so. Most are small and will go into our travel trailer as healthy breathing plants to take on the road when we start out mid-month;
Put weed and feed on the lawn. We have a large yard – some in regular grass and most in a drought tolerant western US grass. I didn’t do this in the spring due to health issues and boy does it show! The weeds have taken over. Many have burrs and stickers on them which makes the critters miserable;
Continue reading five books per week. I find that if I am actively reading I don’t watch T.V. as much and given the situation in the US that is a good thing. This is the month prior to a major national election and between the ads and the craziness I find T.V. draining. I do watch my British and Commonwealth shows via BritBox and Acorn. I say Commonwealth as a couple of new favorites are from Australia and NZ.
Finally get the travel trailer ready for a two week ‘shake down’ trip in October. We have ‘glamped’ this one up as we plan to stay in it for extended periods of time. Inside is almost done! Woot woot!
Get my flu and pneumonia (spelling? lol) shots and schedule mammo and bone density tests;
Reorganize my pantry after the summer ‘just throw it in there’ method. Also need to reorganize our two freezers to get it down to one so when we leave we can unplug one;
Get not very feral cat neutered – guess he is ours now. The local shelters are absolutely overwhelmed with kittens and cats so he might not have a good outcome;
Start on my blog!
So there you go!
Good luck with your aims! Let me know how you get on 🙂
I wish you every success with your October aims. I’m sure that you will achieve all of them. I’m interested in the fact that you are aiming to save an extra £100, especially with Christmas rapidly approaching. I’m not sure how well my frugal lifestyle will cope with the added expense.
I have already begun to pick up bits and pieces, maybe that’s the way forward. I’m aiming to increase my NSDs to 15. If I can save an extra £75 again that would be great, anything above that will buy a few more stocking fillers for Xmas. At the beginning of September I purchased an Ecoegg wash ball. I’m very pleased with the results and it is already saving me money.
Good luck with your aims and I hope you find some you time 🤗
Thank you! I’m not sure we’ll hit the extra savings amount but we shall see. Good luck with your NSDs – let me know how you get on!
Such a lovely idea to have monthly aims. I’m also particularly interested on your idea of having some number of days per month as a “no spending days”. I think I will definitely try that out myself! Thanks for the suggestion!