Income, Expenses & Savings, July 2020 – £1869 Saved
July is gone, so it’s time to have a look at the total income, expenses and total savings during July 2020.
People’s lifestyle is getting closer to the new post-COVID normal style, as the UK lockdown restrictions were being eased throughout the month. However, further easing seems to be paused, especially in some parts of northern England, where are now facing new restrictions such as banning separate households from meeting each other at home after a spike in Covid-19 cases 🙁
I live down south, so these measures have not affected us (yet?). We have recently met with friends and had a barbecue in their garden, which was actually very nice. Those simple things I did not value that much is now worth gold to me. I am really hoping that we can keep local outbreaks under control, so we don’t need to face a second national lockdown, which would be a complete disaster I believe.
July was my birthday month as I turned 35. I am officially closer to the 40s than to the 30s, but no ‘problemo’ as my spirit is still pretty much on its 30s! :). I was lucky that restaurants and some shops were open, so it was great to take a day off and enjoy a cold beer and some nachos on a sunny lovely terrace. As we went to a shopping centre, it was impactful to watch the new reality; hand washers placed everywhere, access restrictions to some areas, one way systems in place, the track and trace at the restaurant and the painful long queues to pop into popular shops, in particular Nike! I needed some new running clothes, but I chose to buy Adidas as the shop was much emptier.
Table of Contents
Enjoying some outdoor lifestyle
The weather in July has been fairly good, so that made it possible to enjoy some more outdoor walking day trips. I ordered my first take away latte after the lockdown on the coffee shop.
Summer in the UK will likely be gone soon, so we are trying to enjoy these walks now while we can, as winter makes it really difficult due to strong winds on the area.
Shall we check some numbers now?
Income, Expenses & Savings Rate
As usual during this year, July has been another great month in terms of savings.
I miss the fact of spending money on something that would make me very happy, like travelling or experiencing something new. I don’t think I could be an extremely frugal person for the long term, as I would probably reach a point when I would burn out and buy something expensive that I don’t need.
Down below there is an overview chart of my income, expenses and savings rate so far. Red bars indicates my monthly expenses. When visually comparing 2019 expenses against 2020, I can notice a significant decrease on expenses during the course of this pandemic.
My total net income in July was £2,704.9 (3,004.63 EUR). It’s the first time I earn more than 3,000 EUR in a single month, which is nice. It will likely take a while before I cross this value again, though.
My expenses: £835.9.
I was able to save £1869, which results in a savings rate of 69.1%. My goal is to maintain an average savings rate above 50%. I am crushing this goal this year, but I will have some important expenses coming up soon and also at the beginning of the next year, so I’d rather keeping my savings target as it is for the time being.
Monthly Cash Flow Sankey Diagram
Breaking it down into categories, this is how my cash has flown during July in Pound Sterlings (£):
Income
Others correspond to some rental income from our warehouse that my mum paid to me.
July brought me another three free shares worth £103.98 into my Trading212 Invest account. So, many many thanks again for using my referral link to join the platform.
In July I wrote a short article to explain how to get started with Trading 212 and get a free share worth up £/EUR 100. So, check it out if it sounds like something interesting to you.
Bank interest comes from my bank account with TSB, which pays 1.5% gross interest on balances up to £1500 and my emergency fund as a form of easy access saving account at Marcus which pays 1.05%.
Expenses
I paid the standard £450 on rent and bills.
I spent £189.2 on the supermarket, which is quite high for us. Even though we are back to shopping at Lidl, my new investing strategy allows me to drink more beer, and that costs some money. In addition, my GF is jealous of me, so she buys some more ciders! Maybe it’s better to avoid Global funds as the “fees” seem to be higher than initially expected? 😛
Transport includes fuel, car taxes, a tyre change and MOT test fee. I have been super lucky and got a 6 months MOT extension, even though my lovely Fordkary did not pass the test due to excess of corrosion. It would cost me £270 + VAT to fix it, that does not sound like a good investment considering that the car is worth £400. So, I have 6 months left before I need to buy another car. These are part of the major expenses I mentioned earlier.
Services includes blog expenses and a recently added Disney +. We are watching every single Marvel film. I even had a dream where appeared some avengers (including Black Widow, hihi).
Goals
Time to have a look at how I am keeping on with my 2020 goals. As Peter Drucker said 40 years ago, what gets measured gets improved.
Some of my goals aren’t monthly measurable, but some others are. I’ve built a simple table to display the progress.
July goals
June goals (comparison purpose)
Overall, it’s been another good month for my goals.
- I put on half a kilo or so again. Is that another drawback of investing in global funds and drinking more beer? I’ve got 5 months to lose 6 kg, it will be tough but I’ll do my best! ?
- Resting heart rate is at 60 BMP, as I keep running and exercising on a daily basis. ?
- I am above the 10k daily steps target having walked more than 2.13 million steps! ?
- I am still on track with my reading goals, despite getting a bit more relaxed. I am still currently reading The Magic Of Thinking Big and started a new one called The Illusion Of Money: Why Chasing Money Is Stopping You From Receiving It by Kyle Cease”
- Doing well on blog posting, let’s keep it going! ?
That was it. Stay safe amigos and …
¡Hasta la vista babies! 😉
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ABOUT ME
Hi there! It's Tony here and I am hoping to post my journey towards one million euros.
NET WORTH GOAL
Why weren’t you meeting friends and having BBQs until now?
You know it’s a plandemic??
Hi Tony. Superb saving rate. As said some time ago your doomed for FI with saving rate +50% You remind me to do the budget myself. Had lots of expenses for bathroom and toylet repair, altrough done most of the job myself 🙂
[…] Tony at One Million Journey has been exploring the great outdoors, and has a killer savings rate (23… […]
Great saving rate Tony!
We’ve also been doing a lot more walking around our local area. We’ve got to make the most of it; before we know it, summer will be over, nights will be longer and the weather will not be anywhere near as pleasant!