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 hectic. In May, I moved house, so any spare funds were allocated to this. 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 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 managed 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 been chatting with other UK Money Bloggers. We are sharing top tips on managing debt. We aim to remove 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 do not feel up to it, and that’s ok. I wanted to make blogging fun. I aimed to create engaging content that people can relate to. I also wanted to 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. Many of us are part of the giveaway and are promoting it. This is a fun way to cross-promote a fantastic summer giveaway. It is 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. I also used my Monzo card to track my spending and allocate a weekly budget. I set up my rent payments to leave my bank account on the 1st day of every month. My credit card payments also leave on the 1st. All payments are set up in my spending tracker app. This setup helps me know how much I have left to spend each month. I have set up weekly spending pots in Monzo for the first time. Now, 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 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 experienced an asthma attack. It was caused by hay fever in July, with no doubt pollution contributing 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. You send through hair samples for the test. It helps 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 have taken to write rather than socialise. August is a time to seek out friends once again.
