So, December is almost over! And indeed, so is 2018. A year when you’re older definitely goes so much faster than when you’re young. I don’t know what Frugal Toddler is going to do once Christmas is done with, the tree down and the lights off for another year. He’ll be gutted!
It’s been a busy month for us, and I have struggled with our finances. Being busier and having lots of family things on during the month means that I have a lot more spend days than I wanted but spending time with those who are important to us is so precious. It feels even more so at this time of year. And it could have been worse, spending wise. So I’m happy overall 🙂
My Financial aims for December were:
– Have 12 No Spend Days (NSDs)
– Overpay our mortgage by £185
– Put £300 into savings
If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I have been struggling with NSDs this month. But actually, that’s ok! I have a new plan for 2019, which will be talked about in my 2019 aims at the start of the new year. I have managed 11 NSDs during December. I’m ok with that.
I have changed our overpayment strategy again recently; I have going back and forth about this for a while so I posted about it asking for advice. Quite a few people answered and then we made a decision about it so our overpayments will be bigger going forward. At least in the short term anyway. So, my overpayment this month is £97.74 which is less than my aim. Not great going this month!
Finally, as a consequence of making our overpayment bigger, our savings rate will go down slightly. Again, only in the short term, I hope! I thought that perhaps I wouldn’t make our savings aim this month, even though I lowered it as I knew December was going to be busy. But, I have managed to make this aim! I have put £405.61 into savings so definitely over 🙂
My Personal Aims For December were:
– enjoy spending time with family and friends.
A nice, straightforward one this month. And we have definitely done this 🙂 we had a lovely Christmas with Frugal Toddler being very excited about everything. He was jumping up and down on Christmas morning once he realised that Father Christmas had been. It was just so, so lovely 🙂
The top 3 posts on The Frugal Cottage during December were:
How has December been for you? What has the best thing that has happened to you during the month?
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I think you’ve done really well, especially considering the expenses we all face in December! Happy New Year ahead! x
Thank you! Happy New Year to you too 🙂
I dont quite understand your strategy this month. You aimed to overpay your mortgage by £185 and put £300 into savings (total of £485) – yet you say that you failed the 1st (only overpaid £97.74) and beat the second (saved £405.61) – a total of £503.35. This means that you could have achieved your goal of £185 mortgage overpayment and still beat your savings goal by an extra £18.35 – 2 wins!!
Ah, that’s true! Definitely should have checked the numbers…
Christmas is so magical with small children in the house. Enjoy it, because it sadly won’t last forever!
I know, time goes by so quickly!