It was payday yesterday which means time for this month’s Income/Expenses!

I think it’s important to keep track of your income/expenses every month as it allows you to spot trends and areas for improvement. I find it really useful to track the spending changes each month, and really motivating to see the networth improvements. Sometimes it can seem like financial independence is so far away, but by watching your networth steadily increasing you’ll know you will reach that point eventually.

May was a busy month for me. I’m nearing the end of my first major project at my new job I started last year. It’s been a tough one but still great to finally see the end in sight. It has however meant a few late evenings but I’m enjoying the challenges. One exciting piece for news of this month is that I was featured in my first article! I was asked to provide 3 short tips on how to work towards retiring early (At 55 for this piece, but the same principles apply for any early retirement). It’s only a small bit but still pretty awesome to have been able to contribute. The article is over at Want to Retire at 55?

Google Analytics tells me we’ve had 6,200 pageviews from 1,780 users. Another solid month and thank you to everyone who reads, comments or links to the site. Was especially good to see some excellent discussion on Common replies to the Financial Independence closet exit.  It is humbling to know so many people out there are following my journey and I hope many of you continue on it with me. If you’ve been following for awhile but yet to comment.. please do! Or just drop me a line saying hi and a bit about yourself. I love chatting to others who are on similar journeys and am always looking out for new blogs to follow.

 

On to the report:

Income

Salary: £2027.94

Pension Contributions: £506

Surveys: £13

Affiliates: £47.10

Lottery Win: £25

Total: £2619.04 (+1.4%)

 

Expenses

Mortgage/Bills: £718.01

Groceries: £339.02

Petrol (Gas):  £0

Maintainance/DIY: £0

Eating out: £69.17

Healthcare: £0

Entertainment: £84.11

Other: £0

Total: £1210.31 (-1.1%)

 

Another month and another £60 added to the salary just for driving a company car! I literally cannot believe they make this payment AND add on a bit extra to cover the tax that would be deducted. Also happy to see another lottery win. I know I get a bit of stick from those far wiser than me, however it’s my only form of gambling and a minor addition to the Entertainment expenses each month. This was also the first month I received a payment from some affiliates for advertisement. I receive a few requests every month from companies wanting to advertise on this site but end up declining most of them as being irrelevant to the blog focus or not promoting the good financial habits I believe in.

A large bump in grocery expenses this month but was due to an about-quarterly trip to Costco to bulk buy the household essentials. Reduction in eating out expenses and absolutely nothing spent in many of the other catagories lead to an overall expenses drop from last month.

A savings difference of £1408.73 which is 53.8%.

 

Networth

House Equity:  £30,243.73

Cash in bank: £3,831.27

ISA Investments: £5,296.92

Pension: £20,087.74

Total Networth: £59,459.66 (+2.3%)

A decent rise in networth slightly held back by a drop in pension fund value. My new employer’s pension scheme value has only just gone live (despite me paying into it for 5 months now) so previously I had been estimating based on contributions. I do however think it may be 1 month’s contributions behind on the valuation however have gone with the lower figure just to be safe. Regardless; it’s still a raise overall and with another £500 overpayment on the mortgage we have knocked off more time.

Edit: I was right and the pension was missing a contribution. This has now been added.