May is over and to be honest, I’ll be glad to see the back of it. It’s definitely been a month of ups and downs, as you’ll see from my aims for the month. Combine that with a scare with bump and it’s been a month I’d rather move on from, if I’m honest. Our spending has been higher this month too; it almost feels like I’ve taken my eyes off the ball. Here’s to June being much better!
May marks the twelfth month of blogging and I love it; it feels like this is almost like a journal for me to mark our process along the way. I have a birthday post coming up tomorrow about things I have learnt during the first year of blogging and what has gone well and what hasn’t. I find that the more I write about living the simple life and how being frugal in our lifestyle choices will help us in the long run, the more I am convinced we are making the right decision and shouldn’t necessary worry about what other people think about it. We still have a long way to go on our journey, but we’ve started the task and that’s the main thing.
Our Financial aims for May were:
– Have 23 No Spend Days (or NSDs)
– Overpay our mortgage by £120
– Put £700 into savings
I knew the moment that I upped my NSD target for the month, having met it for so many months in a row, that I would fail miserably. I was right! I have only managed to have 17 NSDs in May, which is the lowest amount in a month to date this year. I have mentioned previously that our overpayments are reduced for the time being, so I’ve overpaid the mortgage by just £123.01 in May. Finally, although our savings rate is much better than in April, where we managed to save a big fat zero, it still isn’t at target. For May, I have put £533.67 into savings, which is nowhere near our target. But, with spending higher than usual and having to pay insurance and tax on our new-to-us car, it all adds up and means that savings are inevitably going to be less.
Our Personal Aims for May were:
– try out a new recipe
– eat healthily
– get a new carpet for the spare room
May really has been up and down; I haven’t tried out any new recipes at all this month. In fact, we’ve eaten out more than normal as I have lost my cooking mojo and general oomph for food. As the nausea is back in waves, I find myself not wanting to eat much at all, never mind try something new. I have been better at eating healthily, in terms of eating more fruit and vegetables. Growing another person means I need to make sure the both of us get the nutrition we need! Lastly, as we didn’t have any spare money this month due to the car expenses and general spending, we haven’t even been to look at carpets, never mind decide on one. This will definitely need to be done in June though.
How was your May? Have you hit your aims? I would love to hear about it!
Blimey stop being so hard on yourself.
You have saved, had a NSD at least every second day & overpaid your mortgage more in a month than I have managed since the start of year.
Relax & reflect.
Be proud of what you have acheived
Lou xx
Thanks Lou; I am naturally very critical so the fact that I’ve missed so many goals seems like a failure to me! But, as you say, I have managed to save and over pay the mortgage, so not all bad 🙂
I second Beanie’s comment. You’re far too hard on yourself.
I’d say that is a very good month in general. Also, when you consider everything else that seems to have hit you during the time I’d say it was a stonker!
In months like this one it is all too easy for everything like these goals to fall by the wayside. This you resisted well it seems.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you – I guess it wasn’t too bad 😉
Hey Nicola,
Good job with the month of May! I understand your desire to achieve your goals and how not reaching them can dampen your mood. Pick it up and bring it on next month; you got this!
Best regards,
DB
It is frustrating, but then it makes me want to succeed in June even more!
I definitely understand where you are coming from when you get down because you don’t meet all your goals… I have been struggling with my goals, and can get down on myself, but the point is that we are trying, and making progress, right? We should both work on being more positive. 🙂
We definitely should; we’re doing better than a lot of people, and should be proud of ourselves 🙂