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March 2016 Progress Report

Contents

The best personal finance posts published around the web in March 2016. Some great finds here!Here we are a quarter of the way through the year already.

I can never really decide whether I like how quickly time flies by or not. On the one hand we’re only only this planet for a finite period of time, so seeing those days and weeks fly by can be a little bit unnerving.

This is especially so when you’re at the financial stage I’m at – basically just trying to control my spending at every opportunity in order to build up my “war chest” (see below) in readiness for next year.

In many ways I feel like I’m “waiting in the wings” – and its easy to take life for granted while you’re aiming for an ambitious goal that simply involves spending as little as possible.

On the upside, time flying by when you’re saving hard can be a blessing in disguise. I get paid, stash some cash away and before you know it I’m getting paid again.

Spring finally seems to be happening (at last) so there’ll be even less temptation to spend, when I can be spending my days outside growing my vegetables or exploring the countryside (two of my big passions).

I hate to say it but it’ll be Christmas before we know it – and hopefully the audacious goals I’ve set for 2016 will have have nice, bold green ticks next to them.

The Start of the Vegetable Season

Possibly the most exciting thing to happen in March was that Spring finally started to make itself felt. I have been spending a little more than usual in recent weeks, gathering all the stuff I need for the vegetable plot.

While I’ve spent a little more than I wanted (around $150) I now feel we’ve pretty much got everything sorted. Every few weeks a new order of seeds or equipment turns up.

The artichokes should arrive this week, and the sweet potatoes I have on order will arrive in late April/early May once the frosts have passed.

This last weekend I spent hours finally getting some seeds in. The pictures below show just a handful of what I planted this week, all carefully positioned in my greenhouse.

All I have to hope for now is continued good weather.

Soon enough there’ll be green shoots poking out of those pots and the growing season will truly be under way.

Goals Update

In January I set myself some pretty bold goals. I haven’t yet started on some of them (such as the Amazon FBA business I talked about) but others are going great guns. Here’s what went down in March…

Project 10k

My goal of saving £10,000 in 2016 (on top of my usual savings) is the biggest and most important goal.

Its the one that provides me with the war chest I want for next year – that will either enable me to buy a house or start my own franchise. Quite which will take priority I haven’t yet decided. For now, it’s not a decision I’m worrying about – right now it’s simply about saving the money I need to hit my goal.

As we’re 25% of the way through the year my target was a balance of £2,500 at the end of March. I’m pleased to say that we popped just over that at £2,600. That means we’re still slightly ahead of the curve – but not by as much as I would like.

I’m still confident that I can hit that goal, but that extra spending this month put a little dampener on things. Hopefully we’ll be able to pick up the pace a little more in the next few months. In essence I want to get a month ahead of my goals, so that when November rolls around I can spend on Christmas without too much guilt.

Start A New Blog

Work continued on the new blog this month, with a few huge blog post published each week. As yet, I haven’t seen too much growth because I haven’t properly promoted the new content, but I intend to start some gentle link building in April that should result in some measurable growth.

All the same, my Twitter and Pinterest profiles are growing, and I’m confident that I’m putting out “best of breed” content. A little push should be enough to start producing the growth I’m aiming for.

Goals Summary

All in all March was another good month, if not a busy one preparing for the vegetable season. The big goals are still on track, so hopefully in the near future I can start thinking about the smaller goals that I discussed at the beginning of the year.

Reading List

Each month I share all sorts of blog posts on my Twitter account. If you’d like to receive a daily dose of the best personal finance articles I stumble across then please be sure to follow me.

I’m a bit of a nerd, and carefully record my blog progress at the end of each month so I can visualize the results of my efforts. One of the things I look at is which tweets actually got the most attention from your guys – quite simply which articles got the most clicks and retweets.

This month, then, I thought it would be fun to report on the top ten blog posts I shared on Twitter in March. Trust me – there are some real goodies in here. I’m recommend any readers take a look at the following articles which have proved to be so popular this month…

1) Living Below Your Means: The Complete Beginners Guide

2) 93 Ways to Save Money, Make Money, and Get the Most From What You Have

3) How To Become More Frugal (Even When You Don’t Want To)

4) Six Money Management Systems to Help You Achieve Your Dreams

5) Being Rich And Debt Free Will Kill Your Happiness

6) How To Reduce Financial Stress

7) Are Your Financial Decisions Creating More or Less Stress?

8) Money and Social Acceptance

9) Treat Yourself: More Like Defeat Yourself 

10) 4 Ways To Simplify Your Finances

How did your month go? Are you on target for your own 2016 goals? Why not leave your thoughts in the comments section below…?

The best personal finance posts published around the web in March 2016. Some great finds here!

Richard

Sun-worshipper and obsessive frugality blogger. For loads more money-saving advice come and join us on Facebook.

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