After a month of waiting for the paperwork to be put through (and even longer since I actually signed the papers!), our split loan has been finalised. I checked our balances this morning, and instead of owing $298xxx.xx we now owe:

Fixed (7.94% for 5 years) $175 000.00
Variable (currently 5.11%) $123 630.24

For a month I have wondered if we did the right thing, or if we should have waited a tad longer. (Atleast, I now know we should have fixed straight away at 6.94% - but eh, what can you do?).

I got an email last week, the Reserve bank had raised their interest rates by 0.25%. The next day the Big 4 raised theirs. So, that was my answer. We did absolutely the right thing. (Hasn't hit our variable portion YET - will soon...)

I have also read that there will probably be another raise in December. Whew!

Our weekly mortgage payment came out today, and that leaves the balance owing at $299 781.76, with $2168.26 in available funds.

It wasn't actually a goal or anything, but it feels good nonetheless!

I am doing well with the freezer cleanout. Yesterday we had bologanise (from the freezer) and I made a vege pasta sauce for myself. I made a double mix for myself so unfortunately I didn't actually generate space in my freezer seeing as I put the leftovers in there . But I also took out a chickpea & pumpkin curry for myself and a beef & redwine casserole for DF. I will have rice with mine and DF's I will make into a pot pie. We've also eaten the half loaf of sourdough and some tofu. BUT I made more dog food because of our poochy-guests, so it's pretty much chock-a-block for a while. *sigh*

In other news, we have a little more than an extra one months' minimum mortgage payment in our mortgage account, and are nearly under the 300k mark!

I am going to attempt to make a pizza base at home sometime this week. I know it's pretty normal to do and everyone should know how, but I usually make them at work - or get someone else to make them there for me And it will be a little difficult, seeing as normally they are made with a 25 kg bag of flour - hmm, not sure I want that much pizza. So making it to proportion will be the tricky part. Any good pizza base recipes?

Only 5 weeks and three days til we pick up the engagement ring. I don't understand why it had to take so long, it's very plain. But *sigh* what can you do?

DF's sister still has not had the baby! She was due on Saturday. Any moment now I expect to get a call.
My brothers partner is due in about 5 weeks now too. One of our friends is due TODAY as well, and another of my friends is due in 3 weeks. Another friend is due in 3 months. Ek. So many babies!

I just stopped into our ex-real estate to pick up our bond refund forms. They spelt my name, DF's name, and DF's sisters name wrong on the form, so it took about 20 minutes for them to find out what to do to change it. Every single piece of correspondence I have recieved from them has had my name spelt wrong - and in about five different ways and combinations! A couple of times they even put DF's last name as my name as well. They are absolutely hopeless and I would never use them for anything in the future.

Anyway. As I was saying, we got all of our bond back. So DF gets $506, I get $508 and DF's sister gets $506. DF's sister owes us $44 for the flea spray as well. I also collected a cheque from them for an overpayment of rent, $300. I will put it onto our account tomorrow.

That will bring our account balance to around $11k. It makes me a bit nervous having our emergency fund in our main account - simply for the fact that every time I log on I am going to see that balance and go "oh, everything is peachy". But I will have to get used to it, as it is saving us thousands of dollars in interest every year!

Today I spent $3 on a vegetable peeler. It was on special. Actually, I bought one a few days ago, then went to the shop again for something else and they had a different type of peeler there - one that is more ergonomic. But I thought to myself "no, I have already bought one" but then I got home and used the one that I had bought and it's pretty terrible - same brand, but just a different type that is harder to use. So I decided to spend another $3 and buy the one I bought today.

I booked a haircut appointment for Friday afternoon. It will probably cost me around $65. I have decided I am going to chop off around 4 inches, being long it is just too annoying and hot - I know it is coming into winter, but it does not go below -5 degrees celcius normally, and only in the mornings. I have had people say 'don't cut your hair, it is getting close to winter...' It is generally between 15-25 celcius during the days, I don't think it will make a difference if my hair is shorter or longer.

On Thursday a friend and I are going to the spas again. It will be $30 each. I am looking forward to it.

I have a little bit to do this afternoon. I usually waffle around and achieve nothing, so here I am again with my to-do-list:

- wash dishes (done)
- tidy kitchen (done)
- hang out washing (done)
- fold dry washing (done)
- unpack CD's (not done - but did linen closet instead)
- tidy dining & coffee tables ( 1/2 done)
- cook dinner (doing now!)

I am not sure yet what to have for dinner. I am thinking roast vegetables and salad. Nice and easy, and like I mentioned in my last post, will use up our fresh items that wilt easily.

Today I spent $12.05 on a present for my little sister for when she leaves (now leaving on Saturday). I bought her a little journal to write in, a notepad of yellow pretty paper, some envelopes, pens and stamps.
I also spent $2 on the staff lotto and 50c on a can of Coke at work, and $3 on a drink when a friend came over to look at our house and then we walked to the shops.

DF and I have decided that we might just spend our stimulus money. It's what it's for right? I am undecided still - but there are a few things that I would like to buy, but have been putting them off. If we can just agree to spend it, guilt free, and then move on into frugal-country, it might be sort of like a type of bachelor party for us, in terms of no longer spending freely. (One last night on the town before being locked up, right? In financial terms...)

Some things I have in mind:
- a punching bag (DF and I would go halves) (approx $100 each)
- new work shoes ($30 )
- new running shoes, properly fitted. ($100)
- cloooothes... (???)
- a slow cooker $40
- some dvd's (approx $60)
- a romantic dinner out at a place i have been meaning to go to for about a year. ($80)
- some planter boxes & gardening stuff to start a small assortment of lettuce/tomato plants. (???)


anyway. we'll see how it goes. we'll be getting $900 each.

we currently have around $9000 in the bank. Once April hits I am going to begin tracking 'our' spending. Oh, it's going to take some getting used to, I can tell that right now!

Well our phone and internet re-connection was quicker than expected - we discovered the phone was connected on Sunday night, and the internet we set up yesterday which also worked (contrary to the 3 business days for phone and a week for the internet which is what they told me! not that i am complaining, of course...).

The weekend was very hectic, we moved everything out on Saturday, and then on Sunday we cleaned. Yesterday I filled out the exit report and today I put in some new light globes and got a flea treatment for the outside. I handed in the keys at midday today. Fingers crossed we get all the bond back.

At our new house, we have the bare essentials unpacked still and are slowly working on the rest, but we are not rushing ourselves. I think we both want everything unpacked properly, everything in it's place.

This time I actually get my own desk! (I used to use the coffee table seeing as I have a laptop). But because it is just DF and I (and not DF's sister like last time - who needed a desk for her computer, which she never used, and a set up in the spare room for her sewing machine - which she didn't use either), we have set up the study so I get half of it. Yay! So far it is just filled with work related papers.

We have terrible tv reception, so I think a set-top box is on the list of things to purchase. We have been lazy about this, as reception was good at our last place and we figured we would put off the purcahse until they completely disconnected analogue tv. Oh well.

DF has been busy with work so we have not yet connected the gas stove. I am at a loss for what to cook for dinner tonight.
Last night I grilled tofu and a lamb leg steak with a greek salad and a dinner roll. The night before was toasted sandwhiches. I guess I could buy some fish and maybe some vegetables to grill to have with rice...

Any Ideas???

I have a rice cooker and a grill/sandwhich press - oh and I only have brown rice. Something light and healthy is mostly preffered.

Tomorrow I have to go to the bank and talk over some insurance stuff. Fascinating.

I have a few things to organise this week, seeing as the move is over.
I have to get a haircut, a blood test, make a doctors appointment, make an appointment with the pest guys for the termite problem (on the letterbox post - not the house!), get a dress altered, find a cheap red strappy dress for a dress up party (I am going as Alice from Resident Evil), organise bond refunds... *sigh* I am sure there are a few things I have forgotten...

So anyway, what has been happening with everyone? I am going to read up on some blogs - but in case I miss anything you should let me know in a comment what has been happening with you all!

talk more later
x

Well, our internet gets disconnected tomorrow and hopefully re-connected late next week. I will still have internet atwork on Wednesday though.

I thought it was time to upload a couple of photos of our finished floor. DF did the finishing touches at 7pm on Tuesday night. I have put them in order of before and after:

office (before)

office (after)


spare room #1 (before)

spare room #1 (after)


kitchen (before)

kitchen (after)


main bedroom (before)

main bedroom (after)



I think it looks great. And the best bit? It cost us around $35, paying for DF's dad and my little brother and sisters lunch lol. The coating mixture we used cost $400 but DF's dad paid for it. I sure love being able to do stuff ourselves.

Anyway, I just wanted to share some pictures with you. Hope you like them!!!

Yesterday I paid for and filed our mail redirection form. $36 for six months. Hopefully I can get my act together and only have it for the six months!

I also paid rent ($420) yesterday. Today our weekly mortgage payment comes out ($430.15).

DF finished the last coat on the floor, so pictures will be up soon! I could only make it to one of the bedrooms last night to have a look, before having to sprint back outside. The coating stuff they use makes your eyes water and your nose burn, and your throat gets all itchy. Euch! DF and the apprentices wear gas masks when they coat floors.

So today I am working until 1.30pm, then I am going to move a load of stuff and hopefully the place will have aired out a bit so I can wipe the dust off everything.

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday, I mailed him a screenprinted shirt I made. Hopefully it gets there in time, and hopefully he likes it!

This weekend is going to be the last weekend at our rental house! Our internet is getting disconnected tomorrow and hopefully will be re-connected next week.

I have been thinking more about the 'friend' I mentioned in my previous entry. I think I have decided that: I will not reply - however if she decides it would be a good idea to actually call me, then I will tell her I am usually free on weekends.

Well, I thought it would be easier to write it out here and mark it off. (also it will motivate me to do the stuff because you can all see what i get done!!!)

-Finish work by 3pm
-Hand in mail redirection notice and pay for 6 months (about $35)
-Pay Internet bill ($79.51)
-Pay Mobile Bill ($49.12)
-Organise flea control for Tuesday next week
-Load my car to the brim of stuff to take to the house
-Take it to the house!
-Fold our dry washing
-Hang out washing in the machine
-Begin calling some companies and changing addresses.
-Call someone about fixing/altering a dress
-Pack more boxes
-Vaccuum spare room and clean windows/tracks/cupboard.

I know there is much more but I just can't think of the extra stuff to do right now. Well, that is a start. My goal is to do all of that today! And have dinner cooked by 6.30pm.


Oh, and an update on our friends baby: she was moved to a humidicrib a little while ago so it seems she is doing well. Fingers crossed she gets better, bigger and stronger from now on!

After working 12 hours at our house yesterday (DF did 13 hours), I woke up this morning and pretty much EVERYTHING hurt. My arms, my legs, my back, my stomach, my neck, even my ankles hurt! All stiff, all sore. (Probably shows how unfit I am). I was having serious issues with my back by the time we finished. While DF finished coating the floor I went and found an old yoga mat amongst the stuff we had already moved, and just lay down for about half an hour. This morning it was alright though - DF was worried but I said that is pretty normal for me, I just seem to overwork my lower back (from stupidly not using my stomach muscles enough) but it usually repairs itself overnight. For now!

We got home at around 10pm and got to bed at about 11pm. I had to get up at 4am for work! I am really looking forward to sleep tonigh, but am trying to hold off until atleast 830pm.

DF did one coat last night, and is doing a second coat right now, so there is only one more coat to do before he polishes the floor and then FINALLY we can start moving everything in properly. I have been taking bits and pieces every time I go, which has been a help, but we still have so much to move. And we now only have a week until our lease runs out! Exciting!

DF's mum, auntie and grandma are all coming over to help clean our rental place while we move all our stuff. So nice of them. DF's mum is driving 3 hours each way just to help.

Well, when I finished work today I went and did some things at the new place. I cleaned the sides of the oven (it was pretty gross, we lifted it out onto the balcony and i don't think it had ever been cleaned behind it) and punched some nails, puttied some holes in the floor. I got a splinter in my finger that was about 1cm long and it took me about half an hour to get it out! It's feeling alright now but I kind of lost steam after that as you can imagine. I did about 45 minutes more work after that, then DF arrived after finishing his work (this was about 5.15pm - so I had been there since about 2pm). I left to go home and get dinner ready while DF did some more sanding. On the way I stopped to buy a present for DF's friend as it's his birthday soon. I didn't get the present as they didnt have what we wanted, but i bought a coffee and a donut woops!

I have been fairly active this week though which is good though.
I am so tired right now so I am going to watch some tv and go to bed!

Today I am going to the new house after work. I have to putty some nail holes in the floor (fun! not). The better it is done now the better the floor will look when it is sanded though.

DF found that our house is used as a thoroughfare to the park behind our house, in turn to the pathway near the park and to the schools behind the trees, behind the park. (if that makes any sense!). Of what we have seen it is only school kids, but we are still going to put a temporary fence up until we settle down and can plan a proper one. Poor kids will have a shock when they come to find they can't get through our yard any more. Oh well. When I was younger I would never dare go through someone elses yard, unless I knew the people in the house!

We just got the settlement notice in the mail yesterday, which included everything that had been paid on settlement day - which was indeed EVERYTHING. For some reason I had in my head that we still had to pay the solicitors. (By the way, our budgetted amount for solicitors? $1200. Our actual spend? $592!)

So that means everything that is left in our savings account is indeed ours. The balance is $8401.56.

That will be a nice start on our emergency fund, as well as all the other things we have planned. I have realised March is going to be a very big washout in terms of keeping track. While I am still keeping track of my own expenses, it is going to take some getting used to recording DF's as well.

Still not really sure how I am going to do it. I mean sure, it's easy in theory if you have a plan, but sometimes in reality it doesn't work out like that. I have been doing it for years, so my brain works at storing those numbers away so I can remember them. If I go away for a weekend I can remember three or four days of expenses without writing them down. DF has trouble remembering how much he spent at the shop ten minutes ago.

How do you guys do it???

I am so excited! In two weeks time we will no longer have to pay rent! We are only letting another $1k or less down the drain, and from then on, and hopefully the rest of our lives, the money will be going into our own mortgage, not someone else's. (and yes, I realise that we are paying lots of money to the bank too...)

Today I spent $1 at work on a drink for me and a co-worker, and $2.40 on some fundraising chocolates a little girl was selling. Also I spent $5 to share with a friend on a bunch of flowers for another co worker, her name is T.
It is very sad, T's sister had a heart attack and passed away last week. We were her first visitors (which I didn't know) that she would see, she hasn't seen any of her other friends or another lady she is friends with at work.
T is older than us, she is in her 50's. I guess she is sort of a bit like a mother or grandmother figure. She is such a lovely lady. I think she was happy to have us over and be able to talk. We chatted about her sister, her family, work, etc. I think we might have cheered her up a little, I hope so.

Tonight we are having some mexican tomato beans with brown rice, and DF will have a steak. The beans are from the freezer. I think we are slowly making our way through all the bits and pieces in there.

Oh and I think we have decided to call the previous owner about the termite post because he is a builder also, and he will probably know a good honest pest person. I have no interest in any of those barrier- things and perimeter sprays, or the termite mesh or whatever. I think some people just don't know about it, so they get sucked into spending a lot of money on these things. Of course, I mean if you have had really bad termites it might be worth it and all, but I think a lot of people are just afraid of them because they don't understand, and they have been made to 'fear' termites. Eh. Anyway


Ok well I must be off to cook dinner now!

Spent a bit of money on food last week. We had takeaway for dinner on Saturday night as DF's sister and fiancee (his mate, the one that helped him move his cars yesterday). We had indian, it was delicious. Keeping with my 'eating smaller portions goal' i only ate half of my meal and put half in the fridge. DF also saved about 1/3 of his meal! So last night we had leftover Indian with steamed veges and I baked some fries that were in the freezer for DF. I had about three fries . I think they were DF's sisters from when she lived here, she left a lot of stuff in the freezer but said she didn't want it. I have been slowly working our way through the food in the freezer.
And yesterday I bought lunch for everyone that helped us with the floors at the house. It was $30 including DF and mine. I put $10 as a takeaway food expense and the $20 as 'house and moving costs'. Technically I was paying for labour....?

It looks like we may not have to buy a new fridge! My parents bought basically a whole new kitchen for their renovations, but had them delivered before the renovations (they were worried the company would go bust and they wouldn't get their stuff because of the economical stuff happening...) Anyway so they said we could have their old fridge, which isn't that old. They bought it new about 8 years ago. Well, ok so it is old, but it's much newer than the one we have.

We have just over $8k left in the bank, but I don't think we have paid the solicitors yet... Anyway I am going to wait for a few weeks before planning what to do with some of the money, to make sure everything has been paid for with the house.

Now that we don't have to buy a fridge, that gives us a bit more. We will have to buy paint, termite baits (and a professional pest control inspection)... hmmm. The list will no doubt grow! But we are being careful, and making sure everything we plan to spend money on is necessary at this time.

Today we did more stuff on the house. DF's mate helped us move DF's two cars (he has a car trailer) and also helped putty some of the floor. DF paid for his petrol, which is what his friend did for him when DF helped him put up the framework of his shed (as well as dinners and stuff).

We managed to move two outdoor tables, most of DF's plants and a whole heap of boxes from the garage. I helped putty some of the floor too, and DF cross sanded it. DF also showed his dad how to use the sander (his dad bought the sander for his business, but DF was the only one that had been shown how to use it). So DF and I had help from his dad and my younger bro and sis helped as well. I bought them lunch.

It is good this time around as we are moving the tough stuff first - last time we had to wait until last to do all that stuff. It now is a load off our minds that has been done and we can focu on little stuff.

But in true form, once there is a load off your mind, another worry comes up to bite you in the ass.
We found some termites on the letter box! But no one panic! - we are not particularly worried. There is absolutely NOTHING around anywhere of the house (the letterbox is many metres from the house). I've been over the house and there's no tracks anywhere. We are releived it only seems to be there, and we are about 99.9% certain it wasn't there when we first inspected the house. So this week I am going to get some termite baits and maybe look into getting a professional to spray or dust around the perimiter.

whew! big weekend!

I checked our accounts yesterday and our first mortgage payment had gone through: $430.15. I have updated my side bar

Now we know for sure we only have until the 24th in our rental house, that makes it easier on calculating our costs.

I called and organised our phone and broadband relocation. It is $59 for our phone relocation and $99 for our broadband relocation, which is what I thought it would be anyway.

I am wondering if my car insurance will go up too, I hadn't thought of that.

Yesterday we did a late night run to the supermarket because DF wanted something sweet. In the past, 'something sweet' means one or many of the following: chocolate bars, chocolate blocks, tubs of icecream, boxes of individual icecreams etc.

What did we end uo buying?

A tub of wildberry frozen yoghurt.

And my input? Was to get the tub, not multitudes of small containers. I was very proud of DF. He has a very unhealthy streak, and while I know frozen yoghurt ISNT that healthy, it's much better than his previous choices.

We also bought three 2L bottles of juice as they were on special for $2, normally around $2.89.

Also I made DF buy me two recipe magazines (one was $2.95, one was $2.90) in return for the meat I bought him yesterday ($11.35). One of the magazines came with free star-shaped cookie cutters!

At the moment I am not really keeping track of 'who owes who' because in the next three weeks our monies will be merged.

We've also come to the decision that our allowance will be a set amount each week. DF's will be $80 and mine will be $60. (which is 10% of our normal net weekly income)
There are times when DF only earns around $600 a week, and there are times when I might earn only $400 a week. Also there are times when we both work overtime as well. So in the end it will most likely work out.

Today I am only working 6 hours, 11.45am til 5.45pm, and doing customer service not cake decorating. (I get excited when I get to do customer service as it is like a 'break' for me, the work is non-thinking and easy, compared to my work in the kitchen, where I constantly have measurements and baking times running through my head).

DF and I have been researching what my mums dogss' puppies may look like. My mums dog is a Maltese, and her 'mate' was a Shnauzer. Though we are not entirely sure if she is pregnant yet. I really hope so, and she does seem a little heavier. But I don't want to get my hopes up too much. Oh but I doooo hope soooo....
LOL.
Anyway, so this is a picture that I found on the internet of a Mauzer: (it was too cute not to share)

Just checked my facebook account. I had updated my status to something about the house, can't remember, anyway and I got a comment on the status from a girl I went to school with, (whom, but the way, I have not seen in person since 2002). Her comment?

Congratulations, you deserve it! Allah shines down on you.

Ok, apart from the religious ... stuff... (I am use to it - she's a recently converted muslim and seems to want to ram it down everyones throats with a healthy serve of smiles and sunshine) the one thing that REALLY REALLY REALLY irks me is, how can she possibly know I deserve it? This mindset totally baffles me. You don't deserve something unless you WORK for it, in my books. She wouldn't know if I'd earned it, because I haven't seen her in 7 + years.

It's just not her I am mad at. Don't get me wrong, I know she is just being nice.

But honestly... there are so many people out there that say that to me. And I can't possibly think of anything to say to them back, I can't think of the proper reaction I am meant to have. How can you seriously tell a person they deserve to buy a house? It has absolutely NOTHING to do with deserving-ness.

We will see in 20+ years. When we have succesfully paid off our house, then I will be able to tell myself I deserve it.

This morning I logged onto our *new* accounts and the loan balance has hit. (It wasn't there yesterday or the day before). So I guess I have a very limited time to actually be excited about being in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.
Tell me honestly, what sane person is excited to have a balance on her account saying - $304 000.00????
I am an odd person, I will admit.

I forgot to mention, when DF picked up the keys the real estate gave us a bag (an environmentally friendly bag!) with some Brie cheese, crackers, chocolates, champagne, key rings, magnets, a one month newspaper subscription and a card that every staff member had signed. Isn't that nice?

Also when DF finally got to the house after picking up the keys, the previous owner was there, mowing the lawn for us and patching up some of the boundary. I am just astounded at how nice everyone has been. Of course, I'm not naive. I realise we have just given him $320k. But he technically didn't have to do anything. I guess it does sort of have something to do with the area as well. It's a town, as I've said. The main area we live in is full of suburbs, there are only a couple of proper towns around here, and you can really feel the difference. Suburbs, people are just wrapped up in themselves. They have their little 500m2 blocks and that's their world. The towns have a little more of a community spirit.

Anyway I will stop blabbing now.

Well, yesterday while I was at work DF got the keys and he and his dad went in and started ripping up the floor. When I got there I took a quick couple of 'before' pics because DF had forgotten.

This one is of the spare room. Both spare rooms were added at a later date to the house, so a different timber was used for the floors. It's a recycled hardwood floor, so it's a bit crappier and not as well layed, but once we sand and seal it, it should look fine.


This one is of our lounge room. The lounge, kitchen, dining, office and main bedroom all have a mixed hardwood floor which is better than the recycled one and is going to look really great once it's finished. One of the worries is that the vinyl was glued to the floor, so that might affect it a little bit in the kitchen. (sometimes you can't get the glue off). Oh well! We'll see how it goes!


Sorry there's only two pics but there will be more once we finish!

Today is the day we finally get the keys to our house. Settlement is at 11.30am, so by midday or 1pm DF should have collected the keys. He is doing a pre-inspection at 10am - thank god everything worked out with his work and he was able to take today and tomorrow off. He is going to start ripping up the carpet and vinyl and the masonite that's underneath. We have a bit of a job ahead of us as most of the floor is lined with masonite and we have to de-nail it (if you don't get the nails all out it will wreck the sander). I am going to go straight from work to help.

The owners of our rental house came over yesterday to measure up some things. They are pretty nice people. They've told us not to worry about cleaning the carpets, as they will rip them up anyway (!!!). So that's a saving of about $130. If they hadn't of said that we would still have to clean them as most real estates, and this one in particular, are bastards when it comes to anything like that.

Also they said whenever we would like to move out is fine with them. So I think we tentatively said March 23rd or 24th. Which gives us 3 weeks from today, and is three and a half weeks earlier than our lease expiry. (So that's a saving of around $1470).

I have changed my bank details over at work, so my pay this week should go into our new offset account!!!

We have pretty much packed everything up now. We still have a bit of crap lying around. I think the next few weeks will be difficult. It is in our best interests to sleep at our rental house, but we will probably move everything as soon as we can to the new place. Card Games it is for the next few weeks!

I have decided to do a detox plan once we move into our new place. I read it out to DF and he said 'so basically, it's not a detox plan, it's how you SHOULD eat anyway'. But then I asked if he would do it with me and he said 'maybe'. *sigh*
This is it:
http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/detox/plan.htm

It does not seem too restrictive so it probably won't do any harm to my health, which seems to be the main worry with some detox plans.

Hmmm. Anyway I think that is all of the news for today. Thanks for reading!

Random updates:
- my sister 'ran away' from home (meaning, she walked to our place and stayed over) last night. all is fine now apparently. i think it has more to do with her being a teenager than my parents this time lol.
- Went to the bank and we are now set up with internet banking and Life Insurance (accident, trauma, illness AND death cover!) Currently at $61.35 a month, but we are going to make an appointment later on to see if we can get it reduced a bit. It's standard cover, and because neither of us work in a high risk job we might be able to get it tailored to our occupations and save a bit extra.
- Went and got the ultra sound on my leg but I won't know the results til I go to the doctors. Hopefully I will make an appointment this week or next.
- I have been going well on some of my Feb goals and not so well on others. Atleast SOME are going well..
- I have realised I MUST stop using the internet on my phone because it is costing me a lot of money! I got a $12 charge for last month. *sigh* sometimes you just HAVE to look something up on google though, you know?
- A friend of a friend is bugging me to join a bike class at her gym. Not only do I HATE gyms, I have my own exercise bike. When I made an excuse about money, she said 'classes are only $4'. I was like umm... yeah... well... (I am not eager to show the extent of my cheapness...)
- DF made dinner on Sunday night! He made himself a roast lamb and roast veges, steamed side veges and heated up a tofu/bean/tomato mix for me. He also did half of the dishes. ALSO he did the dishes for me last night too because I burnt my hand at work. Not badly, but badly enough for me to whinge about it!
- Speaking of dishes, we have come up with a plan: DF will do the dishes once a week, and cook once a week. Then it means I will only nag him once a week. I don't mind cooking dinner, and I have no idea how to use a lawn mower/whippersnipper/edger so I'd say that's fairly even. We share the laundry evenly and I don't mind the rest of the housework.
- Grocery expenses have been high this month which is a bit of a bummer, though I'm not really sure why. I will have to work on reducing the costs of our meals.

Well, that's all my updates for now. To end on this post, I will leave you with a picture of a tattoo that I got over a year ago:

Well this weekend I have no excuses, I HAVE to pack some stuff and do some proper housework.

We just got a letter saying our lease expires on 16th April, so can we kindly please get out.
We also have an entry notice for the owners to look at the place next sunday (day before we get the keys to our new place) I rang the real estate and they have talked to the owners about us moving out earlier (seeing as we bought the house and get the keys in... 10 days!!!) and that is all fine.
Now we are just trying to decide how much time we need to move. I initially said a month (remember, we have to sand the floors and paint first... otherwise it will NEVER get done). DF said around the same. I went to work yesterday and mentioned it and my boss was like "WHAT!? A MONTH? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? You could do it in a few days!!!" and I was like "yes but we have to do the floors, and clean the old place, and do stuff..."
Anyway, I realised we were making excuses, so we are going to try and do it in 2 1/2 - 3 weeks (hopefully 2 weeks will be enough but I think with both of us working we will need a bit extra) I REALLY want all the bond back so we have to do a proper job cleaning and gardening.

So my plans for this weekend:

[]clean the guest bathroom (still haven't done it...)
[]pack all of my unused jewellery, paperwork etc hanging around my room.
[] pack most of our kitchen stuff except for the basics (should make for some interesting meals)
[] 'aquire' some milk crates from my work to stack DF's plants in (did this last time)
[] pack all the bank paperwork into a box but leave unopened
[] change the sheets on our bed
[] pack linen closet except for a couple of towels
[] begin the massive huge-ass task of weeding the garden (eugh!)
[] give everything a quick tidy over
[] vaccuum the floors
[] tidy the pantry

Yesterday we went to the solicitors and signed some paperwork, and then went to the bank to sign some more paperwork.

Tonight we will start transferring money into our new banks' E-Saver account. We have about $13 000 to transfer - and we can only transfer $2000 each day. Damn limits!

13 days to go until we get the keys!!!

Some other good news: We got the electricity bill for the past 3 months and it is around $65 less than our last bill!!!

I think this might have something to do with DF's sister no longer living with us. DF and I are gone from the hours of 6am-2pm (DF's usually gone from 6am-5pm). So we only use power from around 4.30am-6am, then 2pm-9pm (and even then - i am usually out with friends from 2pm-5pm). When DF's sister was here she would have lights on, the tv on, washing machine going, computer on etc.

So that's good news. Our internet bill is the same, around $78 a month. We only have around 11 months left on this contract. They have been good, but I want to see if I can find something cheaper next time. I mainly got it because it allows for 5gb each month which we thought we needed. I don't think we use anything near that now DF's sister is gone (she used to download games).

Anyway, I have 11 months to look into that!

Yesterday unfortunately we had takeaway. In our defence, we've had takeaway around two or three times this year (dining out... well that's different...) and also I didn't expect the bank meeting to take so long (an hour and a half!!! we left there at 6.30pm!) I had hungry jack's, because that's the only fast food place that does veggie burgers, and DF ordered a pizza. It's laughable, but I resisted the urge to upsize for 55c to a large meal and got a small instead, and I convinced DF to get one pizza instead of two (he likes to take it for lunch the next day... and the next day...). So that was the extent of our frugality. My meal cost $9.30, but that included a large fries for DF as well. :S

Yesterdays expenses:
Drinks at work: $1
Staff Lotto: $2
Takeaway Coffee: $3.80
Dinner: $9.30
Internet & Phone Bill: $78.26 (shared by 2)

* before i write anything about our house purchase i wanted to say congratulations again to gamecock43 & BB on their finance approval. i do wish things had gone as smoothly for them as it did for us, but it is all (finally) done now and i can't wait to read move-in posts!

-------------------

I got a call at work today at 10am, my loan manager called to let me know our loan had been officially approved. I dropped off the $5k deposit at the real estate today, and I was able to meet the contract manager (I have been tlaking to her on the phone for about three weeks but hadn't met her yet). She was a very lovely lady. The real estate agent that we have been dealing with also appeared from his office to shake my hand and say congratulations.
I know everyone is supposed to be wary of real estate agents, and generally people treat them as though they are the devil, but honestly this bunch have made everything go so smoothly. The solicitors had no problems with any of the paperwork either, which is a good sign.

We pick up the keys on March 2nd. Unfortunately for YOU GUYS, I can't say I won't be counting down the days in every single entry I make until then. So I apologise in advance.

House Buying Costs So Far:
$500 (legal fees deposit)
$1000 (good intention deposit)
$5000 (finance deposit)
$5.40 (cheque fee)
Total So Far: $6505.40

Oh don't worry, there's plenty more to come where that came from!

----------------------------

I have a related but un-related question:

I think it's important to show sometimes that you appreciate the help that people give you, especially if you know that they have gone above and beyond what they normally do. Because of this, I am thinking of buying a box of chocolates for:
- my boss and his wife (because my boss's wife initially got us started on saving for the mortgage insurance and showed us where we had to be financially before even THINKING about looking for a house - and my boss, well, he married her :P )
- our loan manager (she has returned EVERY SINGLE ONE of my calls (there's been... a few...) and has always been friendly and helpful. she's organised our loan structure so we can save the most we can on interest, and she organised the first yearly fee to be waived when she didn't have to do anything)
- the staff at a particular branch of the bank that i am with now, but will be leaving - i will probably take the chocolates in when i close the account (this paricular branch has three ladies that have remembered me since i got my personal loan, one of them made sure she called me after i enquired about a home loan, and they went out of their way to help DF and I when our accounts were frozen - they fixed it all within a day after them being frozen for two weeks)
- the real estate who sold us our house (for reasons i have listed above!)

anyway, my question is, am I being a little bit weird? do people still do this?
i just think its nice... to be nice... sometimes.

(my friend baked her mechanic a cake when he did a service on her car for free because he felt sorry for her, she had gone through three cars in two months. he was like 'ummm... thanks???')


--------------------------------

Expense for today:
$1 on two cans of coke (one i gave to a work colleague)

that's it! i did well! i talked myself out of buying a celebratory cup of coffee on the way home from the real estate. i made one when i got home instead

DF I think wants to go out for dinner because his mum is visiting his grandparents, and they always go to the local service club.

you can get cheap meals there, but most of them are around $15-$25, plus then there's drinks ... I am going to attempt to talk DF out of going. I don't really feel like it, plus my brother and his family are arriving tomorrow and we have to get the house ready still, and I have chicken thawed for his green curry...

To end on a good note: it's Friday, and out of my $60.30 mock allowance this week I have spent:
Hot chocolate: $3.50
Coffee: $3.80
Coke: $1.50 (3 cans over the week)
Staff Lotto: $2.00

Total: $10.80
Left Over: $49.50
Only Saturday and Sunday to go! :S I have mixed feelings - it could go well, or badly... we will see!

well i got the results for my blood test. my white count is NEARLY at normal level, so she said not to concern myself with it for now. however my calcium level is still low, and she suggested i take calcium tablets and get another blood test in about a month and a half. she's also checking my vitamin D levels and my parathyroid something or other. ??? she said it could be the cause of the low calcium.

sorry but i must run to work now! more updates later!

OH! and it's DDay on the mortgage finance! I am handing in the $5000 cheque today, and hopefully will find out about finance approval too. EEk!

Well, yesterday was a NSD for me. It was also a NSD for DF. YAY!
Also, it is Thursday now and since Monday I have only spent $3.50 of my personal allowance. Today though, I have to pay my 'tab' at work for drinks (it is only $6.40). When I don't have cash in my wallet I just write on a piece of paper 'I owe X'.
So that means i have $50.10 left.

Yesterday I did some more organising around the house, trying to get it as baby-proof as possible for my brother and his family. It's not easy!

DF's sister has not picked up the rest of her stuff yet, so one of our spare rooms has a huge pile in it.

I had to move all of her stuff from her room into the spare room, because her room is better for my brother to stay in. So I did that, then vaccuumed it and dragged two mattresses in. So it's all ready to go for them now.

The bank has not called me yet and I am meant to be taking in the deposit cheque tomorrow! I don't know what is happening. DF transferred $5000 from his Bankwest Account into his main account. I called the solicitor and she said that if the bank just needs an extra day or two but you are 99% sure you are getting the loan, take the cheque in anyway so it shows you are serious.

I have a doctors appointment at 2.30pm today, after work. I am getting a skin check too, which is something I have been putting off for ages.

I am overly ecstatic about an event that occurred yesterday:

DF went to a friends' childs birthday party yesterday (I declined the invitation - i wanted to start packing). I asked him to pick up some milk and sugar on the way home, as we were running low.

When he arrived home, he came in with his purchases:

MILK and SUGAR!

Ok, you are thinking. What's the big deal? It's what you asked for!

Let me explain a truthful example of ALL previous shopping expeditions where DF has been allowed to roam free:

shopping list:
an onion, tinned tomato, dishwashing liquid

actual purchases:
1kg of onions, tinned tomato, dishwashing liquid, potting mix (what the?), 2 blocks of cadbury chocolate, 2 litres of icecream, pack of cheezels, pack of potato crisps, some fancy deli cheese, two boxes of cereal, milk, icecream topping, hazelnut spread...

Anyway, you get the idea.

So NOW you must understand how unbelievably excited I am! I actually JUMPED up and down like a bunny rabbit on cocaine and hugged and kissed him.

But really, it IS exciting. ALL the other things he's been doing lately, like talking to his friends about his allowance (yes really!), about budgets, trying to remember his personal spending each day, trying to remember the costs of different items he buys, and the total of dockets too, keeping his reciepts, saying no to movies, not even LOOKING at the V Festival lineup (oh my god!)...
anyway, all the things he's been doing lately just make me feel very reassured that we're in this together and he's 100% on board with all our savings goals and plans.


OH! and he has been researching ruby rings too. The cost, designs, metals, jewellers etc.