It's not a lot, but it's enough

louby40

Happy birthday Speky! 27 is a great age!

quintwins

Happy Birthday Speky, sounds like a lovely chilled birthday

joeyjimbles

Happy Birthday - hope you have a lovely day.

Plans change, all the time, the trick is to make sure that you are still heading in a direction that you are happy with.

crazy_cat_lady

Happy birthday Speky - hope you're having a good one! x

SpekySquarehead

Thanks all for the birthday messages.

I car share with my best friend every morning to the gym and he said today, "we're nearly 30!!!". Chica, Joey, you're both right. I'm not where I'd pictured myself but I wouldn't change it.

I had a lovely evening with the family. The takeaway wasn't up to much but the birthday cake afterwards made up for it.

Back to normality now. Been to the gym this morning and I'll pop in again afterwards - I think.

Hope everyone has a lovely Thursday

SpekySquarehead

Morning all,

I was privileged to get some money for my birthday, which meant I had a relatively expensive weekend.

On Friday I shared a takeaway with my friend, £13.50.

On Saturday, I got my tattoo finished (which I've saved up for 18 months), to the tune of £400. I also used a £50 voucher to put towards a sound bar for my TV, but I had to put £170 towards it.

Sunday I went to Sheffield with my friends to watch the football. The ticket and buss was £40 and then I had food and drink on top, another £40.

So I'm now feeling much lighter. I'm not used to spending like this, not since I became debt free. I'll let the dust settle and balance the books with YNAB. I think I'll opt for a quiet month, nothing major planned.

I'll review my yearly goals at my lunch.

crazy_cat_lady

Sounds like a good weekend though Speky. You'll get straight back on it.

joeyjimbles

You don't have a birthday every week and you know yourself and rarely spend without thinking, so I'm sure you'll balance the indulgences with the rest of the month. Plus you bought things that you were planning and have something to show for the money - actual items and experiences.

SpekySquarehead

CCL - Indeed I will. All caught up financially now so I'll be more careful going forward.

Joey - You're right actually. Perhaps I should stop giving myself such a hard time.

I've got a fairly quiet week ahead which I'm grateful for. Playing footie tonight, my grans for our monthly dinner date tomorrow and I've scheduled a phone call to fix my internet on Friday night.

Due a haircut on Saturday which I'm looking forward to, but nothing planned apart from that.

And Sunday ALL the family are going to my mums to meet baby Willow. By all, I mean all 12 of us. A very small family scattered throughout Scotland so we don't tend to get together outwith Xmas and New Year unfortunately so it'll be good to see them all.

SpekySquarehead

Forgot to do my monthly review the last couple of months so it’s about time I do it;

Career
Goal: Achieve my bonus targets in work
Steps taken: Eventually my bonus criteria was changed to something much more achievable and came into play only a couple of weeks ago.
Plan for August: Knuckle down and hit my targets!!

Goal: Build a stronger network of clients
Steps taken: There are now some clients who only want to deal with me directly which is a huge compliment.
Plan for August: We’ve some events coming up which means I’ll get back into the swing of things. I suppose this goal is a more long term goal and can’t be quantified.

Goal: Attend at least 1 new training course
Goal has been canned due to work requirements changing.



Relationships
Goal: Spend more 1-2-1 time with my gran
Steps taken: We’ve stuck to the plans and we’ve had our dinner dates the first of every month
Plan for August: On top of the above, I’m going to make an afternoon tea for my mum and my gran later this month. I’ll make homemade scones and jam and perhaps some sandwiches. I’ll do my research.

Goal: Visit my Dad at least 6 times
Steps taken: At the start of the year I scheduled in dates I’d go and see him and I wouldn’t move them and I’m happy to say I’ve stuck to them
Plan for August: I’m due to visit again in 5 weeks time, the first weekend in September.

Goal: Organise social events with my cousins
Steps taken: We’ve met up a couple of times for various events and will continue to do so.
Plan for August: We’re going camping in 2 weeks to Fort William!! Should be great fun.

Goal: See my friends children more often
Steps taken: They’ve a lot on their plate just now with a family member not doing too well health wise so things are on the back burner.
Plan for August: On reflection, this goal is going to extend into any friends/family who have kids, which is now my own step-bro and I’d love to be much bigger part of their lives.




Self
Goal: Start learning Spanish (again) - DONE

Goal: Live on a ketogenic diet
Steps taken: I’ve went through ups and downs. When I’m strict I feel much better so I need to learn from that.
Plan for August: Now that I’ve got a holiday booked in October, I will be much more strict. My birthday is out of the way so no excuses.

Goal: Buy a house/flat - DONE

Goal: Save an emergency fund of £1k
Steps taken: I have put money aside, £50 here and there, however I’m learning I can only afford this when I put other luxury or social events on hold.
Plan for August: Coming off the back of a birthday in which I was blessed to receive some money, I’ve put a large chunk away. I promised my gran I wouldn’t waste it away, so it’ll go into a savings account for the foreseeable.

Goal: Read 10 books
Steps taken: Waaaay behind on this. I think I’ve only read 2.
Plan for August: I was gifted a book at my birthday, not one I’d pick but it should be an interesting read. I’ve also ordered one which is due in the next couple of weeks.

Goal: Eat out less
Steps taken: I created this goal after realising how much I spent in 2016. However in 2016 I had a girlfriend which resulted in eating out. Spending in this category will continue to be low.
Plan for August: I should manage to keep this under wraps this month. Plenty of meal prep is the key

I enjoy looking over these. I think it helps keep me on track and remind me what I thinks important and I'm happy with the progress i've made over the last 7 months, here's to the next 5!!