December is here, the final month of the year and my favourite thanks to Christmas, far too much chocolate and lots of time spent with friends and family. It scares me to realise how quickly time is passing and so I continue to set myself targets, both financial and personal, to help me maintain focus as the days flash by. Here are my goals for December 2018.
You can read my goals for November 2018 here.
My goals for December 2018:
Earn another £100 of side income.
Last month I set myself the goal to make an additional £200 of side income. I was on an absolute mission and after getting stuck into surveys on Prolific Academic and selling some personal items on Ebay I smashed that goal. December is set up to be a busy month with lots of plans for Christmas and so I’ve set myself a lower goal of £100 to suit the free time I will have.
For some, £100 will not be a lot of money. For me, it will mean covering the cost of two dinners. I am very lucky to have two close groups of friends who I make a point of seeing every year. This does mean however, that I have two expensive nights of dinner and drinks to pay for. This extra £100 will cover these and allow me to focus my lower income on my bills. If you’ve been a reader for a while you will know how important this is to me in order to have a debt free Christmas.
Keep spending to a minimum.
This goal might seem like a bit of a cheat as I don’t have to do anything as such, however December is always such an expensive month for me and as such I’m making it my goal to only spend on necessities. I don’t need any more decorations or clothes for nights out. Our kitchen cupboards are always well stocked without all of the extra Christmas themed treats. The gifts I have chosen for everyone are enough and I don’t need to keep adding to them just for the sake of it.
I don’t mean to be a Scrooge of course. Christmas is my favourite time of year and I will enjoy every ounce of it. My celebrations will just be more budget friendly than usual.
Make an additional £100 payment to my credit card.
If you read the results of my goals last month you will know that debt payments were very low. My work load has dropped quite a bit, which it always does over the winter months, and so I don’t have as much income left over to pay towards my debt total. Never the less I want to continue to make some progress on my credit card debt.
To keep things manageable I’m setting myself a goal of £100. It’s small but pushes my debt total down which is what matters. The smaller my total is the less interest I have to pay too!
Make my tax payment.
Over the last couple of months I have been working hard to save up my tax payment which is due in January. Lesson learnt, starting January I will put the money away with each invoice that comes in instead of leaving it to the last minute! Now that I have saved what I am due it’s time to make the payment.
Tax returns are stereotypically tedious so I am setting this as a goal to ensure that I don’t put it off. Ideally I’ll set aside some time this week to get it sorted out, but worst case I know I need it completed by the end of December. As much as I hate the process it will be a big weight off of my shoulders going into the new year.
Have you set yourself some goals for the month? Let me know in the comments!
