First of all, guys might want to skip this entry

Three years ago I found a lump in my breast. It took me six months to actually go and get it checked (I know, I know). So I got an ultrasound done, went back to my then-doctor and he said I had a benign cyst and it wasn't anything to worry about.

Anyway, fast forward to this year, and I notice that I get a bit of pain every now and then. So I go and see the doctor (a different one from the first time, I have been seeing the current doctor for about two years and like her). She refers me to get another ultrasound.

I go in today to get it done, and the radiologist tells me that particular lump is fine - it is just tissue. HOWEVER, she tells me on the report that I had three years ago it mentions I have a fibroadenoma as well - which is news to me, as the doctor never mentioned it at the time.

She says to me "Usually your doctor is supposed to get a sample of the tissue by inserting a needle. If the sample is fine, they will just leave it alone. However, your doctor doesn't seem to have done that. But, this was found three years ago, and if it was a baddie, you'd be dead by now, so obviously it's not, and you probably won't need to get it done."


WHAT!?!

Feeling a little weird right now, but atleast it was good news, so far, atleast.

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

I spent $8.30 on a coffee and a date & apple muffin. The ultrasound was free, and I am going grocery shopping this afternoon when I finish work. I only plan to get a couple of items, so fingers crossed it's only about $50 or so. For some reason I always underestimate how much groceries are going to cost. I expect $30 when the total actually comes to ~$70. I guess my mind needs to catch up with inflation!


Obviously I completed some of my to-do list from my previous entry Now that I have had my ultrasound, I need to book an appointment with the doctors. I also booked Banjo in for his vaccinations on Saturday. I chose a Saturday so that DF can stay with Jed. It will be the first time they are apart since we got Banjo - interesting to see how they are when they are separated! I asked the vet about de-sexing, and they only need 1-2 days notice. So I am thinking of booking them in either separately or at the same time, next week or the week after.

Who has had their dog de-sexed in the past couple of years? Is there anything I should know? Do they have to rest afterwards? What about playing together? How long until they fully recover?

It feels like I haven't posted in ages. Probably only a week or so, but feels longer.

I had a three day week last week, which was nice, relax-wise, not so nice money-wise. I went and visited DF's sister in her town (an hours drive from our place) to go op-shopping with her, and DF finished work early and was able to go at the last minute as well.

I only bought three cups (one coffee cup, two teacups) and spent $2.20. The main expense was lunch, but it was nice to have a meal with DF's sister and our niece. Spent around $40 on two meals and drinks.

Saturday it seemed we caught the op shop bug, went into our town and spent a couple of hours poking around various stores.

DF found a good quality bottle-capper for his home brewing, for $15. (They are $49 brand new). He already has two others though! I am going to sell one of them on eBay, hope to make atleast the money back he spent on it. We also bought a book, a painting, a jigsaw puzzle and DF bought himself a pair of pants.

I think jigsaw puzzles are going to be my new 'thing' hehe. DF, myself and my little sister sat around for about 6 hours on Sunday trying to piece together a 1000 pce! We're slowly working at it. It's good fun though. I just hope all the pieces are there. That's the problem with op-shop jigsaw puzzles! But I guess it adds an extra element to it. Well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway...

My meal plan is working well this month. Next week is our big shopping week, so I will be working on July's meal planner soon.

Last night I made potato gnocchi for the first time, from scratch! And it actually turned out really well! I was so pleased. And the sauce I made to go with it was delicious too, just a really simple garlic, fresh tomato & fresh basil pasta sauce. YUM.

I did some baking last week too, now that I have an oven! (Though everything I made has since been eaten...) I made various batches of biscotti (gave some away to friends as well) and an orange & almond (gluten free) cake. It was soooo good.

Anyway, this week is going to be a healthy eating week heh heh.

I have lots of things to do, plan, book etc over the next week or so. But I am feeling so unmotivated!

I have to:

- book a time to get an ultrasound (NO! NOT pregnant)
- order a new bottle of gas to be delivered
- make a time for Banjo to get his second bathc of vaccinations
- organise to pick up 2 x bookshelves from a friends place
- make a new ink booking
- Schedule a time BEFORE the 13th July to get Jed & Banjo desexed.
- Book a follow up appointment for the doctors to see about my ultrasound and my blood test results.
- start getting all of our reciepts ready for our tax returns (earliest I can file is start of July).
- start thinking of ideas for our nieces birthday present - she turns 1 in two weeks and DF wants to make something for her. eeek!
- also have to mend several of my cardigans which are coming apart at some seams around the neck - I am so lazy I just stopped wearing them, then realised the other day I have hardly any cardigans to wear! LOL.

Anyway. It feels like I have a huge amount of things to get through, but a lot of them are really easy to accomplish... But *sigh* it just takes a bit to organise, and when I go to do something, I think of all the things I have to do to achieve it (such as: booking the vet is easy enough, but then I have to WASH the dogs, and drive them to the vet, and then deal with them healing, argh. But if I don't do it, their registration will be over $200, compared to $20 if I DO get them desexed...)

Or ordering gas is simple enough, but then because we have not set up an account (still on the same bottle that was full when we bought the house) I will have to go through all that. Not to mention I have no idea of the size of the bottle... and I am at work now so I can't check it.

Booking a time to get my ultrasound means I will actually have to GO THERE and get it

Booking in more ink means I will have to call, and then at some stage take in the drawings, and then ...

anyway, you get the picture...I just can't be bothered. I think I'm having a major procrastination attack! I would much rather be doing my jigsaw puzzle...

Anyway... now that I have all that out of my system, I am going to make some calls, book some things, make appointments, and generally work through til I see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! Wish me luck (and send me motivational energy!) lol.

The pizzas we made yesterday were delicious! So, just a note for anyone that has leftover pita breads, or some in the freezer: you can make pizzas out of them. (I was going to make the base from scratch, but decided to use the pitas because I wouldn't use them for anything else).

DF got his iPhone a few days ago. Only a month or so to go until I can get mine. AND I will be able to get the one DF has, on a lesser per month plan. (actually the same plan I have now) YAY.

DF is getting paid for some weekend work he has been doing this month which is exciting. It will be around $1000.00. The money will just be absorbed into our EF because of the new stove we bought. It would have gone towards a new TV and a punching bag - but I think we have to accept that those things will have to wait a little longer than we initially thought.

I'm thinking more seriously about moving our superannuation over to our bank. It has much less fees than the fund we're currently with. I think it will cost around $160 in total fees a year each. Not bad.

Plus we will be able to see at a glance exactly how much superannuation we have, instead of guessing (our current fund doesn't seem to send letters that regularly...not really impressed)

And we can get our life insurance taken out of that fund. I might do some more research into what the coverage is though. No point in having insurance if it's not going to cover you when you need it.

My goal for the rest of the month is to set up a savings plan for our house renovations goals. Also I'd like to set up a car fund too, and a few other small funds for various short term things. DF's going to have to sit down with me and listen! LOL.

Yesterday I got a few things done. I sorted out our music collection alphabetically (600+ cd's - quite a mission!). Found out one of my cd's is missing so I am trying to track that down. (Radioheads' In Rainbows) We have one friend who takes a pile every now and then - we trust him to bring them back but maybe he might have misplaced one. Grrr. And don't ask how I managed to know that ONE disc was missing out of six hundred, I am clearly a freak in that regard

I also partly tidied our office. Well, I did my half. DF's is just too messy and cluttered to deal with. I hope that my side being clean will encourage him to sort out his! I just have a pile of paperwork to sort through and file, and then I need to sort out a bunch of reciepts for tax (July 1st).

I baked Anzac biscuits and biscotti yesterday. I've never made biscotti before and it was a success! And sooo easy. I estimate the cost is probably the same as buying a packet, seeing as it has four eggs in it for a single batch (and at $6 a dozen, egss aren't cheap!) But atleast I know they are fresh, what goes in them, I can make different varieties, and play around with the sugar content. Not to mention all my ingredients are organic - the packet ones are not. So I guess if I were to make it vs. buying and ORGANIC packet biscotti... cost-wise we'd probably come out ahead.

Anyway. DF really liked them too, and his dad! Who we had over to help Banjo-proof our fence. There's now two layers of wire, and bricks holding the ends down so he can't dig out, if he ever decides to do that, AND it's higher. Hehe. Try getting out of that one, sucker!

Yesterday I didn't spend any money. Today I have to buy milk and meat for the dogs. I'm having a coffee with a friend, but if we go to the place we intend to - I have a loyalty punch card that has a free coffee on it. So I'm technically not spending any money! Love that!

Tonight we're having pizza - but I'm making it. On pita bread bases. DF has some leftover roast lamb which I was going to put on his.

I'm making a pizza we used to make when I worked at a restaurant, it's delicious! (my then-boss won a state award for it)

The toppings are:
Fresh sliced tomato
crumbled feta
Sundried Tomato
Red onion
Lamb
Tzatziki Yoghurt sauce drizzled over the top after it comes out of the oven. It's divine!

Obviously I won't be putting lamb on mine. I was going to try roasted pumpkin, fresh spinach, feta & walnuts on a pizza too. I might make 3 - the lamb one, one minus the lamb, and then the pumpkin one. DF can take the leftovers for lunch.

Yesterday I didn't get as much done as I was hoping. I did some washing, tidied up and cleaned the kitchen.

This morning I was woken up by our neighbour who said Banjo had escaped twice and gone to visit their staffy. (who is also a boy, lol - i think Banjo's made a friend) The neighbour said she found the way he was getting out. I then watched Banjo escape a third time, from another part of our fence!!! eeek. Anyway. Little rascal. They are confined to our deck until DF gets home. I can't find any wire to fix the fence.

After that fiasco, I went to the markets and bought fresh veges for the week. Spent $16.90 on avocados, english spinach, pumpkin, capscicum, green beans and broccoli.

Then I decided to get some bits and pieces from the shops that I've been meaning to. Little things that aren't strictly necessary, but are nice to have and serve a purpose. Creature comforts, I guess you'd call them.

I bought a dutch tea strainer for $5.99, something I have been meaning to get for a loooong time and never got around to it. Best invesntion EVER.

Also bought a kitchen timer, ~$10 (cheapest digital I could find), an oven mit (20% off $16.95), a gas stove lighter ~$5, 2 x filters for our water jug (30% off $23) and some underwear (which probably shouldn't have bought, but it was such a good deal I decided to lol - $9.95 each, marked down to $5 each, then 30% off the marked down price... so $3.50 each - woohoo!)

I also bought a muffin for breakfast because I was getting a headache which I assumed was because I hadn't eaten. But it has not gone away all day, which is really annoying. So I used it as an excuse to rent a movie (for $1, our local store has cheap Tuesdays AND Sundays) and I watched that while folding the mammoth pile of washing we had on our couch... from last weekend.

So, my Sunday is nearly over and I have done basically nada. Not feeling very motivated with an irritating pulsing feeling in my skull!

I'm cooking DF a roast for dinner, and I will probably have roast veges. Tomorrow I was planning on catching up with friends, but I think I will cancel those plans and do all the things I didn't get done today.

Oh, and here is a photo of my new oven mitt: (and in the background, you can see our NEW stove/oven)

We've been pretty good all week, knowing that Friday we would be shelling out lots of money for various things. But it still doesn't make it any easier!!!

Todays Expenses:
Gas Fitter: $250
DF's booking: $250
DF paid speeding fine: $333

I also spent $26 on fresh fruit and vegetables for the start of the week - I plan to go to the markets on Sunday and get some more too. And I spent $3 on a drink at work, and $7 on a 2kg bag of frozen seasoned wedges (hey! my boss asked if I wanted to buy a bag and I said yes! it's cheaper than I can get them at the supermarket, and that will be our junk food allowance for the week). My boss also gave me a bag of un-cooked croissant pasties which are now in our freeser. So now on a lazy Sunday morning, I can bake fresh croissants!

I made our first dish in the new oven - and tomorrow I am making an asparagus and sweet potato quiche.

The gas fitter actually was here here for about an hour and a half, so it was my mistake thinking he wouldn't be doing much. We now have an automatic gas thingamajigee that switches bottles when one runs out, so we don't have to go outside and switch it over. YAY! how exciting. (for me, anyway)
Our dogs made friends with him and they whined a bit when he left, hehe. They usually only do that with us!



Currently Reading: The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

Well, our excitement over fixing the oven/stove was short-lived, as it died two days ago. Whatever DF did was apparently not enough. We concluded that it is indeed just OLD - it is atleast 10 years old if not 15, and as it is just the cheapest model that could be bought back then, we figured that it has probably had it's run. Cheap appliances are not made to last - anyone can tell you that.

In saying that, we went out and bought the same one, just newer. LOL. For a few reasons:

- we have gone a long time without a stove or oven, and really need one.

- the cavity that our old stove was in is very small, which means if we were to get any other type of stove, we'd have to pull apart the kitchen.

- eventually we'd like to partially remodel the kitchen - but that will take planning, time and money. More money than we are willing to spend right now. (at the moment, the money is better spent on a fence for our dogs, not on a kitchen that is fully workable right now, just not 'to our taste').

- Buying the cheaper oven now means we don't have to think about, or rush into, a remodel of a kitchen. $640 on an oven that we don't really plan to have for more than 5 years MAY seem like a waste, but in the grand scheme of things, we are spending $640 now to have things remain the same, rather than spending a few thousand on a kitchen remodel that we haven't been able to properly plan. I don't want to model a kitchen around a new stove either - which is potentially what we would be doing if we bought a different one - the one that I eventually want to buy.

I did research (though not as much as I would have liked) the prices of that particular stove and a few similar models. The cheapest I could find online was $623 plus $56 for delivery, so $679.

We went to a store we have been to a few times. They are known for being good at negotiating prices. The RRP was $799, and the sale price was $678. We asked the service rep what the best price he could offer us was, and he came down to $645. After some deliberation we decided to buy it. When we went to pay, he knocked another $5 off.

It's not installed at the moment, but hopefully will be by tomorrow night. How exciting. A brand new stove that WORKS.

For awhile now I have been researching internet plans & costs.

I want to reduce our monthly living expenses, and seeing as we are pretty no-frills anyway, it's quite difficult. We don't have cable television, subscriptions of any kind, or memberships to anything either.

Basically we have car costs, insurances, electricity, gas, groceries, petrol, mortgage, a personal loan, internet & phone, mobile phone, pet costs & property rates.

Other things like health costs, fun & entertainment & house repairs are variable and sometimes non existent, or can be cut back at any sign of trouble.

Those are our expenses in a nutshell.

Petrol expenses can't be helped that much, short of using one trip for multiple purposes and driving like a granny.

Personal Loan is nearly paid off, we're not worrying about it too much as it's less than $1k now and I'd rather have that money available to us at this time. If our account experiences a nice surge upwards, I'll transfer the money straight away. In the meantime, security means more than $37 a week payment that will soon be gone anyway.

Property rates are fixed, nothing we can do to change what they are.

Mobile phone, I'm on a plan that suits my usage, and will be until November. DF will shortly be ending his work plan (in september) and starting up a personal mobile plan, so that will actually be an INCREASE in monthly expenditure for us, but it is the right thing to do by his dads business. I will just have to see how DF's usage goes and fingers crossed he can go down a value level on his plan, bringing it from $80 a month to $50, like mine is. I'm hoping by September/November, iPhones will be available as a free upgrade and we'll both get one It would be at no extra cost, so I don't see why not. Currently the cheapest model is $6 a month + plan costs. Giving it until September I am pretty sure they will be $0.

Pet costs... We get a discount at the vet because we have 2 dogs - and soon their registration will go from $112 each a year to just $10 a year when we get them desexed & micro chipped. An initial cost of ~$500 will pay for itself in a few short years, and probably solve a few other problems (like weeing everywhere!) along the way. Their food, I will not skimp on. Simple as that.

Foodwise, I've blogged about how I've saved money by doing a monthly shop at Aldi. So while I've only been doing that for a few months, my guesstimate is that it's a monthly saving of between $20-$40.

Electricity bill has been decresed over the past six months by always switching the power points off at the walls, and the lights. We don't have aircon or heaters and we don't use a clothes dryer. Monthly saving is around $10, I *think*, but of course it is hard to tell, especially when we are billed every three months, and have only been living in this house for a little over 12 months.

Our gas bill is non-existent (as in - gas for cooking via stove/oven) because the stove and oven still aren't fixed, and we haven't used all the gas since the previous owner filled the bottles before we bought the place. So that's a plus, I guess.

I'm looking at decreasing our monthly life insurance cost by rolling our superannuation over to our main bank, and having our life insurance billed from our superannuation account. If we choose to, we can make additional deposits into our superannuation account and recieve 150% of that amount from the government as well (it's a government superannuation building incentive).

Our house and contents insurance actually went down I think, because we renewed our policy. (It was automatic, so technically didn't do anything at all...)

The bill that has been on my hit list for some time now is internet and home phone. We don't use our home phone, and the only reason we have it is so that we can have an internet connection. So we're wasting around $45 simply because there's no other way to get around it. Recently there's been a few releases of different ways to access the internet from home, regularly (mobile usb stick broadband, naked dsl etc, that kind of thing).
I'm looking into Pre Paid USB sticks because I think it might be a good idea cost-wise and will probably save us money. I'm just worried I guess, because we've had the same plan for over two years now and never had a problem, you know when you're about to take a leap into something new, it's kind of scary? Ok, so technically we're not doing anything life-changing... it's just an internet plan...

So what I'm looking at is:

For a start-up pack, we pay ~$140 and get the usb stick and 5gb.
The 5gb expires in 6 months.
On average, we use around 1.5gb-2gb a month. So that would be 9-12gb usage in 6 months. So far so good, we'll either use up the 5gb each before the 6 months is up, OR just come close.

So far, that's $280 for 6 months of internet access.

If we were to STAY with our current plan, we would be spending ~$462 (current plan costs ~$77 a month for 5gb per month of usage - which we never come close to anyway. So far, that's an approx saving of $180. But the initial outlay is a straight up $280. Hmmmm.

Initially my list of pros and cons included running out at a time when we couldnt recharge (seeing as we mainly use the net at night anyway) but you can now do it all online, so that doesn't even present an issue anymore.

The recharge costs are:
575MB 15 days exp $15
750MB 15 days exp $20
1.15GB 30 days exp $30
2.3GB 30 days exp $40
3.45GB 30 days exp $50
4.6GB 60 days exp $70
6.9GB 60 days exp $100


If we were to both get the 1.15gb each month we would still be saving money, and we could play it smart and share a USB to stretch out recharging, overlapping at 2 week intervals instead of recharging at the same time. But I think most months we would only need a 750mb recharge each. Which would be a saving each month of $37.

Anyway. So the cost issue is worked out, I just need to work out the technical side of things, like if we can actually use it, what the coverage is, speed etc. Hmmm. Well, atleast it's a viable option *so far*.

Started off buying two almond croissants for Mothers Day. Went to mums and had a coffee with her and my little sister. Then went to the shops for a few random things, but ended up finding good deals on items that I had been meaning to buy for a while.

Even though individually the items were good prices (compared to what I have seen around) all up I spent a fair bit today

Todays Expenses:
2 almond Croissants: $5.80
Coffee: $4.35
Underwear x 2: $55.26
DF's home brewing supplies: $18.25
Ankle Boots: $49.00
2 x Watersaver Planter Troughs: $28.00
Animal Repellant: $10.54
Pumpkin Seeds: $1.32

Total Spent: $144.52

Also put $20 fuel in my car. It was $1.35/L for E10! Which is expensive, but, it's Sunday, so I don't know why that particularly shocks me.

I'm excited about the shoes, I might post a picture later on. I'm waiting for DF to get home from work to tell me if he thinks they look any good, as I usually need a second opinion.

The animal repellant is to stop the doggies going where we don't want them to go. They have been naughty digging holes underneath our stairs that leads from our backyard up to our deck. Grr! Also I was thinking of spraying the stuff on all the areas they like to pee on, hoping that maybe they stop doing it. Has anyone ever had success with this???

I bought the pumpkin seeds to scatter over our hill. I figured that we may as well utilise the hill the best we can, because we're too lazy to do any upkeep on it (It's really steep! And I hate weeding! Isn't that a good enough excuse???). If the pumpkin grows rampant, atleast it will be a useful plant, and might possibly overtake any weeds on there.

As soon as I got home I did about an hour of repotting/gardening/planting etc. I replanted my basil plants (about 10 of them grew in a pot that I was growing lettuces in, the orginal basil plants seeded and died - then after I planted the lettuces, the basil grew as well!). So they are in a separate trough all on their own now. I also scattered some extra seeds in the pot too.

I watered, fertilised and added more potting mix to my lettuces, and added more seeds to that too.

Then with my last trough-pot, I sprinkled a heap of mint seeds. I love mint, so even they all turn into seedlings, I won't mind.

Also I moved our tomato plants over to the trellis that DF set up for our passionfruit. I'm not sure if you should grow tomatoes and passionfruit together, but oh well. We'll see how it goes.

Also found my marigolds, which I thought were dead, had regrown from seeds dropped from the original plants flowers. They were just growing from a random patch of dirt where I'd kicked over the planter pot. So I moved one of the seedlings to my lettuce trough in the hopes of deterrring those pesky grasshoppers.

From now on my gardening technique will be referred to as Accidental Gardening, because most of my success is purely accidental.

So I feel like I accomplished a little bit today, and it's only 2pm! After this entry is finished, I'm going to give the house a vaccuum and mop, then bring in the dry clothes off the line and tidy the kitchen. Then I might watch some Scrubs while I fold washing.

For my only day off this week, I feel like I achieved a good amount, granted I do what I plan to this afternoon. Poor DF is sick with the flu, has worked 14 days straight and has atleast another 7 to go WITHOUT A DAY OFF.

So far this week I have stuck to our menu plan. I find that I don't stick to a particular meal-for-each-day plan, but rather pick what we feel like out of a list of meals for each week. It seems to work better that way - sometimes if you make an eating plan so rigid, you end up ordering takeaway because you can't be bothered cooking what's on 'The Plan'. Tonight I'm thinking of making a sundried tomato pesto sauce over pasta with steamed green beans, grilled capsicum and parmesan cheese.

Well, time to drag myself off the computer and start vaccuuming!

In an earlier blog entry I posted that I would only have one day off this week. Well, I am home sick today. Be careful what you wish for! Technically, I am not sick. I just have terrible stomach cramps. Most of the female bloggers on here know what I'm on about. *sigh*

So I thought it would be a good idea to post an update of sorts.

Work is still pissing me off. My boss came in for an hour or two yesterday. There's not much product, but hey! What can I do about it? I'm not working a minute extra when the problem could be easily fixed.

I got to thinking yesterday about how this might be approaching the end of my working there. I'm not going to leave any time soon, of course, but you know when you get the feeling that you've been at one place for long enough? So this University thing could be coming at a good time. I'll continue working as long as I possibly can there, and I don't think I'm in any danger of being sacked, but with Uni, my job will just feel like a source of money now, and not a responsibility or a future. You know what I'm saying?

But then again my feelings about work could change. I sense that it might not just be work that I'm annoyed at. I think I'm going through a phase of being annoyed at everything right now. My best friend and I had a... thing. I wouldn't call it an argument, but I was SO angry at her.

Basically I don't want to post the details because it involves her obsessive compulsive disorder, but she told me something I told her I didn't want to know. Then I got pissed off at her because I didn't want to know, and because of what she told me, and because she told me even though I told her I didn't want to know. Confused yet? And then she couldn't understand why I was angry, because she thought it (what it was she told me) was a fantastic idea. When in fact I felt like I was going to throw up. But I couldn't tell her that because I've always encouraged her to talk about things. So I guess I just shot myself in the foot. But I *did* tell her I didn't want to know, just this one particular time. Why is that so hard to understand?

Anyway, so none of that actually makes any sense. But the point of the story is that even though we decided to pretend our argument never happened, I'm finding it hard to be around her without getting annoyed at her. It's just that her frustrating behaviour with money (which I've blogged about in the past)transcends into all aspects of her life. She just goes 'This is a great idea!' and goes ahead and does something without thinking at all about the cons, and even when you (or a group of friends) gather around and try to explain them, she just shakes her head and says 'Don't be silly, this will be fabulous'. It's just who she is. I just find it hard to take sometimes.

*sigh*

In other news, the family business is plodding along splendidly. That has to count for something right? They have work in front, and seem to be just making their bills each week. It has surely taken at least a little stress off my mind. Funny how things have a habit of balancing out, even if it is ever so precariously.

We have loads of basil growing. I think I'm going to attempt my own pesto some time this week.

It's raining today, ever so fitting for a day off when you don't feel like doing anything

But I am going to attempt some things. On the weekend we had a big day of cleaning. I cleaned out all the cupboards in the kitchen, we cleaned the front deck and the back verandah, DF put down another home brew, and I cleaned the bathroom and mopped the floors. I think today I might tidy our office, sort through my clothes (again - but this time I am going to be RUTHLESS!) and sort through some music. Also, put dinner on in the slowcooker and make a shopping list for tomorrows grocery shopping.

A friend of ours who lives in LA called yesterday. He and his soon-to-be wife are coming to stay with us in November! DF has not seen him for two years, and I have not seen him for probably 5 years. Woah, time flies! Makes me think about the future, when (hopefully) we have the funds to be able to take a holiday and fly over and visit them one day too.

I think it’s time to re-evaluate the amount I put away for bills each week. As time passes, companies like to up their prices, sneaky sneaky! Also, I have other things that I’d like to put into this category, like pet expenses. Technically it’s all money, and it’s all coming out of our account, but I’d feel better knowing that say, flea treatments and heartworm tablets are allocated to the Bills Expenses each month. Then I know it’s there, and it doesn’t eat into our other funds. Ya know what I’m sayin?

So, currently I put aside $180 a week for bills. This covers, on my guesstimations:

House & Contents Insurance:
$69.56 (monthly) $834.72
Life Insurance:
$53.67 (monthly) $644.04
Phone & Internet:
$79.00 (monthly) $948.00
Mobile Phone:
$55.00 (monthly) $660.00
Electricity:
$240.00 (3-monthly) $960.00
Gas:
$100.00 (per bottle - approx 6 monthly) $200.00
Car Rego:
$1058.00 (2 cars, yearly) $1058.00
Car Insurance:
(1 car, yearly) $478.00
RACQ:
(yearly) $62.00
Car Repairs:
(yearly approx) $1000.00
Property Rates:
(yearly) $1900.00
Bank Fees:
$395.00 (yearly package fee)

Total Estimate for Yearly Bills: $9 139.76

Here are the actual figures for last year:
(NB: the brackets show how much less or more we spent based on the initial budget)

House & Contents Insurance: $763.46 ($71.26 less)
Life Insurance: $684.01 ($39.97 more)
Phone & Internet: $1131.83($183.83 more)
Mobile Phone: $645.17 ($14.83 less)
Electricity: $886.43 ($73.57 less)
Gas Bottle:
$0.00($200.00 less*)
Car Rego: $1058.00 (on budget)
Car Insurance: $383.90 ($94.10 less)
RACQ:
$70.00 ($8.00 more)
Car Repairs: $2063.92 ($1063.92 more**)
Property Rates: $2240.21 ($340.21 more)
Bank Fees: $409.05 ($14.05 more)
Actual Total for Yearly Bills:
$10 335.98 ($1196.22 more)

* The tenants who lived in our house before us filled the gas bottle up before they left (part of their tenant agreement) and we hadn’t used it all up by the time the stove/oven broke. J

** Some of the car repair expenditure went to fixing up DF’s project car, which I forgot to itemise L So this could mislead the figures a bit. However, with hindsight it’s probably a good idea to put some money in the bills budget for that anyway, seeing as eventually it will become his daily drive.


Does anyone have any other things they put into the Bills category that I am not currently putting in there?
(Note: I do not have: heating or cooling expenses, parking expenses, gym membership, water expenses, cable television, magazine subscriptions.)

Thanks to my massive ($131) Aldi shop three weeks ago, I have not had to buy many groceries these past few weeks. For once our grocery expenditure was UNDER budget for the entire month (by $4 each week - but still...atleast it was under!)

I am going to try and be more motivated to save those small amounts here and there. The mild annoyance of researching phone plans etc and grocery shopping at three different places will hopefully be offset by the savings. Hopefully.

Today is grocery-shopping day and I only have to get a couple of items. I have to keep in mind that we are going away for the easter weekend to a friends holiday house. DF's sister is doing the shopping, and we are transferring the money into her account once she works out the cost. Last time it was around $25, which isn't too bad. I expect it to be around the same again.

Finally got a replacement tray for our coffee machine. It started to rust out last year, and I called Sunbeam as it was still under warranty - in AUGUST 2009. They told me they had 'developed' a new tray that had a plastic lining and was stainless steel, apparently even though the rest of the machine is stainless steel, the old tray was not. It was a 'design flaw'. Pfft. I call it 'cutting costs'. :P

Anyway, so it arrived yesterday. Only took 7 months.

Ummmm... Sold a couple of books on ebay. I think the sale price covered the fees and postage, and I might have made about 40c. But oh well. Waiting for my friend to finish In Treatment and return it to me, so I can re sell it. With the earnings from that I was hoping to buy X Files season 4

Our boys (and by boys... I mean our dogs) will most likely be getting de-sexed in April, if all goes well. And in May I think we might have enough of a surplus to consider buying a new TV. LCD and Plasma prices have reaaaallly dropped lately. Vieras are $595. When they were first released I think they were about $1200. Exciting stuff!

Normally I'd roll my eyes at someone getting excited about buying a flat screen tv, only because it's (usually) associated with bad money choices. HOWEVER. Our current television is around 12 years old, and the cables from the set-top box, xbox and dvd player are held in place with paddle-pop sticks and pieces of folded up cardboard. Yep! Kind of in need of a new tv... about two years ago. After that we will be looking at a new dvd player. Unless the tv comes with a built in one, which would save a whole lot of hassle and drama.

Before I post this, I just want to explain that I DON'T see superannuation as my one and only retirement funding option. I actually HATE the idea of superannuation, of having limited control over 'my' money. While it's all good and well that the government made some sort of step into forcing people to save for their later years, I personally don't like it and the highly publicised encouragement of putting money into an account that a lot of people haven't researched other than whether or not you get a free department store Gift Card when you roll over your funds.

That's my opinion, and before you try, no one here is ever going to change my mind on it, and no one is ever going to convince me to put extra money into it to 'save' for retirement. We both have other options that we are working towards and neither of us are especially excited about the conventional methods of retirement funding. When I find a fund that I am completely happy with, I *may* contribute additional earnings into it, but as of yet, I don't. So please don't blather on about it more than you have to.

Ok, so now that's all said, this is what my real post is all about:

Our bank also runs a superannuation fund. We were told about it when we bought the house, and I put it to the back of my mind. I recently came across something that is making me consider rolling our funds over.

Currently we are with the biggest, most well known superannuation in Australia. I have no issues with them, they're not particularly spectacular either. They seem to get a lot of aussie sporting heroes to do their advertising campaigns, and that's about it. *shrug*

We have our life insurance with our bank because with the loan package we took out, we get a 15% discount on insurance products, and a multi policy discount too. (and yes, because of the cover options they offer as well...) Currently we pay around $54 a month for $200k worth of death and permanent disability cover, for myself and DF.

So I found out the other day that we can roll our superannuation funds over to our banks' fund, and have our insurance taken out of our superannuation fund. Wooaah, you're all thinking now. Bad news.

Not entirely.

You see, our superannuation fund is pre-taxed money. You only pay tax if you withdraw it before you turn... whatever the current retiring age is. 55? 60? something like that.

On top of this, if I were in fact to make extra contributions (yes, you heard me say it) to the TOTAL of the amount of our life insurance each month, the government would pay double that, because of the superannuation scheme they have going.

So technically if I were to pay the amount of life insurance into the account, it wouldn't make a bit of difference to our financial situation, only that I'm getting something that I wouldn't ordinarily be getting.

Hmmmmm. Something worth thinking about?

I'm not sure. Another plus, although only out of convenience, is that every time I log onto my bank account, we will be able to see how much super we have, instead of waiting for the yearly statement. Not that I particularly care, but it would be interesting to know nonetheless.

DF had a good point though. Is it kind of like we're putting all our eggs in one basket? We have basically all of our banking with one bank. We also gain from all the discounts too, but still...

Another plus is that our banks fund does not pay commissions, and the fees are much lower.

Hmmmm.... thinking thinking thinking

Nearly a NSD today, I bought milk from the corner shop (1L - $2.25) because I ran out this morning.

I did not even start this months Put It In Park challenge. Sorry!

But I have begun to keep a log book for tax again. I realised I was running out of time (I have to keep three months worth of driving records in order to claim my vehicle for work use, as I use it to run errands for work sometimes - and the three months has to be before June 31st).

Ebay has free listings for auctions starting under 99c until late March, if anyone is interested. I think I might spend a little time trying to find some things to list this weekend. even if I only get 99c for a few items, I will atleast have gotten rid of some things, allowed someone else to enjoy the benefits of it without it going to landfill, and reduced clutter in my house. Not to mention, making 99c. lol

I was meant to have coffee with a friend today, but I couldn't get hold of her.

Then I was going to have coffee with another friend, but she's been frantically moving furniture that a friend has given her, from her friends house to her parents garage. So we are meeting up tomorrow. And then on Sunday I am catching up with a friend I have not properly seen for about 7 years.

Have been thinking lately, how fast does time fly?! This friend, F, left school in year 11. I continued on and graduated, and other than the occasional text or phone call, and a random meeting at a pub (she was working) I have not seen her since 2003. I feel bad because she was my BEST friend from the age of 13-15. But hey, atleast we're meeting now, right?

I think I may have enough tomatoes on my tomato plants to make a WHOLE SALAD!!!

My lettuces seem to be growing much better this time. Yay. Also noticed some basil has cropped up, after all this rain we've had. Oh, and for those who commented on how it's impossible to kill mint: I did kill it. I have watered it and fed it fertiliser in the hopes of making the scrawny scraps turn green and grow again, alas it has not. I killed it. I really did. I killed MINT. *sigh*

I will be attempting to make a rough MONTHLY plan of meals this weekend, so that I can do a proper shop at Aldi on Tuesday. How organised am I?!
I want to make the drive there worth it, otherwise whatever I save on groceries will go straight into my petrol tank anyway. And I know where I'd rather my money going, if I had a choice!

(although, by doing some super rough calculations, I worked out that the drive from my workplace to Aldi and back again will cost me at the MOST $3-$3.50 in fuel, which isn't too bad really).

Things have been a bit hectic here over the past week.
On Friday afternoon I half-made the birthday cake for our close friends daughters 1st Birthday. (Will post a picture when I upload it - I got everything at cost price so a cake that fed 50 people only cost DF and I $30 plus my labour, and was our gift to our friends daughter.)

I got some more work done on my lower leg on Friday night. Originally we were meant to get takeaway because I would not be able to (okay... didn't want to...) stand around cooking. Technically I could have, but it would have been painful. But DF said he would cook for me. In the end it worked out because we did not get home until past 11pm, and nothing would have been open anyway. We watched movies and eventually went to bed at around 2am.

Saturday morning I wasn't up to going to the market (I was tired, and my leg hurt), and decided to stretch our groceries out for a few days and eat from the pantry, and we both had a bit of a lazy morning before going into my work to finish the birthday girls cake. I made everyone leave the kitchen so I could draw and write on the cake without them watching me. Stage fright, anyone?!

The party was a blast. There were about 30 kids under the age of 3. My jaw hurt from smiling all day and my hearing felt fuzzy because of the screams and squeals. The birthday girl passed out in the middle of the yard halfway through the party - we believe from a sugar overload. Many naughty aunties were seen feeding her cupcakes and lollies at various times... Later on it rained and she ran around getting muddy and stomping in the puddles. It was very cute.

I hung close to another childless friend, and together we dealt with the usual barrage of 'where's YOUR child?' and 'oh don't worry, you'll have one of yours soon enough'. Ahhh! Why do people think that is appropriate???

The cake was a hit and a few people asked for my number, which is kind of cool!

Anyway. DF's niece, sister, BIL and mother all stayed on Saturday night. We decided to get takeaway that night. I found a vegetarian dish at the local chinese place that I am actually fond of! It was a miracle! (Vegetarian Fried Rice)AND it is only $6.
We watched Imagine That, and Couples Retreat. Both were funny & entertaining.

In the morning we went out for breakfast and wandered the shops. DF and I did well to resist buying anything other than some snacks and a book (Hell's Angels by Hunter S Thompson - $9.95).

When I got home I realised my dad sent me a link a little while for 30% off Borders Online bookstore. DAMN! Oh well...

DF's family stayed on Sunday night too. After having to repeatedly explain that, NO, we do not have an oven OR a stove, a group effort resulted in a greek salad, steamed vegetables and grilled sausages & a vege patty for dinner. We watched Bangkok Dangerous, and while I LOVE Nicolas Cage, I wasn't overly fond of the movie.

I decided to take a trip to Aldi yesterday. I have only been there once and didn't know what to expect, so this time it was different.

Really, this time I just went there to see what they had, and to check out the prices. I bought a few things, but mainly wanted to just mentally tally prices and product etc. I call it 'investigating'.

I have figured out that a once a month trip might be a good idea. It is a 45 minute drive from our house, or around 25 minutes from my work on Tuesdays & Wednesdays. So if I planned to go there after work, it might eventually lead to saving a bit of money. I will trial it over the next few months and see how it goes.

I have been generally sticking to the meal plan that I made for myself about a week and a half ago, which is great We have not had takeaway and other than running out of coffee and milk, I haven't really had to go to get supplies for anything other than on shopping days.

This afternoon I will post another weeks worth of meals. I think we will be eating out on the weekend, as we are staying at DF's cousins house to help her with moving and putting in a new floor at her new house. (DF is making $200 in side money too, which is nice! Technically I am too, as I'm helping. I am dreading it, as every time I help DF with work, my hamstrings KILL me the next day)

It is 4.50am here on Monday, another week of work JUST about to begin. I listed a book on eBay, after selling one last week. But it hasn't had any bites. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I have two more books to list but I have to finish reading one first.

I screenprinted my little sister a shirt for her birthday, I am sending it by express post today. The shirt was $12 and the postage will be about $5 - hope she likes it.

My plan is no takeaway this week again. We did well last week and the week before, our expenses are going well, except my $80 shorts but I wore them yesterday, LOVE them.

DF built Banjo his kennel last week and it's finally sitting next to Jeds. He went in it straight away, and Jed in his. It's so cute. When you go outside they both run out to greet you.

I have always lived under the general assumption that smaller, sidewalk cafes were cheaper. And GENERALLY they are! I can on most days, get a double shot flat white for under $3.80. (AU)

Imagine my shock when I had coffee with a friend and was told the price was $4.50.

It's not a big deal, but I still felt robbed.

It was a bad day for eating out. Temptation was rampant:

Yoghurt Clusters: $2.97
Coffee: $4.50
Icecream: $2.45

Yet another week has gone by. Time just seems to fly doesn't it?

We are having a quiet weekend. It's too hot to do anything anyway. I think it's about 35c - and humid. It's 11am and I have yet to find the motivation to do some household chores, because I know anything other than sitting will make me sweat . Sigh.
But, I do have to get some things done, as we are having some friends over this afternoon who have not seen the improvements we've done to the house - even though out of all our friends they live the closest! It's funny how that happens. They have a 10 month old and things just get in the way every week.

I listed a book on eBay yesterday, one of the Imogen Edwards-Jones books. It already has one bid and two watchers. Yay. I bought it on sale for $8 so I hope I can atleast get that back.

I checked my inbox yesterday and I had a nice surprise, a survey offer. I completed it and am now *this* close to cashing in the $30 check I wrote about earlier.

We finally filled out and filed the forms to link DF's high interest account to our normal accounts. (There is nearly $900 in there that we had forgotten about from over a year ago). Around $500 of that is already spoken for, but the remaining money is just going to go into savings.

So far I have only had one day to claim a point for this months Challenge.

I went to the farmers market this morning, spent $35 and got lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrot, rocket, cherry tomatoes, brocolli, bananas, apples, strawberries, nectarines, peaches and plums.

Tonight we will most likely have a salad with toasted turkish bread, grilled tofu/lambchops.

I have overdue library books which I will probably return today (we don't get charged for overdue books - only if we lose them). But first I need to copy some recipes from one - it is a Slow Cooking recipe book, with lost of good recipes. One thing I like about it is that everything is from scratch. No premade pastes or anything like that. yay.

My plans for today:

- 3 loads of washing (wash/hang out/fold)
- Wash dogs
- Wash dogs bedding & tidy deck
- Tidy kitchen & give a good wipe over
- Sweep & mop floor
- Take dogs for a run.

I have been using a facial cleanser that I made myself for nearly a week now. No complaints - I don't know if I'm convincing myself that it's better because it's homemade, but I really do think my skin appreciates it more than bought, chemical-filled cleansers...

But we'll see, I will give it a month or so and see how it goes. But I have high hopes for it - I really think I could do this from now on!

If all seems to be going well after another week, I will post the recipe. I have recipes for other things too, but I am going to wait a while, as there are things I need to buy to make them, and at the moment I already have commercially made products to use up. You can call it frugal - but moreso it's just laziness and me being a tightwad!

Due to various factors, we've spent more than we earned this month. The two biggest factors in overspending are:

- Our income was decreased, as DF has only been working one or two days a week, therefore only bringing in around $200-$400 a week.

- Instead of working, he has decided to be useful around the house and started on a couple of our renovation plans. While that's GREAT, it meant we took money out of our buffer to pay for materials. *sigh*

It's kind of like a catch 22: he's not working, so it's the best time to do these things, but it's actually the worst time to do these things BECAUSE he's not working (and so it's eating up our funds!)

-----

He has nearly finished downstairs. I want to post pictures, but I am waiting until the weatherboards have been painted. At the moment they look horrible, as we re-used them from DF's dads house and they only have an undercoat of paint on them - looks somewhat like we took them off an abandoned house - dirty and a bit gross... But still, the house looks very different. So, picture soon, I promise!

was yesterday.

We usually go to a popular park, meet with a big group of friends and listen to the Triple J Hottest 100 Countdown, which is what we did.

The day involves swimming, fishing, music and catching up with friends.

I generally avoid crowds on Australia Day as over the past few years I've noticed every public place seems to be swarming with bogans off their heads, wearing the flag as a cape and not much else.

But the park, although crowded, was peaceful in terms of behaviour.

Police drove quad bikes up and down the strip and the only word our group, or any group near us, got was 'Please put your empties in the bin'. (Which was nice, if they wanted to, several of our friends could have gotten fines for drinking in a public place - which is actually illegal...but, I guess that's Australia for you.)

I bought DF's sisters birthday present yesterday too. We got her a $40 bookstore voucher and some Billie Goat Bath Milk Soak for $10.95 (two baths' worth). Billie Goat Soap is something I heard about years ago, and I had to look everywhere to find it. Basically every product that is made by the company contains only natural ingredients and is good for sensitive skin/children/elderly/allergies etc etc.

Also spent $8.75 on dips and crackers for the park gathering, $5.30 on an iced latte, and by the time we got home did not feel like cooking so ordered in pizza: $27.45 (damn 15% public holiday surcharge!)

I have been reading people's posts but not writing any of my own lately.

It was our one year engagement anniversary this week (on Monday, to be exact). We didn't do anything, but it's crazy to think how time flies. In two months time it will be 7 years since DF first told me he liked me

Not a lot financially is going on. It is the beginning of the slow months for DF - so he has been earning about half of what I do - and I usually earn half of what he does... *sigh*

So this month does not look good even though our spending has been drastically reduced. I think we will most likely break even for the next few months, and any big purchases will be coming out of the EF, or other sources.

On a good note, we will most likely be in budget for groceries, which hasn't happened for two months

I have decided to stop buying vegetables from that fruit and vege store I mentioned a while back. It is just not fresh. When I shop at the markets, even though we hardly have anything left at the end of the week, the few things we do have are still edible, which I usually use in soup or make stock. Now when shopping at the fruit and vege store, things go slimey within a few days. YUCK. The few bucks I was saving go in the compost bin. Yay.

I have succesfully lost the 1kg I had planned to for January I am down to X5.00kg. Weee! It's a good feeling.

If I lose 5-7kg more, I will be the same weight I was in year 10 when I was 16 years old. So I think I am going to make that my goal. And I have set myself a time limit. I have 6 months. It seems easy enough to do so we will see how it goes. Is that a crazy goal? Technically 16 years old was when I stopped growing taller...

We still don't have an oven, and I think the most part of that is due to the fact that I am lazy and can't be bothered getting a repairman in (and paying for it). So we'll just see how long we can last. In the meantime, it's nice to not have a choice for dinner sometimes. It's either salad, or salad!

It's been about 33-37 degrees celcius here lately. And humid. Ugh. I hate humidity. Thank god summer is getting closer to ending. I think we are halfway through at least.

I bought a rashie (a long sleeved swimming top that you wear over your bikini). DF bought one for himself about two months ago, for $80. I bought mine from the same shop and it was only $45! For once in my life, a piece of clothing that is cheaper than the equivalent in boys. It was amazing.

The friend that I go swimming with laughs at me when I wear it. I wear shorts and a long sleeved top, while she 'dries' herself lying in the sun. I'm sorry, but I don't want to make friends with cancer. (The state that we live in, has the highest rate of skin cancer etc etc). Whatever.

Our doggies are going well. Banjo has grown a lot (I think - it's hard to tell when you see them every day). They both get along well too. They play fight all day and Jed has taught Banjo all the things we were meant to teach him (like walking on the lead, where to go to the toilet, where to sleep, what to bark at etc etc).

Jed is a master at begging. When he wants a pat or a treat he will stand on his hind legs and use his tail to balance on behind him, and he can stay like that for ages. The other day Banjo copied Jed. It was so cute.

Well, I think that is all my updates for now. Hope everyone is well!


Currently Listening To: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

We had a bit of an eating out frenzy on the weekend. DF had a takeaway breakfast on the way to work on Saturday ($7). Then we had lunch out together ($34) with his apprentice. And then I had dinner at a friends place ($10 - pizza delivered). And then on Sunday we had breakfast out ($28)!

It was nice though, to not have to cook. It's been so hot here. Euch. Apparently it was 40 degrees celcius (I think that's 104 F??? Could be wrong...)

There will be NO eating out until Saturday now (a friends birthday).

I went to a friends place last night to catch up with a group I don't see often. I have known most of them for around 2 years, and one girl I have only met twice.

After a few drinks were consumed (by others - I wasn't drinking) the subject got around to debt. Since we are all in the same age group (22-25) it was interesting to hear everyones financial situations, as it's usually not something so openly talked about. And well, didn't I get a shock?

I already am aware of one friends financial situation. She got into a lot of credit card debt ($30k) at 19 and signed a debt agreement to pay it back. She is at around $17k now and will have it paid off in 3 years. Most importantly, she hasn't gotten herself into any other debt and I have to say she's doing quite well - I've been around to watch her change her financial viewpoint and hopefully I have helped her a bit here and there.

As for the others, I am just in shock. I guess because my other group of friends is responsible with money (and in their late 20's or early 30's), I just assumed that these girls would be too. Besides, they're only in their early twenties!

One has two maxed out credit cards ($6k) and a large personal loan ($9k)- and is unemployed.

Another girl, along with the father of their two children, has a mortgage (that's actually more than the house is worth) of $335k, a personal loan FOR THE DEPOSIT that her and her partner put down on the house ($20k), two loans for two brand new cars (~$40k)and three maxed out credit cards (totalling ~$30k). The sad story is that they have just split up too - she does not work and is now living with her mum and has decided to do an advanced diploma in nutrition - the father is an electrician.

And the last girl has two nearly maxed credit cards ($7k), a personal loan ($5k) and a car loan (~$11k).

Except for the girl with the mortgage, the others have no assets at all except for their cars.

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

AND!!! when we went out, we had to find an ATM for two of the girls that would do cash out on credit cards (cash advances) - as the first two ATMs wouldn't allow it. Their reasons for getting cash on credit?

'Oh, I'm broke til pay-day... Wednesday.'

said with a kind of shrug and a smile on their faces.

Huh? Why are you even coming OUT tonight???

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

I just don't understand all this. I've seen it all before here, but it's different because they talk about it as though it's normal, like it's a fact of life or something, and it doesn't seem to bother them. WHAT?! Atleast reading people's blogs here, you get the general idea that everyone is not so happy with their financial situation and are taking steps to change it. It seems like with these girls, they don't have any desire to change, and it's some kind of competition to see who owes the most.

(After much prodding, I finally told them our shared mortgage debt ($297k-ish) and personal loan of $2k. Their response was 'yeah, but how much do you owe on your credit cards...?'. When I said we had 3 credit cards but no credit card debt I was met with a confused look )

*sigh*

I have been whining at DF that we need a filing cabinet. There are piles of paperwork on my desk and it annoyes me to put them back in archive boxes, only to get it all out again when I need something.

So a few weeks ago we went and looked at Officeworks, and I was put off by the price. $170 for a two-drawer one (with smooth flowing drawers - I am not going to pay money for crap) and $400 for a four-drawer one.

We decided to wait a while. DF went back this week and there was a four-drawer one on special for $200, which was a good quality one, and the last one in stock - and postbox red. Hmmm. I wasn't that keen on the colour, or the fact that it was 4 drawers either. It would mean we were paying an extra $30 for something we don't need anyway. Too big.

So I told DF not to buy it. Yesterday he called me and said he was in an op-shop, and there was a 2 drawer filing cabinet for $40. He bought it and now it's in our office!

How is that for a stroke of luck?!

My posts have been dwindling the past few months, but I am going to attempt to post more in January.

December totals will be up soon. Unfortunately I already know we spent more than we earnt last month - my broken car window tipped us over the edge.

Groceries are still high, on average almost $20 more per week than what I am wanting to spend. I have decided that I will trial buying fruit and vegetables from a store near us. The past few weeks I have gone there as the farmers markets have been closed (due to christmas and new years), and have spent roughly the same amount, or less, than at the farmers market. And the fruit and vegetables are the same: organic & freshly picked. The store owns several large farms and grow their own produce. They are kind of a local secret around here, always have been well priced. I never went as I liked going to the markets, but lately it seems like a drag going to the markets on a Saturday morning.

So I will see how that goes. Who knows, maybe our grocery bill will decrease a little?

It's back to normal at work today and from now on - no more holidays, super busy days or public holidays. Which is kind of nice, it means constant money, but also it was nice having time off too!

I took him home with me yesterday, and he and Jed get along fine. I think Jed is still a little confused. He keeps looking at us as if to say 'What is this little thing following me around?'

I bought him some things at the discount store today. A lead, the same as Jeds but in a different colour, some feedbowls (there are SIX feedbowls lined up on our verandah! one each for water, dry food and wet food) and a collar. I had to buy him a cat collar because everything else was too big - he will grow out of it in no time though, and then we can get him a proper one. So currently we know where he is 24/7 because he has a little bell on him. So cute!

We have gone a little crazy with spending money this month. It seemed like as soon as we bought one thing, money just kept spilling out!

Granted, we did find some good deals, which is why the money was spent now, instead of later.

DF found series 1 of Supernatural for $29.95. (I've only ever seen it for $40-$50).

And I found series 1 AND 2 of Californication for $24.92 each, so I bought them both (We watched them in about two days).

Then I found series 3 of X files for $21 including postage on eBay. I can't get it at the store for less than $32.95 ON SALE.

To balance it out, we used a $20 voucher I got for internet surveys to pay for some of it, and I sold a bottle of skincare product on ebay for $31 ($4.40 postage and $1.31 in ebay fees).

My friend finished watching In Treatment, and once I get it back from my other friend, I will re sell it. Apparently it is fetching around $80 - which is way more than I paid for it a few months back (I think I paid $65). Atleast I will get roughly what I paid for it back.

I also bought some underwear which was around $70, some leggings for $5 and a shirt for $5, and DF bought two tshirts for $20.

So yes, coupled with a couple of breakfasts out and a couple of takeaway dinners, we seem to have had a bit of a spendy month. And it probably won't stop now, we realllllly want to go and see Avatar at the movies, and the only chance we'll get is next week.

There are two people in my life who are dear to me, who both live exactly the same way.

The first is my closest friend T, and the second is my mother.

They both smoke and drink heavily, and buy impulsively. They both have been/are bankrupt. And they both live paycheck to paycheck.

I admit there have been a few times where I have had to 'wait' until my next wage payment to buy something, or have had a feeling of relief when payday rolled around - but all those times, I have had money aside that I could use if I wanted to, I just chose not to.

There are many of you on this website who do live this way currently because of past choices, but are trying extremely hard to turn the cycle around, and many of you who have overcome this and no longer live this way.

I am worried about my friend as she is only 24 but I can see her staying the exact same way for the rest of her life - and turning out like my mother.

I guess I am wondering, how do you help someone who lives like this? How do you make them realise you don't have to live this way?
T does not seem to have a problem with it. When we meet for coffee on Wednesday, I cannot meet her before 3pm because her wages go in at 3pm. She cannot even afford a drink. I don't want to harp on it too much to her - but I am still unable to understand how she can think this is normal? And my mum too - but she has been like this her whole life, I can't try to help her any more than I already have. I guess I have kind of shifted my energy onto someone that might actually change. They are just so similar it scares me.

And they buy items that are totally unecesary. Atleast, to me I think that. Maybe, well, obviously, they are very much necesary to them. Like a sewing machine (to make curtains), or a surf board because suddenly T is interested in surfing lessons, and 'needs' a surfboard. They both have these obsessions that last about a month, spend a ton of money on and then aren't interested in them anymore.

And I think it's crazy.

Personally it would stress me out too much to live this way. I know it's not an 'ideal' situation, but aren't you meant to live like that temporarily? Aren't you meant to strive toward NOT being broke every payday?

I am very pleased with our efforts for November in regards to spending!

Even though DF's earnings have been considerably less for October and November, we FINALLY were able to put an extra payment into the mortgage!

Here are our totals:

Mortgage Payments: $1765.84
Groceries: $549.16
Petrol: $208.34
Phone & Internet: $77.20
Electricity: $564.80
House Insurance: $69.39
Life Insurance: $53.67
Personal Loan Payment: $221.35
Pet Supplies: $132.35
House Repairs/Maintenance: $49.95
Work Expenses: $382.79
DF Fun $: $154.30
My Fun $: $136.66
Clothes: $69.95
Dining Out: $33.90
Entertainment: $10.00
Misc: $93.44
Charity/Donations: $30.00
Bank Fees: $2.20
Health/Grooming: $82.95
TOTAL EXPENDITURE: $4688.24

Extra Mortgage Payment: $594.64
Added To Emergency Fund: $945.81

*Whew* I feel like we had a good month over all. Our personal expenditure is down a lot, and so is a lot of other categories. Groceries are higher, which I am going to work at over the next few months. I just need to figure out some cheap, healthy meals.

Next month any leftover money from my personal stash will go toward my personal loan.

We had a busy weekend and I have only just been able to sit down and take stock of the money spent
The damage wasn't so bad in the end.

DF's uncle had a 50th Birthday Surprise party on Saturday night, so I decided that day was as good as any to get my hair style cut, blow dried and straightened. ($63.95) I had been meaning to book it in for about a month. Turns out my last visit was 3 months ago! I am getting better. Last time it was 6 months. I think 3 months is a good enough time - the hairdressers recommend 8 weeks - but seriously, who goes to the hairdresser that frequently???

The 50th was catered and drinks were provided, organised by the Uncles' girlfriend.

Sunday we had breakfast with DF's sister, BIL, niece and mother. We spent $26.90 on breakfast, $7 on juices and $9 on coffees. We decided to have a bit of a stroll through the shops and DF bought a shirt for $25 and we bought some books that were on sale ($23.95)

Then we dropped by a friends place for an hour or so (free!), and then on the way home DF dropped me at a coffee shop to catch up with a friend ($7).

Next weekend is just as busy. On Saturday my friend is apparently throwing a Christmas party, and then we have DF's group of friends throwing one on Sunday morning, and then in the afternoon is my staff party!

Every year I get a bottle of champagne and a $50 GC from work - I am thinking of cashing in our credit card rewards to get another GC. Also, I have enough Flybuys rewards for a $20 GC - and nearly enough in rewards on a survey site to get another $20 GC!

I was thinking of putting these to good use on the Boxing Day sales... Hmmm.