Where has the last month gone?
Spending
No unusually high expenses this month, although I did spend a little on the van, and buy myself some new jeans. My biggest purchase was the new foam and material to make the new sofa cushions and the vinyl for the flooring, work still continues in earnest and I am hoping to have everything finished by the time she goes in for her MOT in April. I also bought my daughter a reconditioned camera this month, as she has just started her options and needed one for her photography class.
How much did I save this month?
Regular Saver - 500
ISA - 700
Property Moose - 50
Emergency Fund - 100
Pension - 100
Total - 1450 plus a little money left in bank account
I have now reached the maximum amount I wanted to save in P2P lending, from now on any extra savings will be diverted to my ISA. I have yet to decide whether to continue to reinvest the interest/principle repayments from funding circle, I am waiting for the new FC ISA to be released before I make my decision. If it doesn't happen this year, I will probably decided to slowly withdraw my money each month as repayments are made and divert to my ISA with Halifax.
Savings rate
For simplicity, I calculate my savings rate as a percentage of my net take home pay plus interest on bank accounts, royalties from kindle, bank bonuses (from switching to TSB this year), found money, cashback from Quidco, child benefit/tax credits, and income from any other source throughout the month. I do not add back in any pension contributions from my wages or tax relief, nor do I include growth on investments, dividends or P2P interest. I also ignore all matched betting winnings as I am still building my bank roll, I will start to include this once my total profit has reached £1000.
Savings rate as % of take home pay - 42.82%
This is the best month so far this year. I have really buckled down and chucked as much as I could towards savings.
Matched betting income was slow this month, due to working as much as I could and only concentrating on guaranteed profits only. Although I haven't reached my goal of £1000 yet, I am happy with the increase and my total profit so far stands at just over £860. I am now hoping to hit £1000 by end of December and start 2018 with anything over that being withdrawn and used as part of my budget for van costs.
Other news
My SIPP is now up and running and awaiting transfers in from my old pension accounts. I can see it when I login to my share-dealing account and am looking forward to when the money hits and I can make my bulk purchase.
Managed to get another trip away in September to my favourite 'weekender' site. Lovely time spent with my partner, my kids, and my best friend and her family.
I have booked some time off work during October, I am taking three days away with my partner to St Malo. On my return the van will be going in the garage for another three days for the skylights to be finished and some more work done from the list. I have also booked a solo weekend camping trip for the first weekend of November just myself and the dog. It will be a relaxing weekend of tea drinking, reading and long walks. I can't wait.
Goals for the coming month
I would like to see my match betting profits reach £900 by the end of October.
I will try and beat this months savings rate of 42.82%. This is going to be tough as I have a fair few expenses coming out this month, but I am going to give it my best shot.
I will be gearing up and planning ahead for a Fiscal Fast during November. I will be aiming to spend only on true essentials for the whole month, whilst incorporating a use up month and trying to get the freezers emptied before December. Hopefully this will see my savings rate increase for the month. October will be spend planning for this and seeing if I can find new ways to spend less and save more.
