One step at a time

sunshineli

Oops, it’s been another month since I last posted! 

I’m happy that the total amount in savings currently stands at £7,695, despite some rather large purchases recently. 

We finally bought an armchair for the living room after a year of having just one small sofa. This will make such a difference when we have guests over and one person doesn’t have to sit on a dining chair. This was a considered purchase that I've been mulling over for the past year, and we managed to get one in the sale with 1/3 off so I’m happy with this.

I also recently bought a new phone as mine was on its last legs. As it’s my birthday coming up I have received money from family towards this. I’m really looking forward to having a new phone as I love taking photographs and I will finally have one with a good camera. 

I also had an opticians appointment recently which came to a very expensive £155. This came out of my personal savings which I don’t count in my savings goal. I’m hoping that’s enough large purchases for a while now. 

I’ve slightly altered my savings goal for the year which is to have £10,000 saved by the end of 2025. This is including my emergency fund and s&s ISA. I think this is going to be very ambitious. I estimate we can save another £3,000 before the end of the year but factoring in car costs, I think we will end the year below the £10,000. Either way I’m proud of the progress made this year. Despite reducing my hours at work this year due to health, we’ve still managed to be on track with our financial goals.

I have been struggling quite a bit with my health recently, but I am trying to focus on healthy plant based food where possible, a little bit of movement such as short walks and yoga/stretching. I am also trying to get back into reading which I love but have neglected quite a bit recently. I’ve just bought a few 99p kindle books which should keep me going for a while. Although I find this hot weather quite difficult, I am trying to embrace summer as much as I can by enjoying the garden, watching the butterflies and listening to the birds. I know I will miss it when we are in the depths of winter. And of course, no heating on is a big plus. 

sunshineli

seventh88 said:

Congratulations on the one year anniversary of living in your home! Well done on building a solid foundation for yourself with the emergency fund first, before looking at overpayments. It sounds like you found the vinted dress just in time, the other one will be easy to return, and now you know it fits because you've already tried the same one on! It's a win win! 

Thank you! I do feel having a good amount of savings behind us before making overpayments will make us feel a bit more financially secure. For example having funds available in the event of job loss/redundancy/house emergencies etc. I do find Vinted quite difficult sometimes and being an awkward size (petite) I need to try things on before purchasing. It works well when you can try the brand in the shop and then look for something similar on Vinted. 

sunshineli

July Review

July was an expensive month! 

It was my birthday in July, and also a friend's wedding so I ended up doing more social things than usual and consequently spending more money. I had such a lovely month though, and I really enjoyed the time spent celebrating with family and friends. Despite spending more, I still ended the month with the credit card balance at £0 so I’m happy with this. I have some ‘personal savings’ which I don’t include in my savings goal. At the beginning of July it had around £300 in it and now it has £180 in it, so I will be looking to replenish this on my next pay day.

The amount we have in savings now totals £8031.94 which I’m really happy with. The mortgage currently stands at £278,000 being owed. I do feel really tempted to start overpaying the mortgage now, so I can start to make progress here before we remortgage in summer 2026. I would like £10,000 in savings though beforehand. 

DH got some good news in July too. He found out he’s getting a £4k pay rise starting in October, so I do feel like we should be able to start making mortgage overpayments sooner rather than later. He also got told he’s being put forward for a further £4k pay rise next April, which would be great.

I managed to sell 1 item of clothing on Vinted in July and made £4. Although it’s not much, every little helps.

In other MSE news, DH started making homemade pizzas last month which was a revelation. I worked out that it cost approx £1.50 to make a lovely homemade pizza with mushrooms, olives and chillies. A huge saving in comparison to supermarket bought pizzas and it was way nicer. Moving forward we will definitely be prioritising homemade pizzas (unless we are feeling particularly lazy).

Next month I hope to save another £500. I also really need to work on my gifts and christmas fund which currently only has £42 in it. It’s terrifying to think there are only 4 pay days left before Christmas! I am going to work on adding to these savings in September when we return from our holiday.

sunshineli

I’m pleased to say I succeeded in having a no spend weekend! On Saturday DH and I went to my mums. It was so lovely spending time with my mum (and the dogs) and I felt a real boost afterwards. My mum made such a nice lunch, which included homemade potato salad, cucumber salad, veggie sausage rolls, hummus, flatbreads and rocky road for pudding. 

On Sunday I had a very relaxed day as I wasn’t feeling well. I ended up spending most of Sunday and Monday in bed reading my book and sleeping. It’s quite frustrating how my chronic fatigue shows up at random, but I do feel a little better today. On the plus side when I’m not feeling great I stay at home, out of trouble and not spending any money! 

I’ve got a busy week at work, 2 out of my 4 days are spent out and about this week so I just hope I have the energy to get through it. I’ll be taking a packed lunch tomorrow and my lunch is catered for on Thursday, so I’m hoping there won’t be too many spends this week. 

sunshineli

Well I did manage to make it through the working week after all. 

I also had a relatively frugal week which I’m happy with. NSDs on Monday and Tuesday this week.

On Wednesday £5 was spent on the train to work.

Thursday £20.35 was spent on the train to the work event which will be reimbursed by my employer. I also bought myself a £4.40 coffee to give me the energy to get through said work event 😂. It was my first caffeine coffee for a long time as I try to stick to decaf these days. 

The work event was actually really good and it was enjoyable meeting people in my industry. I also got a lovely catered lunch there. On this day I also purchased a 99p ebook which I’ve had on my wish list all year, and it finally went on sale. 

On Friday £61 was spent on groceries, and we still have £28 left in the grocery fund for this month. It resets on Thursday when I get paid. We might need a top up between now and Thursday but I don’t think we will spend the full £28.

This weekend I bought some new earplugs (£19). A real must have when living with noise sensitivity and sensory issues. The dog ate my last pair. 

It’s going to be another busy week this week as I have a job interview(!) and another work event. The job interview is a 90 minute journey away and I have the day booked off work. On Friday I am out the house again for a work event which is 4 hours of travel in total. 

 Once I’m through this week I will need to spend a lot of time recovering, as I’m currently really struggling with bad arthritis pain. I feel like I have been pushing myself a bit too far over the past few weeks, so I will be trying to focus on resting as much as I can. 

beanielou

Hope the interview goes well. Boo to the pain.

rtandon27

@Sunshineli - I love my earplugs & don't know how I'd get into deep focus without them!  have you tried the L00p brand?  The switch are my favs, adjustable with a click.  I've just noticed the new dream ones online & may get a pair of those as they are touted as good for side sleepers!

ladysummerisle

Good luck with the job interview! It sounds like a tiring day but hopefully it’ll be worth it. I work from home 80% and would recommend it. It makes it a lot easier to keep going.

sunshineli

Thanks for the well wishes! The interview earlier this week went as well as it could have done, and I feel like I really did try my best. However I think it will be very competitive so I won't be surprised if I am unsuccessful, and they go with someone already internal to their organisation instead. I should hear the outcome mid next week. 

I have done okay for mindful spending this week. On Monday I went to see my sister and baby niece which was really lovely. £10.80 spent on the train to go and see them. My sister kindly bought me a coffee in a cafe, and made me lunch at her house.

I then spent £15.80 on the train to the interview on Wednesday. It was quite a long train journey (the interview was at the head office rather than the one I would be based in if successful). I did treat myself to a coffee to get me through the interview (£4.30). 

I then got paid at the end of this week! So after money shuffling the savings now total £8594. I am really happy with this and still aiming for 10k by the end of the year. 

Unfortunately I have come down with an awful cold at the end of this week, and was off sick today. I knew I had pushed myself a bit too far in recent weeks with travelling around, external events at work, interview prep etc. I will be really taking things easy this weekend, getting lots of rest and hope that I feel better by next week.

@rtandon27 The earplugs I recently bought are L00p ones. They are just the cheapest Quiet 2 ones though. I feel they have worked well in the past but I would be interested in trying the switch or dream ones, as they sound even better. I would just need to make sure my dog doesn't eat the next pair especially at that price!

@ladysummerisle Thank you. I do usually work from home 75% of the time, but unfortunately I have had lots of external events in recent weeks. Typical that they all come at the same time! I don't know how I would manage without hybrid working.

seventh88

Just catching up with your diary - well done, it sounds like you're on target to hit 10k in savings by the end of the year and you've had some really successful low spending/no spending too. Pizzas sound especially delicious! Hope you feel better soon and things ease up with the arthritis. Got everything crossed for good news for the job for you.