Now that I've proven to myself that it's possible to live on less than £10,000 a year, I feel like I can challenge myself in other areas. This doesn't mean that I'm going to go on a mass spending spree, but I'm not going to decline Personal Development opportunities to keep my expenses below a set figure this year.
May was my highest spending month since I started recording them. Yet I remain calm.... kind of.
My spends were fairly standard apart from 2 significant one off spends. The first one was for heating oil, which we get every year. This amount is my half of the total. It's a must spend and although it's high it does allow us to keep our total electrical bill down over the course of the year.
My second big one off spend was Kindle Coaching. I approached a very successful person in America and asked if he would be willing to coach me. He replied to my email and quoted his rate. Once I had wiped the water up which I spat onto the laptop and thought about it, and I decided I was going to go for it. In the spirit of Personal Development and learning. Why not!
This chap earns over $15,000 a month (£10,000) via kindle sales or to put it another way, my annual expenses in a month!
I have learned so much from him, as far as processes, techniques, how to develop a success mindset, and best of all, I'd like to think that we're now becoming friends (where's the sick bucket?). We have one final coaching session left, which we've both decided to defer until I've put his processes in place. We've decided to keep talking to each other via skype every Friday evening to keep accountable to each other on what progress each of us are making every week, and we help set weekly goals for each other. If I were to stop working or communicating to him now, I would undoubtedly say I'll earn my money back and then some in the long run. The Huw of last year would not have signed up to this coaching rate as I was so keen to keep my expenses low, and unfortunately I missed an opportunity to earn more money last year. I'm glad I'm now more open to develop myself and look at the bigger picture of earning more money in the future.
I also want to point out that I don't regret focusing on driving my expenses down and investing last year. I feel I have a good grasp of 'Money Management' or Personal Finance now, and once my income continues to rise I'm going to be much better placed to handle that money in the right way.
Income/Expense Average