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. June wasn’t that good for personal aims so I’m hoping that July will be much better.
Financial aims for July:
– Have 18 No Spend Days (or NSDs)
– Overpay our mortgage by £350
– Put £600 into savings
As we’re going on holiday towards the end of July, I want to make sure we have enough spending money whilst we’re there; hence the NSD target. Again, I really do believe that having spend free days during the week really helps us meet our NSD target each month. Our mortgage interest is just over £300, so if we overpay £350 it means we pay off the interest every month and a little more on top. Again, I’ve decided that because we hit £600 in June, there’s no reason to not be able to do that in July as well. These savings are going to be put towards our holiday, which is a massive incentive. If we don’t use them all, then they’ll go towards a new bathroom as ours desperately needs re-doing.
Personal Aims for July:
– lose 5lbs
– bake at least twice
– go out for a bike ride at least twice
As I totally failed on my personal aims for June, I’ve not changed them much for July. I really need to get back into my healthy eating – I was doing really well in May but I’ve totally fallen off the wagon during June. Planning will help me to do better in this during July. Again, I didn’t bake much in June either and I want to do more of that in July. I really enjoy baking but haven’t done that much recently, mainly due to time constraints but I want to make more time for me this month, as well as balancing work commitments in the mix. And, last but definitely not least, to co-inside with the healthier eating, going on bike rides will help to lose the 5 lbs I’m aiming for in July.
Do you have any aims for this month? What will challenge you the most? I’d love to hear from you!
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Yes, I have goals for this month and one of it is to lose some extra weight and to stick a healthy diet. I just started going to the gym again after a year, hopefully I will be more consistent this time. Good to know that you love baking, I don’t have talent for that. 🙂
Good luck with your weight loss! Do you have any particular things to help you with it? And I love baking and eating cakes 🙂
Nicola,
Best of luck with the July goals.
Losing 5 pounds might be tough; that’s more than one pound per week. But even if you’re only able to lose 2 or 3 pounds, that’s the start of something great. 🙂
Best wishes!
That’s true – losing anything will be a plus this month I think 🙂
Those are some great goals Nicola. I’m looking forward to reading about your progress! I could do with setting some personal goals too and I think dropping 5lb could be a good start! I’m trying to eat healthily but I can only manage a few days before giving in at the moment.
Good luck with your goals this month! Those are some great financial goals. In my ideal week, I only spend money three out of seven days. I need to get back to baking, too. I used to love doing it, but for some reason I’ve lost interest lately.
18 no-spend days sounds great. I think that is a great way to curb expenses. I have thought about doing this as well-just haven’t committed yet. You will have to let us know how you do!
I will do! 🙂
My goals are pretty similar to yours. I would like to get a little bit more exercise and eat a little bit less! =)
Eating less is definitely a goal for me but I find it so hard – I’m finding more and more than I’m an “eat when stressed” person which isn’t that helpful at the moment…!
I’m headed to Montreal in July and every time I go home, I spend more because of all the meet-ups and social events. So my aim is to contain the spending as much as I can. Best of luck with your goals this month!
Good luck with your goals – having a social life can impact on finances, right? 😉