What is this blog about, and who is it for?

What is this blog about, and who is it for?

This blog was born because I couldn’t find anything like it. I started it as a single British woman in my late thirties, living with my two primary age children when we had just moved to Denmark. As of 2024, I am in my mid-40s, with all the joyful tween and teen years for my children that entails. And whilst we are still in Denmark, my career means that I expect to move countries in the coming years.

I started this blog through a love and interest in the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) community. However, whenever I needed advice or a community to talk to about being a great single parent, living on a budget, or planning my side hustle, I struggled to find information that resonated. Sometimes it was because I’m single; other times, because I felt I had a different ethical approach which I didn’t see reflected. If you have similar needs, or just want to see a real story of personal and financial growth during what sometimes feels like times of real challenge, I hope this blog can be a great space for you too.

I cover several main topics focused on financial independence, personal finance, social justice and lifestyle management all through my own personal journey:

My Personal Financial Journey: I walk you through my own experiences and challenges as a single mother working towards financial independence. This includes dealing with emergencies, budgeting, and managing household expenses​, as well as making long term financial decisions for my children and wider family.

Financial Tips and Strategies: Whilst I don’t give advice I aim to provide practical thoughts on money management, including tips on setting up an emergency fund, being savvy with money. I also share how I try to spend mindfully toward the life I want to create, whilst optimizing on spending like meal planning, travel, and activities with my children.

Financial Planning: I also share my own journey of planning for the short, medium and long term, looking at retirement planning, raising money savvy kids, and preparing for my children and other loved ones’ financial futures. A lot of this links to career planning and how (and why) I think about getting to ‘work optional’.

FIRE Community and Inspiration: Whilst not everything resonates, I have found a great FIRE community  with a lot of inspirational stories and resources from well-known figures in the community, such as Tiffany Aliche (The Budgetnista), Paula Pant, and Mr. Money Mustache. I also regularly share recommendation for podcasts and books that are helpful for financial education and inspiration based on what I am finding interesting and useful as my journey continues.

Policy and Social Justice: Personal finance might be personal but it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I aim to explore policies and trends which impact on our money including cost of living issues, issues impacting the stock market, and changes in budgets and taxation relevant to a UK audience. I also focus on social justice and how I understand that neither how we make or spend money is the same for everyone.

Goal Setting and Accountability: I highlight and give tips on the importance of setting realistic financial goals, having an accountability partner (and what that looks like for single parents particularly), and staying focused on financial plans is a recurring theme. I share my own goal-setting process and regular reflections on progress, both financial and how I am feeling about it all.

Disclaimer: The content on this blog is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as financial advice. Please consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any financial decisions.

2023 Spending Review

Welcome to 2024! Whilst lots of bloggers and personal finance folk are kicking off with goals and plans for 2024, I am coming into it a bit more gently. I worked crazy hours November and December right up to Christmas, so I’m just working on reviewing last year and getting into the right mindset for moving forward.

That said, I already have GREAT plans for this blog and the related accounts in 2024 so watch this space! And until the launch of the transformation in February, do come and join me on my Insta.

I like to start the new year with a stocktake of how my finances are doing and whether my savings and investments went according to plan, then using this as a baseline to setting some plans and goals for the coming year and understanding how well it worked. This isn’t the only focus for the year, so check out future posts to find out more about setting intentions, vision boards and the like. But it is a good way of gathering some baseline data and starting off from a position of honesty about my behaviours.

2023 wasn’t as challenging as 2022 when it comes to finances and socio-economic issues, but it also wasn’t amazing. Inflation went up by an additional 4% over the year, which was a slow down on the previous year but continued challenges with rising basic costs on food, transport, and mortgages or rents, mean that most people felt the pinch. Food inflation rose to 19% by mid-2023. This is a measure of inflation just on food and non-alcoholic drinks, which can be impacted by things such as transport costs or conflict which limits shipping (watch this 2024 space for more on the Red Sea issues on shipping and their impact on household costs…) which people really felt at the shop.

Unlike 2022, I undertook a complete review of my spending and was pretty horrified by how much I have been shelling out. I will say two things – one is that I live in Denmark, and my salary includes a ‘cost of living’ allowance which recognises the increased costs here compared to the UK. Denmark is the 10th most expensive city in the world, and whilst this isn’t an excuse there are areas where I feel like we have been really careful in making choices and the overall costs have still been huge.

So what did I spend?

So in total, I spent almost £90,000 in 2023. Even with Denmark prices, and with my ‘pay yourself first‘ savings approach, getting my budget under control is deiniftely my focus for 2024.

25% of that was my mortgage, then there were five other areas around 10% of overall spend: childcare, groceries, holidays, house repairs and utilities. In total, that’s 75% of my entire spend, with everything else fitting into the other 25%. There are savings to be made here (I was horriffied that my blasé approach to subscriptions – i.e. if one person in the house values it, we keep it) means we are spending more than £500a year on this alone. But that’s good news as it’s something with infinite possibilities to work on.

 TOTAL GBPMonthly average%
Childcare £                   6,985 £                 582.078
Clothes £                      579 £                   48.231
Cosmetics £                      378 £                   31.470
Eating Out £                   3,656 £                 304.684
Extra-Curricular £                   1,669 £                 139.062
Gifts £                   2,337 £                 194.783
Groceries £                   9,161 £                 763.3810
Health £                   1,739 £                 144.922
Holidays £                   8,984 £                 748.6810
House £                 10,240 £                 853.2912
Insurance £                   3,701 £                 308.394
Kids £                   2,039 £                 169.292
Mortgage £                 20,717 £              1,726.4223
Shopping (misc) £                      347 £                   28.900
Legal £                      116 £                     9.690
Subscriptions £                      779 £                   64.881
Treats £                      492 £                   41.011
Transport £                   4,892 £                 407.706
Utilities £                   9,533 £                 794.4311
  £                 88,344 £             7,362.01

How was your spending in 2023, and what do you want to change? Whilst actual numbers will differ depending on location, priorities, household size, available income etc, the percentages should at least mimic your priorities. What does your spending tell you about areas you might want to work on in 2024?

Happy new year, and happy goal setting!