A whole lot of love for blogging

I'm working on being a better blogger. I love blogging, I love this little blog, I love my readers and I love reading other peoples blogs.

Writing this blog keeps me accountable and motivated and will keep me from ever going back into debt. So I wanted to ask, what do you like in a personal finance blog? What subjects do you most like to read about? Do you like to see what people spend their money on, what budgets they set, how they make some extra money? You tell me {please}

What do you love in a personal finance blog?

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February 2010 Mini Goals

I'm back to monthly goal planning. I didn't really set any in January and it shows as I was a little aimless.

The best way for me to attack my 5 year plan is to break it down month by month and work on progressing it all the time. So here are my goals for February:

Finances:
-Make £200 in extra money from clearing this
-Keep groceries within budget

Home:
-Paint the bathroom

Simple and Greener Living:
-Elimate plastic bags and bottles from our household

Business/Work:
- Research at Library

Personal:
- Get up at 6am every day
- Lose 5lbs
- Read this book

Are you setting goals this month? If so what methods do you use to keep them alive?

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Keeping It Frugal

The quickest way to get out of debt is to increase your earnings and reduce your costs. When paying off my debt I was always looking for ways to make a little extra money or reduce a bill. Now debt free it's important to continue to do this .

I'll never pay more than I have to for anything. That's not to say I won't spend money on things that are important to me, I will, but I won't be paying over the odds for anything that's not. To me this is being frugal; you reduce your expenses on the boring stuff, like utility costs, to free up your money for the good stuff, like organic meat and travel (just two random examples of my choices!)

What about you, what do you consider the good stuff?

Getting the basics right: Menu Planning

Trying to simplify and streamline everything is a huge task that is too overwhelming to do all at once, so I'm taking it one week at a time. Next week I'm concentrating on menu planning and building our pantry stock from items on sale.



I've learnt to my cost that sticking to a menu plan saves me money, and yet I keep sucking at it. I'm trying to do a four weekly revolving plan that fits in with our pay schedule; I find that a four week plan gives us some flexibility.


{The above photo is our current pantry, not very glamorous I know but it serves a purpose; it's an old shelving unit that fits perfectly in our breakfast room cupboard. The front is here, much nicer!}

This week we're having:

Mon - Curry + Rice
Tue - Fajitas (using left over chicken cooked for the curry)
Wed - Pizza + Salad
Thu - Pasta with homemade sauce from the freezer
Fri - Tuna/Pasta bake
Sat - Steak/Mushrooms/Veg
Sun - Chicken + Veg

Do you menu plan? Have you worked out a system that works best for your family?

Keeping the grocery budget down was one of the main things that helped me to get out of debt, now it's just as important if we want to achieve our long term goals.

A Simple Wardrobe

In 2009 I didn't buy any new clothes and had a really good clear out of my wardrobe.

At times this challenge was really difficult to stick to, but in the main I found it ok. I realised that I don't need or want lots of clothes. The few items of clothing I have are based on a three colours; black, grey and white. Very classic, and maybe boring to some, but to me a perfect, simple, capsule wardrobe; I never have to worry a colours clashing and I can mix and match easily every day.

This year I have a small clothing budget of £240, which I'm using to buy five new items; as I no longer hit the shops every weekend, it's a lot easier to plan where my money is going and stick to my budget, I also have £30 in shop vouchers which will buy me some new underwear.

What about you, what are your clothes buying plans for 2010?

The 5 Year Plan 2009-2013: January Update

I've updated my five year plan, which is constantly evolving as my situation changes. I'm printing this out on bright pink paper and placing it above my desk so that it serves as a constant reminder of where I want to be by 2013.

Finances:
· We are now totally consumer debt free and plan to stay that way forever. Next up is the mortgage. We plan to pay this off by 2020 (10 year plan). It currently stands at £120k
· Save one year of living expenses – nearly completed
· Save a travel fund for a big trip to NY in 2012 – 20% completed
· Continue to build pension funds - ongoing
· Build passive and alternative income to £500 a month - work in progress
· Save over 50% of our income – currently saving 20%
· Plan ahead for all purchases

Home:
· Finish all renovations – to be completed in 2010
· Rent out the house in 2012 to provide income
· Move to Portugal - 2012

Simple and Greener Living:
· Continue to streamline, simplify and reduce our impact
· Cook all food from scratch by the end of 2010
· Buy eco friendly when possible and move towards organic food

Business/Work:
· Decide on a direction/business - 2010
· Get a part time job - 2010

Personal:
· Rise early in the morning to be more productive
· Do some exercise every day
· Eat at least six portions of fruit and vegetables a day
· Lose weight – 40lbs in 2010
· Have a weekly date with husband
· Continue to nurture relationships with older children – meet up regularly now that two have left home
· Relax more and read more
Give time or money - volunteer

Donate to the Oxfam emergency response fund in Haiti here

No Spend Days - What's your view?

I left a comment for a fairly new blogger yesterday and it got me thinking about no spend days and how different people view them.

To me a no spend day is when you don't spend money outside of your essentials budget.

For example; it's Saturday and you need to do your weekly grocery shopping. You have a budget of $40 and you spend $40. You then go home and spend the day relaxing/walking, whatever you like to do. This to me is still a no spend day. If you spent $10 online at Amazon then it's not.

In theory we spend money daily on heat, housing etc. No spend days to me are about not buying non essential items.

No spend days have been a major factor in my getting out of debt, the less you spend, the more you can pay off!

How about you, do you have no spend days?

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£100 Personal Budget for 2010

Below is the breakdown of my monthly £100 personal budget for 2010

Mobile Phone: £5
I'm not a gadget person so having to give back my work Blackberry and go back to using an old mobile I had in a drawer has not been a problem. I got a free sim card from Orange and topped it with £10 of credit, which I'm going to make last me as long as possible.

Transport:£15
I don't have access to a car during the day time any more so this will be bus or train fares if I really need to go anywhere, which I'm trying not to do.

Clothes: £20
I didn't buy any new clothes in 2009 and I would really like to buy some new jeans and underwear in the next couple of months.

Sponsor: £18
I sponsor a little girl in Bangladesh through World Vision; this is £18 a month and the only set amount.

Savings: £22
I would like to save a small amount.

Fun: £20
Coffee, books, stationary.

Extra Money Earned: January 2010

In 2009 I set myself a target of earning £2,009 in extra income; I failed. In the end I made about £1,500; I don't have exact figures as I drifted off somewhere between September and December! 2010 needs to be the year of recording every penny earned, and every penny spent.

Anyway I'm digressing, onto the target for 2010. It'll come as no surprise to you that I'm making this £2,010. This money can be for my personal emergency fund, which currently has a pitiful balance of £1.00 in an ING account.

I'll blog about my eBay successes and failures, as well as any other ways I come up with to earn a little extra and I'll put up a sidebar to track my progress.

A lack of January goals!

Happy New Year to you all and thank you again for all your support over the last few 'in debt years'; it's time to move onto the future.

For 2010 I'm going to start on the low. I'm thinking that it'll take me a little while to adjust to my new life and it makes sense not put too much pressure onto myself in January, so I'm not setting any HUGE goals for myself this month. I do though have plans though to make some extra money this year and I want to spend some time organising myself for this.

On the budget front, even though I'm no longer in debt, I'm still going to be living my life with very little personal spending; frugal and fabulous might be the theme!

Further Reading:
Resolutions, Goals and Dreams - my personal goals for 2010 at Move To Portugal

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