The month I had dreaded arriving for a while has already passed, in what seems like a blink of an eye. We have spent a lot of time getting used to the new balance we’ve found since I have returned to work. It has made me appreciate the time I have at home even more than I do already, plus finding my own rhythm back at work as well.
As you’ll see in a minute, our finances haven’t been that great during May. We were scraping the barrel a bit in terms of funds from the beginning really, so it feels like we’re further away from our goals than ever. We will be able to begin to get back on track from June onwards, as our household income will be increased.
My Financial aims for May were:
– Have 18 No Spend Days (NSDs)
– Overpay our mortgage by something
– Put £400 into savings
I haven’t met my NSD target for a couple of months now, so I kept it the same for May. I am pleased to say that I have made my target, with today being the 18th NSD of the month. So, I just scraped in! I find that getting No Spend Days is becoming slightly more difficult as of late, perhaps because I’m not managed to be as organised as I used to be. I am trying to get better, but little spends keep creeping in. I still managed this month though, so I’m pleased 🙂
Ah, the mortgage overpayment. This has totally taken a back seat lately. I think that because my focus is now on saving, increasing dividend income and focusing on our ultimate dream fund, I think that overpaying our mortgage will continue to be a smaller aim than it has been. Although being mortgage free is definitely a big part of how we’ll be able to retire early, it’ll be more of a slow burner I think. So, in May, I have overpaid our mortgage by £5.40.
The thing I’m most disappointed to write this month is about our savings. To meet our early retirement goals, I have to be saving big(ger) numbers each month, especially in the early stages. Each month I fail to do this puts us further and further behind in our plans, and therefore it’ll be more and more difficult to catch up. I’m extremely disappointed to write that I haven’t managed to put anything into savings this month. Nothing. Zero. Na-da. You get the picture. Not good at all 🙁
My Personal Aims For May were:
– lose 4lbs
– continue to declutter things from our home
– finish decorating the hall and staircase.
I’ll be honest, I’ve become a bit disheartened by my weight recently. I know what I need to do, I just seem to be struggling in the doing part of the exercise. I haven’t been to the gym, I haven’t been eating healthily and I haven’t been counting calories or weighing in. So, I don’t actually know what my weight is at the moment, but I’m guessing I can confidently say I haven’t lost any weight this month. I’ve been pondering whether or not to go to Slimming World, as lots of people I know have had great success with this. Another disappointing thing to write.
I have sold another three things in eBay this morning, so this is a slow and steady plod along in the decluttering task. I keep thinking about whether or not I should do a car boot sale and whether I”d have enough stuff to sell to make it worth while. I might do when the weather is a bit warmer; a 6am start when it’s still cold doesn’t seem very appealing!
We started off the decorating really successfully, until we discovered that the people who owned our house before us have done something strange with the walls. Firstly, there is more than one layer of wallpaper on the walls, plus we can’t work out how they’ve stuck the paper on the walls, but it’s extremely difficult to get off. It is taking a lot longer than we thought it was going to, as getting just a small section of the wallpaper off the wall is taking hours and hours. We want to do this ourselves rather than pay someone else to do it, so it’ll be an ongoing thing. I’ll be honest, we’ve hardly done anything this month to the walls, so something to look at in June. I don’t want to live in a DIY nightmare forever!
One final note, the top three posts on The Frugal Cottage during May were:
- How Much Does Your Job Cost You?
- No Spend May – The 31 Day Challenge!
- The Ultimate Dream Fund Update – April 2016
So, May is over, and what a month it has turned out to be. I’m looking forward to seeing what June brings!
How was your May? Have you hit your aims? I’d love to hear about it!
Good luck on getting off that layer of wallpaper, Nicola. Congrats on putting £400 into savings.
Well done on the no spend days – what are the little things that you’ve been buying?
With fitness – or any new goals really – the first step is the hardest. And then sticking with it until you see results – because it can take a few weeks so people can get disheartened. But as soon as you see results it’s amazing! I would say see when the best time for you to do it is. For example as soon as you’ve finished work so you don’t have time to chill out and think ‘ah I can’t be bothered now!” talking from experience 🙂
The little things that have snuck in lately are snacks/food! i think that being tired isn’t helping my will power 😉
Sorry to hear how disheartened you are about your weight/finance goals! I completely empathise with you as I’m in the exact same situation at the moment (well minus the baby!). I managed to drag myself for a run this morning and it was horrendous but in the end was glad I did it!
Tons of people at my work do slimming world absolutely love it so while I can’t personally recommend it, I’ve heard great things about it.
Don’t get disheartened though, you’ll get back on track soon 🙂
Thank you; I think sometimes you get stuck thinking about the negative things but the bigger picture is much more positive 🙂