Expenses:
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| (click on image to make larger) (approx: £1375=$2165 ) |
From out travel fund - Holiday parking (£98.80), holiday insurance (£19.08) and deposits for Rome and Portugal (£922) Yikes!! Sunday evening I found us a great deal on hotels for both trips and after discussing it with hubby (and my daughter and son in law who are coming with us in September) we went ahead and booked.
January Financial Goals:
- Stick to the No Spend Challenge, Nearly! I spent £5.15.
- Keep our grocery bill below £180. Nearly! I spent £184.67
- Make at least £300 in extra income. Yes. January was my best month so far and after keeping back money for taxes and making a donation, I was able to increase our mortgage overpayment.
- Make a £2,000 payment to our mortgage. Yes! We made a payment of £2,216.21! Yay!
- Contribute at least £700 to our travel fund. Yes - but I spent it!
That's it for this month. I worked extra hard on my focus this month and it paid off. Carla's challenge and the support of all my blogging friends really helped, so thank you. Your support means a lot to me. Now lets attack February with the same focus and determination!
'Tell me, what do you plan to do with this one wild and precious life?'
Mary Oliver - The Summer Day
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Great success all around! Congrats for January!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteBrilliant results. Here's to February.
ReplyDeleteSue xx
Thanks Sue - I'm excited for it to start! :)
DeleteFantastic!! I'm excited to see how you do in February!! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the inspiration this month Carla!
Deletewell done I am impressed with what you achieved. Can't wait to see how you do through the month of February,
ReplyDeleteGill in Canada
Thanks Gill. February's going to be fun with so many of us doing Carla's challenge :)
DeleteCongratulations! Looks like you had a fabulous January! Keep it up. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteThank you for keeping open and honest discussion!
ReplyDelete- I do understand that the "council tax" is something like property tax in the USA. But why do you pay only 10 not 12?
- I have read that average water bill in the UK is 374 sterling pounds a month, have you considered to install water meter and save some money? Water meters are free.
This is a different world - gifts & TV are equal = food : -)
- Where does transportation & clothe come in ?
- Is it really worth to make extra payments to the banks without emergency fund? If something goes wrong they are unlikely to give any slack with the payments...
Hi Financial Independence and thank you for your comment. I shall try to answer your questions:
DeleteThe council tax annual bill is split over ten months by the local councils - it's just how they do it.
Our water bill is £393 - we had a meter before and if was more expensive than this fixed cost.
This is not a normal month for our food bill ;)
Hubby has a company paid car so no transport costs - I walk to work.
Only buy clothes when needed - very rarely. I add a line into budget when I do.
We have a 12 month emergency fund and are now onto the next stage of financial freedom (for us), paying off the mortgage. :)
hth :)
So exciting about traveling!
ReplyDeleteAs always you are an inspiration. So excited for you!
Thank you Niki..now though I keep thinking about the mortgage but I must keep thinking 'balance'!
Delete