RichardJune 2016 will certainly go down as a month to remember. Firstly, Britain left the EU. Goodness knows what the next few years will hold as we get to grips with our new (smaller) place in the world.
Next we had one of the wettest June’s on record, with many gardeners reporting a “slugeddon”, as everyone’s vegetable plants were battered by storms, and monumental swarms of slugs and snails. My allotment has almost been stripped bare, with my beans and peas in particular taking a heavy hit.
Even my potatoes are looking questionable, with signs of blight appearing. If it truly takes hold then that’ll be the end of the “tatties” and the closely-related tomato plants too.
Combined with cold weather where my more exotic crops such as cucumbers and peppers have barely grown its looking like 2016 will go down as the worst vegetable-growing year on record.
What a disappointment all round!
Goals Update
One of the key reasons for writing a monthly “progress report” is to discuss how I’m getting on with the goals I set myself back in January. Of these, the single biggest goal is attempting to save £10,000 on top of my usual savings.
The end goal is to buy my own house next year – something that might be a lot cheaper by then depending on the outcome of Brexit!
Project 10K
So how are the savings going?
Well June brought good news and bad. On the upside, my small collection of blogs are starting to produce some very real results, which has resulted in a noticeable increase in earnings.
On the downside, June is a month rich with birthdays (read: more spending). I’ve also decided it’s time to start hitting the gym again after having put on more weight than I’d like this year. That meant “splashing out” on some new gym kit – though very much on a budget.
Clearly when trying to save £10,000 in a year I would expect to have a balance of £5,000 at the end of June. Equally, as discussed in last month’s report, my progress took a significant hit last month thanks to some serious work on my car.
As of the end of June 2016 the balance currently stands at £4,200. In other words, while this is some way behind where I’d like to be, it still means I managed to stash another £700 away this month, getting me ever closer to my goal.
For some odd reason, crossing the 4k threshold feels like a real achievement, and has meant I feel even more inspired and motivated than every before to hit the target!
Clearly this is going to take some serious hustling – especially as I have a few bigger purchases I need to meet over the coming months.
With a week off work starting today I’m going to be putting a lot of thought into how I can hustle my way to making up the shortfall over the coming months, hopefully coming in on target by January.
Top Posts
Each month I share an awful lot of content on Twitter and Facebook. Some of it is my content, while much of it comes from others. This month I was once again fortunate enough to have a number of guest posts kindly published by other personal finance bloggers.
I track the results of everything I share, in order to see which articles get the most clicks, likes and shares. Then at the end of the month I like to round-up the top posts.
If you’re looking for something new to read then I strongly encourage you to take a look at June’s top articles from across the personal finance blogosphere…
- 5 Simple Money-Saving Tips That Won’t Impact Your Lifestyle
- 8 Financial Challenges That Will Help You Save Money & Build Weath
- 8 Personal Finance Questions You MUST Be Able To Answer Today
- The Upside-Down Reason Most Americans are Broke
- How to Retire Early Thanks to Frugality
- 17 Personal Finance Books That Will Change Your Life
- 31 Signs You’re Financially Stable
- How to Live a More Rounded Life While on a Budget
Slugeddon is REAL. 🙁 Looking forward to reading more of your progress with the garden and the savings, good work!