October 2014: A Month In Review

Another month is over and we creep ever closer towards Christmas and the holidays. October has been reasonably good to us, though perhaps not as good as it could have been finance-wise. It was our car’s MOT  this month, and whilst it was lower than it could have been, it still cost us £370 to get the car though. Ouch! We also decided to take a mini break at the end of the month which was a bit expensive but totally worth it as I feel nice and refreshed and ready for a new month.

 

October marks the fifth month of blogging and I’m still really enjoying it. I like reading financial blogs and I’m also enjoying the process of coming up with blog posts and then writing and posting them. I have lots of ideas and posts to do so I’m sticking around for now! I love reading comments that people take time to leave and they often conjure up other thoughts to do with how people manage their money. I now have 256 followers on Twitter and I have had 10,801 views on the blog at the time of writing this post. Thank you if you follow me on Twitter and read my blog – it really does mean a lot to me!

 

Our Financial aims for October were:

– Have 18 No Spend Days (or NSDs)

– Overpay our mortgage by the interest added on only

– Put £600 into savings

 

I finally have got back into the swing of NSDs – I’ve managed 19 this month which meets my goal with one to spare! The beginning of the month was much better spending wise, and it went downhill a bit towards the end but I still managed to meet our aim. We’ve overpaid our mortgage by £290.09 this month which was the interest added. We’ll continue to keep overpaying the interest each month for the foreseeable future, I think. We’ve managed to put £300 into savings, which is only halfway to our goal. It’s better than last month, but even so, it’s not great! I need to re-do our budget I think and see what’s happening.

 

Our Personal Aims for October were:

– make a tea loaf

– lose 4 lbs

– have a date night with the husband

 

I have made tea loaf (see the recipe here) which was a success and my husband enjoyed it with his packed lunches for the week. It’s such a simple yet tasty recipe – if you’re stuck for something to bake this weekend then please try it! I’ve lost 2 lbs this month, which isn’t my goal but I’m just happy it’s going in the right direction. I don’t know about anyone else, but I find it more difficult to eat healthily when it’s cold and miserable. And finally, as me and my husband have been away at the end of October, this definitely counts as a date night.

 

So, October has been good for us, and I feel relaxed and ready for what November brings!

 

How was your October? Have you hit your aims? I would love to hear about it!

 

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