Looking back on July – hello, August!
Summertime, for me, is a time to enjoy life with friends and family before setting new goals in September. The start of the academic year. TV Season. Autumn.
I work in Marketing & Events, which meant that the first half of this year was incredibly busy. A house move in May meant that any spare funds went into this, and I didn’t go home for a few months. This July, I made it all about my family. I loved seeing both of my brothers, their wives, my nieces, nephew, cousin, auntie, uncles, mothers, and grandmothers. I used traintickets.com to get save money getting home twice a month (not cheap!).
Broke Girl in the City
I dedicated a lot of my time in July to updating my blog. I have blogged lots about Love Island – sorry to those people who have been trying to avoid it. Yet I was able to kickstart an evening routine – writing. As well as looking for cool things to do in and around the city without breaking the bank. I have also been chatting with other UK Money Bloggers to share top tips on managing debt and eliminating stress wherever possible.
Whilst I love writing. When I am tired, my writing suffers. I also have a backlog of photos I need to edit. So July was all about setting up a routine. Some days you may not feel up to it, and that’s ok. I wanted to make blogging fun, create engaging content that people can relate to, and offer top tips on living your best life in the city.
UK Money Bloggers Summer Giveaway
I feel incredibly lucky to have joined the UK Money Bloggers Group and am constantly inspired by other members. Money expert and blogger Emma Drew kindly pulled together details for our UK Money Bloggers Summer Giveaway, which many of us are part of and promoting. A fun way to cross-promote a fantastic summer giveaway and also an opportunity to follow other great money bloggers out there.
August’s Spending Tracker
In August, I decided to use my Spending Tracker app and Monzo card to track my spending and allocate a weekly budget. I set up my rent and credit card payments to leave my bank account on the 1st day of every month. I also have all payments set up in my spending tracker app, so I know how much I have left to spend each month. I have set up weekly spending pots in Monzo for the first time ever, so I know how much I have to spend each week. In August, I allocated myself £200 to spend each week (this is to include travel, food, going out etc.). I will let you know how this goes at the end of the month!
August is a time to look at Wellness & Diet.
Both of my brothers and their families are incredibly health-conscious when it comes to their diet. Somehow, that managed to elude me over the years. My brother Denny Ledger has been promoting all of the benefits of a plant-based diet to me. So August is a month I am going to dedicate to Wellness.
For the first time in my life, I had an asthma attack brought on hay fever in July (no doubt pollution too). I had to call an ambulance to London Bridge, spent an evening being nebulised, and am back on steroids.
I bought a Groupon voucher for a food intolerance test, where you send through hair samples to confirm what food intolerances you may have.
August, for me, is a month to look at diet and how this affects our emotional and physical health and general wellness.
Friendships past and present
July was a celebratory month for the family. Yet it also marked the anniversary of my best friend Tracy’s death. Facebook memories served up both loving and painful memories of such a fun-loving and lovely person. When you go through times like this, it’s very easy to distance yourself from people while you grieve. You do find out who your friends are during times like these. So while I might have taken to write rather than socialise. August is a time to seek out friends once again.
