January was a fantastic month for our finances, but February hasn’t turned out to be the same. I had underestimated just how many times I would end up spending money on “little” things, especially when out and about. Add to that a week off in the middle, and well, things have not gone to plan. The most important thing though is I’ve been tracking my spending and know exactly where things haven’t gone to plan, and more importantly, why.
The other reason why my aims won’t seem so positive is actually because we’re getting new doors fitted tomorrow. We have a set of glass doors going into our playroom and the glass isn’t safety glass. It’s been on our to do list for a while to replace them, but now we have two walking children, they really need doing. So, they’ll be replaced tomorrow at a cost of £950. Ouch! Can you see why we’ve not met our aims? But, this is a very good job knocked off the list, so to speak.
My Financial aims for February were:
– Have 17 No Spend Days (NSDs)
– Overpay our mortgage by £185
– Put £670 into savings
NSDs are one of my favourite things to do to make sure I stay on track with our budget. I love them for making me feel more in control of our spending. But, my using my NSD tracker and looking at trends, there are a couple of danger days that are emerging. Thursday being one! In the end, I managed 15 NSDs in February. So, short of my goal.
One positive is my overpayment for this month. I try and get this do in the first half of the month to get it out of the way and I can forget about it for the remainder. A theory that is working, so far! In February, I have managed to overpay £201.65 so met this aim 🙂
Thirdly, as mentioned above, we haven’t managed to hit our savings goal as we are paying for these new doors. The majority of that payment is coming out of our current account so it was always going to have to be taken from somewhere. In February, I have managed to put £181.28 in savings.
My Personal Aims For February were:
– lose 6lbs
– design and upload another two products in TFC Shop 
– go to bed early!
Urgh, I need to stop putting weight loss aims in my monthly aims post. I never manage to succeed in them when I do! The less said the better about this, to be quite honest.
I have, however, designed and uploaded two new products into the TFC shop! Three, in fact, if you include the March 2019 Budget Planner. I am enjoying spending time designing products I use daily, such as the NSD tracker and the Expense tracker. I love having a visual aid for spending and saving! I have had lots of positive responses to the products too which is great 🙂
Lastly, I have been going to bed early. I’m just so tired at the moment that I can’t keep my eyes open for very long in an evening. It doesn’t help when Frugal Baby decides that 5am is the time he’s going to wake up every morning..
The top 3 posts on The Frugal Cottage during February were:
How has February been for you? What has the best thing that has happened to you during the month?
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