Blogs

100 Happy Days - Day 65: I actually started a new blog the other week. Not listing it here as it's purely a personal finance one that's an incentive for me to save and invest. Anyway, got my first comments today on it, yay!

I've made a few posts on this blog in reference to saving and money recently, but didn't want this blog to go in that direction. In fact, I'm not sure what will happen when I get to the 100 Days!!! Will I stop being happy??

MMM

100 Happy Days - Day 57: This post from Mr Money Moustache's website explaining (in his own way) how to make money buy happiness.

Full of great hints and ideas, some of which I already apply to my life, others which I need to start applying to my life!

Save and Save Again!

100 Happy Days - Day 56: Came across an interesting quote today from this blog:

"If you don't find it painful saving money, you're not saving enough."

So clearly, I need to do more than my 52 Week Money Saving Challenge.

Why does this make me happy? More steps closer to retiring earlier if I can do this!

52 Weeks

Aside from a small mortgage and my car loan, I no longer have any debts, having finally paid off my 10-year-old credit card debts a few years back.

However, I don't have a lot of ready cash, that is emergency funds. My spare cash just gets...spent. "Experts" recommend that you should have enough money in your emergency fund to cover your expenses for three to six months. Checking today, I have enough for just one measly month - eeks!

6 months' worth is a bit OTT I think but I do need to be putting aside cash so I've started the 52 Week Money Saving Challenge.

It's simple - week 1, put away £1. Week 2, put away £2 and so on. Weeks 50, 51 and 52 are going to be tough but I'm going to give this a real go. At the end of the year, I will have £1378, a tidy sum that will be a nice buffer for emergencies (such as a quick getaway in the sun, lol!)

100 Happy Days - Day 50 (Ooh half way there!) - I saved a £1 today!

FIRE

100 Happy Days - Day 42:  Came across this blog yesterday, written by a 32 year old bloke about how he plans to retire in 5 years time (FIRE = Financial Independence, Retire Early).

5 years is a tough one for me to aim for but there're some good ideas and hints here that I could apply myself to help me retire earlier, even if it's only by a few years! I'll be following his adventure closely!

#100 Happy Days - Day 30 and Day 31

100 Happy Days - Day 30: Mentoring year 1 students at a local primary school to improve their literacy skills - all during work hours too!

100 Happy Days - Day 31: Worked out today that I'll actually be benefiting from the latest Budget - hurrah!

Ok, so it's a little over £100 but it's more than the few quid that is usually the case in the past.