whitestripe's personal finance blog

I took Tuesday off so I could spend some time with BF before our 'holidays' ended (I only spent a handful of days with him over our holidays because he was helping a mate build a shed). So this afternoon I am working at Job # 1, after I finish at Job # 2. I also have to call some people about looking at houses. BF got excited last night and printed out a whole heap of brochures for different places. I am glad he is motivated about this - sometimes he gets home from work and is so tired he just wants to sit down and relax, but even know he was dead tired today he stayed up until about 11pm looking.
We looked at a house yesterday but it wasn't what we were looking for. One down, two million to go!

Yesterday was my first NSD of the year!

My earnings will get back to normal now - I only have one planned day off in the future few months.

Exercise Totals this week:
Sunday - 80 min
Monday - 30 min + swimming
Tuesday - nil
Wednesday - 20 minutes
Thursday - ?
I am aiming for 30 minutes today and tomorrow, or more if achievable. It's just so darn hot at the moment. About 37 degrees (C)

Well, it's time to leave for work so I better go. Take care.

Based on our max. amount we want to borrow ($350k) which is probably not how much we will eventually borrow, so these are generous amounts.

Deposit:
$3200 +
$4000 +
$10500 +
$4000 +
$14000
= $35700

Expenses:
$17500 + (5% deposit)
$7200 + (Mortgage Insurance)
$1200 + (Conveyancing & Legal Fees)
$600 + (Setup Fee)
$622 + (Transfer Fee)
$0 + (Stamp Duty is free for us)
= $27122

Excess: $8578

In the end we have much more than we though we would have.
Some notes:
The first home owners grant is given to everyone who applies, on their first purchase of a house. You can both be earning $100k a year and still get the FHOG. The reason it is doubled until June is because of the economical crisis, it was Rudd's way of trying to get people to buy homes. In our case it works out well because we were already planning on buying a home.

BF's mum has given us $4000 for some work BF did at her home. The majority of work is worth much MORE than $4000 (floor sanding and sealing, carpentry work, labour), but initially BF was doing it for free, as you do for your mum! BF's mum offered it as a help incase we needed it in the final stages of buying a home.

Please don't attack me for not getting married, anymore. I don't want to get married right now. Neither of us want to. Why is that such a big fucking deal to some people? Just because some people think it's a good idea, doesn't mean EVERYONE has to go and get married. Some people seem to think I'm a complete moron. I do REALISE what happens in this big bad adult world. I do THINK about the risks. I appreciate the CONCERN, (the honest concern - where people will mention it and then let it go) but not the JUDGEMENT and CRITICISM.

I have wanted my own home since I was about 14 and started working. BF has wanted a house since he was about 18. This was all years before we were together. When we had been together for a year and a half we touched the subject a few times, and we have steadily grown from there. For those of you who seem to think I don't want to buy a house, I don't really know where you're getting these ideas from. Has there been an entry where I have expressed regret in the way my life is turning out? Have I mentioned I think this is all a big mistake? Hmmm. I don't think so. You know WHY I haven't written entries about those issues? Because I don't think those things. The only reason I am addressing this now is because I want to make it perfectly clear that I know what I'm doing. Just incase ANYONE was wondering.

I'm not writing this because I have some deep psychological issues. I'm just writing this to address previous comments (some deleted) and any future comments.

...went great! it completely cleared up the reservations I had about the max $15k extra payments, and I found out that this bank DOES offer split loans between variable and fixed - which i couldn't find on the website (I think I was looking in the wrong place). I am going to talk to my boss's wife (bank branch manager of another bank) to see if she thinks her bank can do better, and I will probably talk to BF's friend N as well (he is a loan validator at yet another bank). So we have plenty of advice from all ends, from people who DO want the best for us regardless of their professional interests.

We found out that we are only $4k away from a 5% deposit on $350 000 - which will bring our Mortgage Insurance down to around $7k or a bit over

(I thought some members here might be happy to hear that! savings: around $4000)

BF talked to his mum after we left the bank, and she has put 4k into BF's bank account today, so it can be counted as 'savings', just in case we need it. So that's it! We just need to concentrate on saving even more, just so we can have a buffer. The pressure has eased in terms of having a specific number - we now have that number. Anything else is a bonus that we can use for renovations.

So in the next week or so we will decide if we will go with Westpac or BOQ, and basically this means we are now 100% able to put all our effort into LOOKING FOR OUR HOUSE!

I think we are both really excited. YAY.

I can't believe this is really happening.

BF and I are going into the bank today to see about pre-approval. It is ONE of the banks I am interested in. The other may turn out to be much better - and it is the bank my boss's wife is manager of as well. I just want to cover all my bases - and I don't want people to think I am going with that bank because my boss's wife works there. She has given me a lot of help over the past few months which I am greatful for, but she has already said regardless of which bank we go with it's not important, the main thing is that we get guidance and if she can help, she will. Which I think is very generous.

The scheduled time is 9.30 am - so in three hours. How exciting. We are moving slowly ahead.

All of the skincare products I listed on eBay have sold! I made $109 for four items. Not sure how much profit though - I will have to work it out. I would say I probably only made a couple of dollars profit, which is fine with me. I am only interested in getting the money BACK, which has been achieved. (cost of four items initially was about $93).
I will just be putting the money in my Bills account for the CC.

Fingers crossed the DVD sells as well. I have it listed for less than most other sellers do. Again, I am not interested in making a profit.

Yesterday I went shopping for groceries and spent about $87 for the week for BF and I. I am hoping we don't eat out at all, and I am going to try really hard to have leftovers for BF's lunch as well so he doesnt end up buying lunch.

I woke up late today (after a late night out with friends - no drinking involved so I spent the grand total of $3!) and it was still very overcast, windy and wet, so I decided not to go to the markets. I will go back to the grocery shop I mentioned a few posts ago - I'm not particularly fond of it as I have had to throw out a bit of stuff when I last shopped there. This time I won't buy much and definately won't be buying a whole pumpkin!

I am going to try and use up the frozen veges in the freezer too. So really I will only need to get fruit and salad items.

This week has been very good with my exercise goals. I have just been using my exercise bike, which is probably a bit monotonous but I don't mind it and atleast I am doing SOMETHING.

Monday - 20 min
Tuesday - 25 min
Wednesday - no exercise
Thursday - 30 min
Friday - 20 min
Saturday - 40 min
Sunday - 40 min (today)

I am going to try and do another 40 minutes today as well, which will mean I have biked 16 km today.

My menu for the week gone:
Monday: Mexican beans & rice
Tuesday: Salad, homemade wedges & grilled tofu
Wednesday: can't remember
Thursday: Sundried tomato pesto pasta with veges
Friday: Vegetarian Pad Thai (dining out)
Saturday: Rice Noodles with stirfried veges.

My friend, A, told me the other day that she had gotten a call from a male friend of hers. They have known each other for about 8 years.

My friend is not in a relationship and has not been in one for a while. She lives with her parents and is doing an apprenticeship (doesn't earn a lot).

Her friend, lets call him T, recently broke up with his boyfriend and lives alone. He's fairly well off financially.

T asked A if she would have a baby with him. He said to her that she was they only one that he would ask something like this of. 'Don't worry about money. You can put your apprenticeship on hold and I'll make it so you don't have to work for a year.'
A was understandably a little shocked. T said 'Think about it for a day. I'll call you tomorrow and then on the weekend I'll come up and visit you so we can talk. I have made some enquiries and there's a clinic that will do the procedure.'
(T lives a few hours drive away)
So A told me about it. Sure it's a little odd but it's kind of sweet that her friend wants to have a baby with her, and I already know that A wants children but doesn't really see them in her future at this time.

Fast forward a day. T calls A to talk about it. A has already decided it's not something that she wants to do, but was going to thank him for thinking of her anyway. They talked for a while, and it came out that no, they would not technically be having the baby together. He wanted her to give birth and then hand it over! She said no, thankyou. She was a little shocked that he expected her to do this for him and then not be able to have any part of her baby's life. 'It's legal' he protested, 'I'll be getting a solicitor to write it up and everything'. She still said no, told him to have a lovely new years, and hung up.


My question is, is it a little odd, or a little mean, or just plain rude? I mean, knowing that your friend has wanted to be a mother for many many years, and then asking of her a favour like that? Just because she usually does nice things for people? I have only known this girl for about a year and a half, and I know this about her. T has known her for 8 years. He obviously knows that if anyone would do it, she would. Which I think means he is trying to take advantage of her kindness. I just think it's a bit ... I don't know. Selfish?

Yesterday I listed four items on eBay, and I have already sold two of them for the Buy It Now price! (skincare products) I don't really think I am undercharging - I put a $25 buy it now price on the 60mL bottle of lotion and a $28 buy it now price on three of the 120mL toners - i've sold a toner and the lotion so far. I'm THRILLED!

Other unexpected money:
logged onto my Paypal account and found I had $10 balance in there from two surveys I did that I didn't expect money for. Also I have ordered a $20 gift card from another survey site. I am waiting till I sell all the items on eBay before I withdraw the money from paypal. I listed a dvd on oztion ages ago and it still has not sold, so I am thinking of taking it off there and putting it on eBay.

I just love extra money!

I went into my bank to get some home loan info, and the woman gave me a few piles of paperwork to look through.
When I was leaving I asked about the no deposit home loans (as it was still on their website) and she said that they don't offer them anymore.

What a big fat waste of time!

I have made a few more enqiries to various banks and compiled some information and compared some loan features.
I also made a couple of online enquiries. One was to a bank which BF's dad has his home loan with. They sent me an email with some info. I didn't exactly understand what it was saying so I called them to ask some questions.

My first question was whether or not they do 100% loans anymore. His answer was no. I asked him if that was even if we had the money to cover Mortgage Insurance and Fees, on top of the First Home Owners Grant.
He paused for a few seconds and then asked me to tell him how much money we have saved, what we want to borrow, and our earning details. When I told him he was surprised and said that we had a 3% deposit and then some (3% deposit is $9600). I said yes, but that was to cover the Mortgage Insurance, and he said that the FHOG was designed to cover those costs, and the stamp duty and legal fees. I can't believe no one told me that! I have had all these bank people telling me different things but no one has ever said that. I was always under the impression that you got it after you bought the house, as a 'bonus' type thing (like the baby bonus).

Anyway. I am going in on Tuesday to apply for pre approval. I could have done it over the phone but I feel more comfortable doing it in person at a branch so I can explain some things.

Apparently we are able to borrow up to $510 000. I don't understand how anyone could survive on our income with a mortgage payment on $510k. It boggles the mind. I mentioned it to BF's friend, who was at our house at the time, and his response was a rather blunt 'fuck off!!??'. It's nice to know he has faith in our financial abilities. (note: sarcasm)

So that is very very exciting news for us.

The only problem I have is that I am undecided on which package we should be thinking about.

Option 1 (http://www.westpac.com.au/internet/publish.nsf/Content/PBHLPR+Fixed+Options+Home+Loan )
I am thinking that a fixed rate loan would be the way to go at the moment because the rates are down. This bank also gives you the opportunity to lock in for 10 years, which is not an option with a lot of banks (5 years is usually the max). The lock in rate at the moment is 6.99% which is pretty good (bear in mind this is Australia).
Option 2
(http://www.westpac.com.au/internet/publish.nsf/Content/PBHLPR+Rocket+Repay+Home+Loan )
The other problem is that I do also like the Rocket Repay Loan, but it doesn't allow the option of a fixed rate.

What would you do? I mean as in, what loan would you choose. (I already know most of you are not thrilled about our choice to buy a home at the moment, but that is not what is on the table here.)

Thankyou for your input!

and... happy New Year!

Well, here we go. Last month of the year!

Income: ($2976.40)
Job #1: $880.00
Job #2: $1564.60
Other: $153.30
Taken From Savings: $378.50 (gift fund)

Savings: $430.00

Expenses: ($2574.60)
Rent: $506.68
Groceries: $180.81
Petrol: $87.97
Loan Payments: $148.00
Extra Loan Payments: $20.00
Skin Care: $29.95
Health, Beauty & Grooming: $100.15
Gifts: $106.50
Bank Fees: $20.95 (ARGH)
(Bills)
Phone & Internet: $28.00
Car Insurance: $474.86
Electricity: $96.58
Mobile Phone: $96.58 (1st bill)
(Fun)
Alcohol: $54.09
Takeaway Beverages: $86.00
Takeaway Food/Dining Out: $137.80
Magazines/Books: $22.20
Clothes & Shoes: $115.54
Entertainment: $59.57
Staff Lotto: $8.00
House/Appliance/Tech: $16.87
Accomodation: $152.50 (for 2 nights in Jan)


I am not exactly sure how I should be working this. Any suggestions are welcome:
I automatically transfer $65 per week into a bills account, and then I pay all my bills on CC then transfer the money over at the end of each cycle. I don't keep a running tally of my bills account though because I buy EVERYTHING on CC and transfer that amount each day into the bills account. So I have two totals in my bills account: CC balance and yearly bills. Ideally I should have enough money at any given time in my Bills Ac, as well as whatever I charge on my CC, for car repairs, car insurance, rego, racq, electricity, phone & internet etc etc etc.

Does that make any sense? So I am thinking I should be keeping a running tally of how much is there for bills as well. Hmm... I might start a few new spreadsheets and tinker around with tracking systems so I have a new system for 2009. Exciting, but dreary at the same time...

Ok, so an analysis of my December spending leads me to the realisation that I hate bank fees. And no, before you suggest, I am not changing banks to a fee free account. It's a bit too tricky to do that right now.

Petrol: Good. Under budget.
Groceries: Good. Under budget.
Bills: well, all bills were higher than expected. car insurance went up $80 because I no longer get the discount my friend organised for me. SHUCKS! (I got it a year longer than I meant to get it though so I am happy!)
Made some small, extra payments on my loan which I am happy about. I don't want to do anything drastic because, even though I'll get people breathing down my neck about it here, it's not my main priority at the moment.
Savings I am quite happy about.
Grooming, well, not thrilled about that. $74 for a haircut? bah.
Fun categories: *sigh* Not too bad but not great either. Somehow spent $54 on alcohol even though I hardly ever DRINK! bah.

Anyway.
There's my totals for December!

January Goal:
-No alcohol expenses.
-No makeup expenses.
-No magazine or book purchases.
-Limit takeaway food/dining out to $150.
-Clothes and shoes... oooh... can I do it??? goal: under $80 for January.

... anonymous comments that just put people down for sharing something on their blog, and often don't take into consideration the full story. I know lots of people on here are annoyed at them, am I right?

I just delete them basically straight away, but I still find it tragic that the person feels the need to force their views on someone anonymously (it strikes me as very cowardly) and talk in the tone that think they know everything, or know better than the person compared to who they just commented on.

My most recent one: (normally I wouldn't bother, but I wanted to explain this anyway so no one else gets the wrong idea about my state of mind) a comment on a previous entry about my flatmate getting pregnant, and my observation on how a lot of our friends are pregnant, and that it would be nice to have kids when your friends have kids so that they can grow up together. The comment said something along the lines of (not in the same words) 'yeah get pregnant because all your friends are, great idea, NOT!!!'.

Anyway, I just wanted to explain some things.

Firstly, I'm not planning on having children any time soon. I would like to be atleast a little financially set up first. I would like to be confident that I can stay home for atleast a year, if not until the child goes to primary school. I'm not particularly fond of daycare.

I would ideally like to plan to some extent, when I have a baby. I don't mean the specific date, or even the season. I mean our age, our location of living etc. I mean, I would like to be able to talk to my partner and say 'maybe we should start thinking about starting a family soon' etc etc.
I would like to be in the right state of mind, and welcome the idea of pregnancy and family.
Another pro at planning is that I can ensure that I am 100% healthy before and during the early stages of pregnancy, which are proven to be the most important in feotal development. Even though it's not entirely necessary - well, it hasn't been proven conclusively - BF has said he too would like to make sure he was completely healthy and had consumed no alcohol from the moment of 'trying for' a baby.
I don't care about having a baby 'when my friends have babies'. I said it would be nice. But that was ONLY in the context of an observation I made about FIVE FRIENDS HAVING CHILDREN IN THE SAME YEAR.

I'm not a 16 year old getting clucky and wanting to have a baby with my bucktoothed, jobless fling who lives in a trailer. Nor am I some ditzy housewife who has images in my head of 'mothers group' consisting of all my friends, birthday parties where they all play together just so we can 'socialise and drink wine and eat cheese together'.

The only reason I would want our friends children growing up with my children is because I know that my friends have the same values and morals as we do, and that I would trust our friends with our children, and vice versa.

Another point I wanted to make was that, besides myself (can I make the point AGAIN that I am not planning on having children for awhile?), all of our friends, who are having children, are the ages of: 25 & 32, 29 & 31, 28 & 30, 28 & 28, 27 & 31. So they are not exactly making irrational decisions, immature decisions etc. With the exception of my flatmate and her BF, all of these couples have been together for 6 + years, most of them 10+ years.

So.

ME2 wanted to make some snide comment on a post of mine to make me look immature and stupid. I am hoping the rest of you don't think I am that stupid, and that you all understand where I am coming from. I don't particularly care what ME2 has to say on this post and it's highly likely that their comment will be deleted anyway. I mainly wrote this post for those of you who share your opinions honestly and openly with me. So thankyou for reading.

end rant!

considering i'm not a kid i think i got a nice haul of presents this christmas:

$50 voucher from job #2
$150 cash from job #1
$100 voucher from BF
teatowels and a knife sharpener from BF
a hand fan from BF
an airfrehsener in the shape of elvis from BF
a scalpel set and screen printing paint from flatmate and her BF
season 4 of battlestar galactica, some shirts and cds from my dad
the little book of calm from a friend


Also I just redeemed a $20 voucher from a survey site.

Yay!

We have also decided that we will be doing New Years a day early (so... tonight!) so that BF and his friend can do more work on the shed, and it also means that I won't have to drive there.
I am a little relieved, I have never driven there by myself, and also if we were to be eating at BF's friends house - his mother always cooks and all they ever eat is meat and three veg - a little bit of a problem for me! They also think everyone should eat meat, EVERY day.

The downside is that flatmate seems to think she doesnt live here anymore (well - except her leaving stuff here and doing her washing) so every time she and her BF come here, they make all this mess, leave everything lying around, make a whole heap of dishes and then leave. It's really starting to piss me off, but I also don't want to say anything because she will only be here for another month (and most of that time won't be here at all) and also whenever I DO say something, her BF does the work, which I don't really think is fair.

Anyway.

Just a bit of ranting!

Well I am by myself for most of this week again. BF is helping his friend and sister build their shed. I am working today (monday) and friday so I can't really go away with him. Plus I am looking after the dogs (three of them!) so I have to be here to feed them. On Wednesday I am going there for New Years Eve and we will probably camp on our friends land which will be different to our last New Years - which was in the city. They have no power yet either which could be tricky! All I'm really worried about is the toilet ... :O

I am having coffee with some friends this afternoon but other than that I am trying to have a low profile and not spend much money.

I have some plans for this afternoon, to fit them all in before my coffee date (4pm). I finish work at 1.30pm.

-40 min cycling
-wash the dogs (yess all three of them)
-call the real estate agent and see if that house is still for sale
-wash and straighten my hair
-bleach the shower
-clean the drains

does anyone know a good way to stop drains from smelling? i tried bicard, vinegar and hot water but it didn't seem to work. i just want to know if anyone ahs any solutions OTHER than buying something. i have bleach, eucalyptus oil, vinegar, bicard, disinfectant...

last night i had steamed veges and rice for dinner, and tonight i'll have fried rice as I kept the left over rice. I have been using some of the veges in the freezer, they seem to have worked out alright and still have plenty of flavour.

I spent $23 at the supermarket yesterday and bought a lot of fruit, some kidney beans, sugar, yoghurt etc. I am hoping I won't have to buy anything else from the shops this week except milk.

Our flatmate (BF's sister) and her BF gave us the news on Christmas Day along with all the other family, except I already was pretty sure that she was. She is 11.5 weeks. They are due in June.

Now BF has 5 different friends who are expecting in the new year!
It is nice when that happens. Do you ever think sometimes there seems to be spurts of people having babies? And there will be heaps of people you know having children all at the same time? Weird!

I said to BF we will have to try and 'catch the next lot' (as a joke! I know it sounds crude). It would be nice to have children when your friends have children, though, so they can grow up together. BF's response was 'or we can just have a baby now...?'

I just want to write some things down so I can get a clear picture. Excuse my babbling!

There is a house we have found which is more than perfect for what we want. It's $319 000 asking price, which we could probably bargain down to $317 000 (or less), which is then atkeast 3k under our target amount for a house.

(the house is on an 805m2 block, 4 bedrooms, built in downstairs, three decks, a shed etc - i might post pictures in a week if it's still available)

We would have to resign our lease, which will then expire 19th April.

If we look into buying this house, if it's still unsold and no one else is interested, we could probably have everything done in a month to two months which would mean we would have to cancel our lease contract, which is really no biggy anyway with the rental crisis looming.

If we buy the house, we have approx $12-$13k saved. It would cover the mortgage insurance ($11.5k) and some fees. We either have a choice of putting the solicitor fees and building inspection fees on my cc and paying it back once the FHOG is granted. The rest of the FHOG (total is $14k) will go back into the mortgage to remain until we need it for renovations. (Please note: I don't need credit card preaching, so don't bother. That is not the issue I am discussing.)

Another choice we have is privately borrowing 5k from BF's mum in return for some labour work at her property which he is fine with doing. That would cover the fees.

If we don't buy this property, we have to start looking for others pretty soon. Ideally we would like to be in our own place atleast a month before our lease expires for breathing space (so, mid-march).

Why? you ask. why not rent longer?

A few reasons. We would be required to sign a 6 or 12 month lease in our next rental property, which would take us up to october. The rent we would be paying would be about the same cost or more as a mortgage per week. This would mean the only money we would be saving would be spare change plus other costs we don't have as a rental verse homeowner, like rates and water etc.

another reason is that the 14k FHOG expires on june 30th, going back down to 7k.

if we were to wait until after then, probably when a six month lease expires in october, we would not have that extra amount saved due to paying a lot of rent etc (as it would just be BF and I paying rent verse right now it being BF, myself and flatmate). so ideally we are looking at having $27k now ($14k of which comes AFTER we buy the contract), or having possibly $20k in six months time.

why pay mortgage insurance? i know it's a lot of money for really nothing, however - the FHOG is $14k, which covers the MI plus fees. if we DON'T utilise that, it means we are paying $5k MI (in october) of our own money, plus a 5% deposit and fees. so really the only difference is that we are into our own house sooner and paying it off sooner.

this way, while nothing is essentially free, we are able to save 6 months worth of dead rent money by putting it into our mortgage sooner, and we are able to utilise the upped FHOG - which was introduced to 'save' the economy.

All it really rests on now is whether the house is still unsold, and whether I can get approved for a loan in time.

Well it seems that as soon as I make the plan of not spending any money on clothes this year, bargains leap out at me when I'm walking along. It's just not fair!
On Tuesday I made the decision to see a movie by myself (first time ever!). I'd finished all my work for the week and it was cheap Tuesday. I planned to see Four Holidays because it sounded funny, but when I got there I just couldn't do it. I'm just not a Christmassy, chick-flicky girl. So I bought a ticket to see Quantum of Solace (again). I felt like a huge weight had been lifted once I bought that ticket... odd, I know...
Anyway I had half an hour to kill so I was going to grab a bottle of water and a juice, but I walked past a shop that I sometimes buy things from and they had a 50% off everything sale, and a few tables and racks of things for $5. I found eight items I liked for $5 each but eventually narrowed it down to five. So, $25 later...
In my defence that is a great deal. I got a pair of knee length black shorts, a plain black tshirt, a black singlet with silver detailing, an orange button up cardigan and another black shirt with some neckline detailing.

And later that day a friend asked me if I wanted to go bowling with her and her sister. So I did. I got $2 off because the guy put us through as students, which was nice. (I am soooooooo not a student...) So I spent $25 on clothes, $5.95 on a cold drink, $9.50 on a movie, $17 on two games of ten pin bowling, $6 on drinks and $5.60 on icecream.


Way to go on the not spending money thing, eh!?

*sigh*

I'm not going to beat myself up about it. It's December. Tis the season. And I am sure I spent a lot less than many other people this year.

My boss and his wife were not that long ago, at our staff christmas party, complaining about each others taste in music (he likes, according to her 'head-banging sh*t' and she likes, he says, 'sloppy commercial cr*p').
I laughed at them but it got me thinking and BF and I ended up talking about it.
I asked him if he ever thought that, or would think that, about any of my tastes and he said that, considering we have almost identical taste in most things, he didn't think that would happen.
And it's true. Although we have our 'number one favourites' which may not be the same thing (band, movie, car, food) we do like the same things.
And I couldn't help thinking how different it would be if we didn't like the same things, and how many arguments we have saved (considering we've had about two arguments in the near-six years we've been together).

There are only a few things I can think of that BF likes that I don't ( GTA and other computer games that go no where, fried food, guns, lots of 'stuff') and things that I like that BF doesn't (sour food, high heels, trance), but in general we like very much the same things.

Of course this doesn't directly relate to finance, but in a way it does slightly. Personally I think having similar interests is cheaper. For example, BF and I take turns in buying CD's. Because we like the same music, we have a 'merged' music collection (with many doubles from before we were together). I can't help thinking that if we liked different music we would most likely have double the amount of music and separate CD collections. We are happy seeing movies we both like, which means we don't have to see a movie one of us doesn't like, which then means we don't have to take 'turns' choosing a movie.
Those are only a couple of things I can think of but there must be more. I remember reading a post from someone ages ago who said that they used to buy two types of peanut butter (crunchy and smooth).

I was wondering how many of you out there have the same tastes as your partners or have completely different tastes? what works? what doesn't? how do you compromise?

The only thing I got out of hearing my boss and his wife argue was that I think in the end it's important to respect other people's choices.

Live and let live.

because I ended up having to go back to the shopping plza to buy some blank shirts for my family who live two states away. (so i could screenprint on them). i was also unable to find anything relating to spongebob which led me to go to ANOTHER shopping place on Sunday. (so I went to three in two days - blergh!)
I also somehow managed to buy three pairs of shoes and two pairs of shorts for myself...
So in the end I spent around $72 on gifts and $59.86 on clothes for myself. (I KNOW! straight after I said I wouldn't be buying any more clothes this year...)

In my defence, the shorts were 2 for $30, and the shoes cost $5.86 for one pair and $12 each for the other two pairs.

Oh, and guess what! I already own two pairs of the shorts I bought but they are a little big... I was able to buy them a size smaller this time. Woohoo!

Last night I did almost all the christmas shopping except for FM's present. In my last entry I mentioned we were buying $5 presents for each other. They are meant to be funny. So last night I was in one of those cheap stores and I saw all these matchbox cars. I didn't think BF would want any so I showed him one, which was an Alfa Romeo (one of the old ones - just because most of the cars were flashy new ones and really classic models and then there was the Alfa - which I know is one of the classic Alfas but still - it doesn't look like all the others) and he was like 'that's cool you should buy it' and then i was like 'darn if i didn't show you i could have given you that!' But never mind!
Then Flatmate and I were shopping in Kmart and came across the same cars (but 10c dearer). They had a lot more varieties and we found a Smart Car there. We laughed about it a bit and then I jokingly said how funny it would be to get that and wrap it and give it to BF as he would think it was the Alfa. She said that would be hilarious so I got it.

Anyway.

I also got BF a glowstick ring and a rubiks cube. I got FM's boyfriend some fluffy dice. I have to get FM something for $1 as I bought her a hairclip in the shape of a little scottish-terrier. I was thinking something spongebob seeing as she likes him. (and yes, we're talking about a 24 year old)

Anyways!

Tonight we are going late-night-shopping to get our christmas presents. Now, I know I said we don't 'do' christmas. And technically we're not really. All we are adoing is buying $5 gifts for each other (BF & myself, FM and her boyfriend). And I bought BF a little present too, a few weeks ago.
I bought him some cufflinks with the gear-shift tops (1-3-5,2-4-R). I don't know what you would call that?
Anyway, they cost $23.25.

So all up Christmas presents cost me $38.25. I already have wrapping paper and all that crap. The only other things I will need to buy is some feta and pastry for the tart for Xmas Day.

First of all a big congratulations to gamecock (and BB) on buying a house

My parents just left to go on a three week holiday and gave me all their fresh fruit and vegetables. They left three days earlier than were planning (it's a driving holiday) so they had more food than they thought they would.
To top it off, I also had a fair bit of fruit and veg in our fridge as well.

My parents gave us:
1 and 1/2 eggplants
1kg green beans
2 kg sweet potato
4 kg carrots (what the?!)
2 kg apples
2 lettuce
3 cucumbers
1kg zucchini
2 large broccoli
500g red onion
1kg potato
1/4 watermelon
1/4 pawpaw
8 corn heads
4 tomatoes
3 bunches bok choi
500g yellow squash


So yesterday I looked up on the internet the best way to freeze vegetables, all of which said to blanch most of them and then freeze in portions. So I spent about three hours yesterday chopping up a mix of yellow squash, broccoli, carrot, beans and then blanching them, and packing them in freezer bags in portions so that I can use them for stirfry, bakes, curries or just vegetables sides. I also blanched the corn and cut it off the cob and packed that in small portions, and also the sweet potato in portions too. I also put a few packs of green beans and brocoli by itself for sides of veges.
WHEW!
Then I stewed the apples and made an apple pie, and made a vegetable soup for dinner (and froze half of that).

I felt very domesticated yesterday. Not that it's a bad thing! But I just don't normally do that I just could not let all that food go to waste.

So we will not need to go to the market this week, which is just as well as it tends to get a bit touristy over the christmas holidays - too many people. I am thinking of using some of the sweet potato and the onions for that sweet potato and feta tart I made awhile ago, and that will be what I make for our christmas lunch/dinner at BF's grandparents place (there's not a great deal of vegetarian choices there).

I still have a lot of carrots, lettuce and cucmber left. BF is going away as well (until christmas! i will be so lonely), so I think I am going to attempt to have lots of salads this week for my dinners.

BF and I will now be paying $420 a week from the 19/1/09.
Flatmate will be moving out before then, so we will have maybe a week or two of 'only paying' $390 a week.

To put a cherry on top, they have only offered us a three month lease as well. Which means that on 19/4/09 we will:

a) have to find another place to rent. we will have to sign a 6 month lease, which will put a major kink in our plans to take advantage of the $14k first home buyers grant. rents are still going up so it's likely we will be paying the same, or more, as now.

or

b) come the New Year, start visiting banks and organising pre-approval. start looking at houses to buy and be ready to buy should something good come up. pay the $11 000 mortgage insurance and then claim the $14k first home buyers grant and put that straight onto the loan.

or

c) do exactly the same as option b, but find out exactly which banks allow you to use the FHBG as a deposit and research whether it would be worthwhile doing that.

right now we are both leaning toward b or c.

I have decided I would like to have a set amount for clothes expenses next year. I am not entirely sure how much though. And because last year I had two months where I decided I didn't want to track my expenses (what a *stupid* idea!) I don't have a full year of recorded clothes expenses. (i have done this no-recording for a couple of months thing two years in a row... what gives?!).

anyway. so how much does everyone spend on clothes a year, approximately?

from March - December 16th (today) I have spent $1439.64 on clothes, bags, shoes, underwear, hair accessories etc. This includes work clothes as well.

I am going to try very hard and not spend any more money on clothes until next year.

I know I will not need socks, swimwear or work clothes next year, but I still want to work on my basics wardrobe, and I think the January sales might be a good time to pick up some bargain priced items at Myer.

So before I decide on an amount I was just wondering what everyone spends (or thinks they spend) on clothes + shoes + bags + belts + hair accessories etc a year?

Well I was talking to my friend/work colleague this afternoon. She mentioned how our boss told her that he had to cut some people's hours in the next two weeks if things did not pick up, but that the two people he definately would NOT be cutting are mine and another lady's hours (my friends hours can't be cut as she is the only full-time person there).

PHEW!

So I feel a little safer now! I just don't think a pay cut would be the best thing right now.

Through all this uncertainty over job futures and the economy and housing problems, I have been relaxed about it to a point because my jobs were guaranteed.
You see both of my jobs' businesses have not been decreasing in sales or productivity. Job # 1 has been as busy as ever, and we are steadily being booked up for next year. And Job # 2, while we have some slow days, in all it has not decreased sales but rather, has increased slightly or at least plateaued.

That was, however, until Job # 2 had changes which were out of our hands. You see the bakery is located near a small supermarket. Its an independant sueprmarket, not like Coles or Woolworths or Bilo. And recently a 2.5 million dollar revamp took place, where the store was moved 100 metres up from where it was. We have noticed since it opened (last tuesday) that the days have been slower and we have had a decrease in sales.

So now I am stressing just like everyone else!

Here's the thing with a budget for me:
I don't actually use it in the conventional sense. I don't look at it and go 'right, I can spend X on this and oh dear I am over on that by X amount so next week I can't spend X on this or that', which is what most people do.
I've never had a problem with debt in the sense that I spend more money that I can expect to pay for at the end of the month. I have a car loan, which is my only debt and which I researched for a good six months before I went through with it.
The only reason I have a budget is because I like looking at where I can put my money and seeing how everything fits neatly into place. I have it so I can see what I have to spend money on, and what to expect to spend it on in the future. I have it so I know where to allocate money. I use it as an organisational tool.

I like to track my money - how much I make and how much I spend and save. Since I've been doing that for nearly two years now I have not had to look at my 'budget' regularly, only when I update it: when my wage increased or when I start to have another expense.

I like to play around with it and see what I could afford if say, I lost my jobs, or my rent went up, or we had a baby. Or lately, and more realistically, if we bought a house, or if our flatmate moves out.

A budget gives me a sense of security because even though I don't really use it for anything on a day to day basis, it's helped me understand my own money and what is possible. So I think it's important to sit down, even if you're not the budget type, and just write a list of your yearly/monthly/weekly bills and expenses, and your income. Just to see where you're at. Even if you just do that and throw it out, atleast you've done it and you have an insight into your own finance.

I just wanted to add onto my previous post about starting to work on next years goals.

I realised today that I have cycled five sessions of 25 minutes on my exercise bike this week. (it's not a great deal but it's a hell of a lot more than I've been doing lately! read: more than NOTHING...)

So each of those 25 sessions was between 4.5 and 5 kilometres.

I've also done about 40 minutes of stretching/situps/pushups/leg lifts etc, and been for a half hour swim.

What does everyone elses weekly workouts involve?

I really want to aim for 40 minutes per day, five days a week of cycling or walking (and some running).

My problem is I absolutely HATE exercising infront of or near any one. Which makes it a tad difficult. Walking outside is fine, because I can walk AWAY from people. And I don't necesarily know them. But ugh, the thought of exercising in a gym? forget it. even exercising in front of my flatmate or boyfriend! bah!

I don't know what it is. It's a combination of a few things I think. One, I always wonder if I look weird. I always wonder if people think I'm not working hard enough. And I always wonder if they think I won't last. And also because I get worried that people (my mum used to do it) will tell me I'm exercising 'wrong' or that 'my back isn't straigh' or 'i'm not walking fast enough' or 'my feet point in to far'.

So you see, I have some issues...

It's a hurdle I will have to eventually get over. At the moment I think I have been able to do a lot more exercise as our flatmate has been away for two weeks, and BF (although I don't mind him being around when I cycle because he just leaves me alone - or tries to hug me) doesn't get home til a few hours after I do. I will have to start walking after work once flatmate comes back, and then again when the new people move in (if they decide to).

Gosh I really can't wait til we have our own place, and our own home gym room.

But I can't keep waiting for that to happen. I need to lose about 5-7 kilograms (10 would be ideal but not really necesary). And I want to do it NOW. No more waiting for this to happen, then waiting for that to happen. I keep putting it off and basically I just need to get out there and do it. And start cutting my portion sizes. Because the longer I leave it, the longer I am not 100% happy with myself.

I braved the Christmas crowds this morning and went to our local shopping plaza. I got there BEFORE the shops were even open and I could only park on the roof in the sun! Oh well. I guess that is what aircon is for!

There was a special in Target, buy 3 items of kitchenware and get a fourth (cheapest) for free. I bought a pretty little latte mug, a big black mug for BF, a gorgeous green water tumbler with a white dotted butterfly pattern on it, and a big wooden spoon, all for $10.86!

I also bought two Bonds CoolTanks for $19.95 each.

I used my work bonus gift card up, so all I spent today was 75c!

Woohoo, that sure is a good feeling.

BF and I went to our local Italian place for dinner last night. We have been there once before. The owner is actually from Italy and has been constructing this building for about 15 years, it has beautiful architecture and is very intricate. For one building he has managed to put two units, a shop and a restuarant in it (it's not a very large building). Anyway.
The service is impeccable and the meals are reasonably priced but absolutely delicious. BF had meatballs with fettucine and I had an eggplant, ricotta, tomato, fresh basil and pinenut sauce with fresh gnocchi.

BF paid for our meals and didn't want any money, so that was very nice of him.

I want to make that pasta sauce again at home, it was soooooooo good!

Well it seems as soon as I have made my goals for next year I have actually started doing them now!

- We had our 'date night' for December
- We are having a weekend away which is already booked for January (well technically it's not just for us - we have another friend staying in the hotel room as well on the couch... but it's close enough for me!)
- I have been drinking 2 L water consistently every day since I made those plans!
- I have added $150 this week to my House Deposit Fund.


Well, that's a couple anyway hehe.
-

Remember how I had that 'experience' with the whole pumpkin? (see a couple of entries ago)
Well it completely ruined my menu plan for the week, so I had to come up with something different. Instead of having pumpkin soup we are now having a mixed vegetable soup. And instead of a pumpkin tart I had planned to make out of a recipe book, I had to make something a bit different. It worked out so well I wanted to share the rceipe with you all:

Ingredients:
2 squares shortcrust pastry
1 square full cream feta from deli (about 125 grams)
Two sweet potato
Two Roma tomatoes
1/2 Red Capsicum
One Onion
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar

Firstly, roast the sweet potato, capsicum and roma tomatoes for about 45 minutes to an hour until baked.
In a non-stick pan fry the onions until soft, then add the balsamic vinegar and fry for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and fry until the liquid reduces.
Grease a tray and line with the pastry. Crumble the feta in a mixing bowl, add the chopped roasted vegetables (skin the capsicum) and the onion. Stir gently to combine and then add to the tray with the pastry. Bake on 200C for 25 minutes or until pastry is cooked underneath. I served it with steamed vegetables.