A little while ago my dad told me a story about a co worker of his. My dad is a music buyer and works in the head office of a large music store chain. They are all rather well paid, and as you can imagine, every single one of them buys a coffee or three every day.
One day, my dads co-worker announced that he would be drinking the company supplied instant coffee every day, and saving the money he would have spent through the year, to speed up the savings for a new car. His challenge was, if he could commit to not buying a single cup of coffee out for an entire year, he would buy himself a Mazda 3 wagon (trading in his 4x4 as well).
Every day, my dad said, they would all come back to the office with their cups of freshly brewed espresso coffee and tease him as he choked down the instant coffee. 'You bastards,' he said to them as they wafted the cups under his nose. He stuck with it though, and he now has his new car, and the others are all suitably impressed with his determination.

He's now saving for a new guitar amp in the same way.

My dad's office also has a swear jar. Every time someone swears, they have to put 20c in. Apparently it's at around $300.

Well, I just wanted to start with saying thankyou to everyone for all your comments, advice and wisdom from my last couple of posts. I know that mostly all of it wasn't finance related but I do appreciate how close everyone is here. So THANKYOU.

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I don't know if I have mentioned this yet, but the youngest apprentice has resigned at the bakery, and her last day is on Friday. Her parents are getting divorced and she is moving back to New Zealand. Remember how all our shifts changed, and I lost one day every three weeks? Well, it's all back to normal now (except for J who still loses a day a week - and like another co-worker, T, said: 'oh, and it couldn't have happened to a *nicer* person' LOL)

So, that's good that my hours are back to normal.

My boss and his wife apparently had an argument because my boss wants me to work out the back, but his wife wants me to cover J's lost shift every week out the front, serving customers.

I don't mind either way; but it's nice to know I'm valuable!

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

I mentioned the distance Uni thing to a friend who came over for a BBQ on the weekend. She said she did her last year via distance-online, and wishes she did the whole thing like that.

I know I didn't really touch on why I don't want to go to a physical university. Well, it's hard to put into words really, because I am still trying to figure out why myself. But to put a long story short: it makes me feel anxious and sick; and that's just thinking about it and not actually doing it. So I understand that people are concerned that the workload will be large and I will only have myself to rely on, I need to assure you all that I completely understand that. Also want to reassure you all that the Uni I will be going through is renowned for its distance programs.

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

So I'm thinking it's probably very likely I will apply to study next year. Maybe not at the start of the year though. It's harder to get accepted at the start of the year because of all the school-leavers.

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

That being said, if my boss offers me the apprenticeship I might give it some thought. I have been working there for over 3 years, it would be nice to have something to show for it.

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I've made some great desserts the past two days. Last night I made my first ever chocolate souffle, and tonight I made baked custard. My only complaint is that the recipes were for 2 people - but there was far too much for DF and I, both recipes I followed could have fed 4!

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Today I came home from work and again, our verandah was covered in water. I cleaned it up and then decided to go and see the neighbours. By it happening twice, it was obvious that it wasn't an accident, it wasn't a child, and that it was intentional.

I was polite to the woman who answered the door. I introduced myself, apologised if the dogs were barking, informed her they would only be there for a few days and asked that they not hose water onto our verandah anymore.

She was nice about it and apologised. They seriously thought that the three dogs were OURS. Who in their right mind would own THREE dogs in suburbia? I'm pretty sure it's illegal anyway...

Anyway. So that was all fine. She said she thought I had guts for going over there and talking to her. (huh?)

About two hours later her husband came over and apologised as well, saying he over reacted.

On a good note, Jed hasn't done any of the barking they said he just sooks when we leave in the morning for work for about five minutes and then goes and chews on his bone.

TBH, they are not the type of people I would choose to spend time with. I'm glad we got that sorted out, and meeting them too (I think they felt bad that our first meeting with them was me asking them not to hose our deck).
They are... a little strange. Harmless (I'm hoping) but strange...

Yes!

The engagement ring is now IN THE MAKING.

I am able to pick it up on 16/07/09.

Ok, well technically I did not pay the full amount, I paid a deposit of $320, and will pay the rest when I pick it up. Or DF will pay it when he picks it up.

So then we will be able to start telling people, properly. I didn't feel the need to rush really, we will not get married for a good few years yet anyway. I don't mind being 'engaged' for a long period either, it gives you more time to appreciate the work that went into the engagement ring, and to enjoy being engaged as a separate thing from marriage, not distracted from stressful wedding organisation either, instead of just looking at it as a stepping stone to a wedding/wedding band.

So finally, eh!? It has been a few months since DF proposed, in January. About time!

Got home from work today and Jed was still in the yard! I stressed out all day thinking he would dig himself out and run away, but he didnt.

My boss, his wife and two kids, an older woman colleague and my friend/colleague came over for tea and coffee this afternoon, and so that my boss's wife and my other work colleague could see the house. (My boss has already seen it, and so had my friend/work colleague - but she was just there for moral support lol)

Spent 50c on a can of coke today at work. Another work colleague *may* have swine flu, but i think it's a long shot - i think she just wants some days off, and some attention (she's THAT type of person).

I have been so busy (doing what, I don't know) that I haven't even noticed I have been doing once-a-week grocery shopping. Usually I have had to run into the store atleast twice during the week to get something I need, but lately, not!

Last night I had a grand plan to make Baked Romani Gnocchi - but it all fell through after everyone left at 5pm and I couldn't find the recipe, so we had toasted sandwhiches for dinner instead, hehe. The bread was fresh baked today, does that count? (Never mind the baked beans I had, or the tinned spaghetti DF had). It's our one plunge into bad food that we have, along with takeaway pizza every couple of weeks. Normally I make everything from scratch out of fresh ingredients - but my guilty pleasure is toasted sandwhiches and baked beans. Combine the two and whala! Terrible eating habits! LOL. DF prefers the spaghetti in the can. We probably use half a can each in a night and then he uses the rest for his breakfasts.

Tonight I am making a Lamb Ragout for DF in the slow cooker. I might make some mexcian beans and have that with rice tonight instead.

I have to buy a small birthday gift for a friends 28th birthday. She is the wife of a guy, B, who worked with DF's friend, R. B got sacked at the start of all the GEC nonsense, but found a job he is much happier with. DF's friends are all a very tightly knit group who have been friends with each other since primary school and high school, but somehow B managed to wrestle his way in this past year and is well liked by everyone, along with his wife M. They are just very friendly and easy to get along with people. (They were the ones that bought us that lovely bottle of wine for our housewarming - I don't even drink red wine and I drank it, it was that nice!)

So you can see my dilemma, I don't know them very well, but seeing as they bought us a gift for our housewarming I feel obliged to get atleast a small present for M's birthday. Our problem is that we haven't spent enough time with her to know what she likes. DF wanted to screenprint something for her - but the problem there is that unless you know a girl fairly well, you can't get a shirt for her (the issue with sizing - what if you get it too big? you'll hurt her feelings. what if you get it too small? you'll also hurt her feelings and she won't ever wear it!). Then we thought about a blank bag that we could screenprint something on, but there's the problem of not knowing her very well - so what if we printed something she didn't like?

So I suggested some body stuff. Girly things like lotion, scrubs, foot soakers etc always go down well don't they? I could get a gift pack from the Body Shop, and it probably wouldn't be any more than $30 and still seem slightly fancy...?

Anyway, I am sure we will figure it out.

DF is going to make a kennel for Jed. We were joking that we could make it weatherboard to match our house, hehe. That would be so cute!

DF bought him some toys yesterday. He seems to favour a bone made out of rawhide (?). He's been chewing on it a lot and it's hardly made a dent, so I am thinking that's a very good buy!

One thing happened yesterday: we were on the balcony and Jed was below it (could see him through the cracks in the deck). DF looked down and goes 'What the HELL!' and said he saw Jed ON the downstairs table. I said it was probably just his eyes, but we went downstairs and there were paw prints on it! Now, not only is it bad for him to be jumping on a table, that is not our main worry (a few taps on the nose and he will realise he is not allowed to do that). No, our main concern is that the table height is the same as the fence DF put up!!! Which basically means at any time if he wanted to, Jed could jump the fence and stroll away. So here we were being worried that he would DIG himself out, and he can just jump it!!! It's not a surprise that a dog can jump, of course, but he is a fairly bulky boy - he does not seem like he could jump very high. The pictures show him to be normal sized, but I think his previous carers had over fed him a lot.

Which leads me to thinking, why hasn't he run off yet? He was alone all day yesterday but didn't leave. So he must like it here. I am thankful he is obedient in that sense, that he stays with you, even when DF was building the fence. I guess it means he has adopted us as his owners now, as we have adopted him as our pet.

Finally getting some pictures up!





DF has spent the whole day setting up a fence so that Jed doesn't run away when we are at work tomorrow. As I said in my last entry, I will be working at home on Tuesday and Wednesday so I can spend time with him and let him get used to his new surroundings. I have been trying to clean up the house for some guests that are visiting for a cup of tea tomorrow afternoon, and trying to reassure Jed that he isn't alone (he has been crying and whining a lot today - poor thing has been by himself mostly for the past few weeks).
He has some annoying dog behaviours - peeing on everything, jumping up at you, licking your face and CHEWING! So we're going to train those out of him pretty quick smart. He responds to the 'satan voice' which is good (how do we know? well, Jed peed on one of DF's cars - you can imagine the reaction!). He also comes when called, which is good, and does not run off. We have let him roam around while DF's been working downstairs, and he stays in our yard. Good boy!

So, I hope you like the pictures! He's a gorgeous little boofer!

Some of you know that one of my closest friends is also one of my work colleagues. I've known her for just over two years now, but I probably know her much better than some of her primary school friends.

We had only worked together for a few months when she decided to tell me (after some, in retrospect, strangely coincidental conversations and comments) that she has a very severe case of OCD and anxiety.

I was the second person she had told about it, wilfully. The first person she told was her best friend, who then proceeded to expose her to the very things she feared, and then forced her to talk to a doctor. This resulted in my friend, T, trying to commit suicide, being commited, and then placed under the very watchful (and intruding) eye of state health, while having to attend weekly sessions with a psychologist with the threat of being institutionalised if she didn't attend.

I don't know how T expected me to respond to her confession, but I doubt it was what she recieved. Having already known a lot about OCD (I don't wish to discuss why at this point) I was slightly fascinated with her predicament, but it didn't bother me in the slightest (why should it?). The only things I ever interfered with were things that she did that hurt herself, otherwise, it wasn't my place to change her. I let her talk when she wanted to talk and probably made her talk when she didn't want to, too, but she has said that I am the only person she doesn't feel weird talking to about it.

So anyway, fast forward a year, and she is having money and car problems. Our boss's wife, being a bank manager, decides she's going to help T with her finances, and goes through her bank statements with her. She questions her on some recurring transactions which T eventually tells her are for medication and psychologist appointments, and then makes her promise to not tell her husband (T's boss). She promises, and that seems to be the end of it.

Last week, another co worker seems to go a little a-wol, and finally tells our boss that she has been on anti-anxiety medication for many years, and that she has just changed to some new ones, and they seem to be affecting her moods.

On a night shift, when it is just T and our boss, he suddenly starts talking about the other co worker, and about medication and disorders etc. (you have to understand here that our work and boss is not like a normal work situation - he is not the normal boss-type and so everyone knows everyone else's business at work - it is a friendly situation to begin with).

T thinks this is all just a little too close to home so decides to divert the conversation to safer ground, but our boss will have none of it, eventually saying that he has guessed T is on some type of medication, and that he believes she has anxiety and some other thing, 'it can't be schizophrenia so I'm guessing it's some type of OCD'.

T tries to find out how he knew, he says he just picked up things here and there.
(I think personally that his wife told him but told him not to tell T that she told him - so he tried to figure out a way to tell T he knew without incriminating his wife).

So, my problem is, that I KNOW that he knows that I know - even though T says that she didn't tell him I know. And this makes for an awkward situation at work.

*sigh*

Tomorrow is a public holiday (yes! I have had a three day week! It has been fantastic!) and I am having brunch with a friend. Then I am planning on going into town and buying a whole bunch of stuff to stick in a basket for SIL's babyshower.

IDEAS???

So far I have: babywipes, baby powder, little socks (sooo cute!).

So yeah. That's a pretty disappointing hamper. So I would love some ideas. Things that SIL will USE for the baby.

And, I am planning on buying a couple of long sleeved shirts with a higher neck. It's freezing cold in our new town, and I realised I don't have any long sleeved skivvy type tops, I usually just wear a Tshirt and a cardigan.

Aaaaanyway. So I am hoping tomorrow won't be too spendy. SIL and her fiance are staying tomorrow night, and they want to go to the movies before the baby arrives as they are thinking they probably won't be able to go for a while after she's born.

Today in the mail I got a letter from the bank saying our mortgage interest rate has dropped from 5.21% to 5.11%! Which means our minimum weekly repayments go from being $430.15 to $380.77 which is a huge difference. That is how much we were paying in rent nearly a year and a half ago. The plan is to set up an automatic payment to make up the difference

Last week I bought a yoga dvd on eBay for $20.50, and it arrived yesterday. I got home late from work at 5pm (well, late for me!) but I used the slowcooker for dinner so technically dinner was already cooked, so I decided to try out the new DVD. I was a little apprehensive as I have heard some fitness DVD's can be crap, but I was pleasantly surprised at this one. It's called Power Yoga and I really enjoyed it.
It's quite challenging and goes for 60 minutes, with an option of another 20 minute version. It is a nice change from another one I have which is 40 minutes, and focuses more on relaxtion, basically a beginners-yoga-dvd. I also have a pilates one which is challenging, but I don't feel the love for pilates as much as I do for yoga.
Another one I have is an army routine which I have done a few times. I think it's good to mix things up. I think I will be purchasing a few more in the coming months. Seeing as it is approaching winter, I think indoor fitness aids are a good investment!

I was beginning to think it might not happen, what with unexpected cold snaps the past couple of days.

And even though technically I shoudn't be seeing sprouts for a couple more days - I couldn't help checking them every day.

I spotted five teeny-weeny lettuce sprouts today! YAY!

I can't spot any rosemary or mint at the moment, but keep your fingers crossed for me!

Yesterday I went shoppping with a friend. I bought a thick, red coat ($60) two thin cardigans ($42), two pairs of shoes ($25), a CD for DF $30) and that dress I mentioned ($24.95).

I am astounded by the price of things. I avoid going shopping because I don't want to spend money - so here and there I will pick up a T-shirt for $7.50 or a skirt for $10 because they have been drastically reduced in price.

But there are not many sales on now, so I had to find the best deal on fully marked clothing.

And I had already accepted that I was not planning on buying good quality clothing either. I wanted a few trendy things to go with my other clothes during winter, so I visited all the chain stores.

Holy Cow!

While I eventually found prices I was comfortable with (except the coat) I just could not believe some of the prices. I think I have not been 'shopping' for so long that I have not realised how much the prices have risen.

I do not mind paying a bit for good quality items - but these are not good quality items!

A cardigan, for $80? (I found two for $42)

Flats (synthetic materials) for $30 a pair? (I found two pairs for $25)

Chain-store, badly fitting, pants for $60?

What on EARTH?

The last I remembered, cardigans were around $30-$40 full price, flats around $15, pants around $25....at chain stores.

*sigh*

When I questioned my friend (whom I was shopping with) she didn't display any surprise at the costs. I guess it must just be me.

The reserve bank met today, but everyone has been saying that the rates will not drop again this time. I think our time to fix the rate for free has run out - but I am going to hold off until they drop them another percent (it will be down to 4.21% for us then) or until I hear that they might raise them, and then we will be fixing! At the moment I am happy to leave it all at variable. We are thinking of fixing a portion of it, probably half at this stage.

This morning I had a wardrobe melt down. I could not seem to find anything I wanted to wear (which is stupid, because I have so many clothes). I have decided it would be a good idea to invest in:
- a knit cardigan in a colour other than black (i have three in black)
- a pair of business-type pants in a colour other than black (I was thinking a navy colour?)
- some more flat shoes (maybe 2x pairs)
- and maybe another pair of jeans, seeing as I only have one pair I wear all the time.

I did have a bit of a look around while in town today. I found a dress (yes I know I am not meant to be looking at dresses! shhh!) for $24.95 that I really like. It's a nice casual dress.

Anyway. So I am meeting a friend in town this afternoon, and I think I might go in a bit earlier and have another look around... I will call DF first and see if he minds me buying a few items out of my remaining stimulus money (I have around $600 left).

Woo! Very-Tightly-Self-Controlled Shopping Spree, here I come!

Yesterday I was in the supermarket grabbing a few things before the big grocery shop today (I like to go with a friend... weird, I know). Anyway, so I was in the aisle that had a lot of canned items, and the opposite side had Eastern and Asian food. While I was deciding what brand of chickpeas to buy to make some hommus, I overheard a conversation that made me both laugh and a little sad at the same time:

18-20 YO Girl: What? What! I'm not eating it if it's been out for that long!
18-20 YO Boy: I took it out of the freezer the day before yesterday and put it in the fridge!
Girl: That's frigging disgusting!
Boy: It's *still frozen*
Girl: How can it be still frozen?!
Boy: It hasn't defrosted yet, duh.
Girl: Well that's even more gross. I'm not eating it.
Boy: It's still frozen you idiot. It's fine. There's nothing wrong with it.
Girl: I'm NOT eating it if it's been out of the freezer for three days.
Boy: Well, whatever, I'll eat it. You can cook your own meal.
Girl: Fine we'll *EAT* it then.
The girl storms off, the boy puts taco shells in his basket and follows.



Can I just say, HAHAHA.

It was the funniest thing I've witnessed in a supermarket in a long time.

how do you work out your net worth? i have heard different things, of what you should and shouldn't include. so if someone here can give me a straight answer - that would be great!
i just figured it would be interesting to work it out.

Our bond refund FINALLY came through into our bank account today. DF also got reimbursed for some petrol he paid for from work, and our pay has gone through - so our accounts are back where they started at (over $11k) before DF bought his engine. That is a relief. I do not like seeing it under $10k. Yes, the accounts COULD be up at around $14k right now if he hadn't bought the engine - but then he would still have two cars that do not work sitting downstairs.

DF still has to transfer his $900 stimulus into the joint account, and then we are going to close our old accounts.

I have been trying to only do one shop a week, but this week we have run out of a couple of things (coffee and ginger beer) so I will have to make a stop on my way home from work today.

I am ashamed to say that's how much my car does.
I mentioned it to DF's BIL and he said 'that's actually... not that great...' to which DF overheard and replies: 'it's great considering how whitestripe drives'
(!!!)

Lets go, pedal to the metal!

So DebtFreeMe was the closest guess, at 22km a litre.

Now I have made it a goal of reducing that by nanny-driving (driving like your grandmother is in the back seat).

I will be filling the tank up on the way home from work today. Let's see how THAT goes!

well, lo and behold it's already 5.30pm and I feel like I have done nothing all day

It's actually been nice to bum around all weekend - and I still have a full 2 days to go!

Today I unpacked two massive boxes of stuff. They are the boxes you BUY to pack in (about 1.5m high). So I was happy with that effort. I couldn't really garden today as it rained all day. It was nice to laze around though. DF's friends mother came around and I showed her our house, she gave us a housewarming gift of an organic, water wise gardening book that is suited to our climate, which I thought was very thoughtful!

Tomorrow I think I will get more stuff done.

Time to cook dinner!

but when I read this I could not stop crying for a full ten minutes.

There has been a stomach virus going around, my friend/colleague had it and my boss had before her, and before him our apprentice had it. Last night when we got home I felt a bit weird and was hot and cold - and dizzy and nauseaus when I was standing. I called my boss and he said he would go into work tomorrow (today) so I could stay home.

This morning I woke at about 8am. I have a headache and felt very tired and lethargic... but none of the other things everyone else had, even though my friend told me that what I was feeling was exactly how hers started (and she was continuously throwing up for about four days).

So I don't know, maybe I was able to fight it off in my sleep or something? I feel a bit bad taking a day off when I am not really sick, even though I truly believed I would be bedridden for a few days - but it is kind of nice to be bumming around at home for a day.

I didn't go for a run today (I forgot my sunglasses and sunscreen in the morning and I usually go straight after work) So I did 20 minutes on my exercise bike. Now I am going for a swim in the river. I also had a good day diet wise: bran and muesli for breakie with a small coffee, a cup of tea, a salad sandwhich, a small iced coffee milk, a can of coke (ok so it's starting to sound bad...). Tonight I am thinking of making some type of sundried tomato pesto sauce with pasta and veges.

I packed up the odd stuff in our bathroom that I don't need (a whole CRATE). Not sure what to do next. I think I might start cleaning some empty cupboards to get a head start...

I decided to clean the pantry, and I even took before and after pics, lol.
before:




after:





before:





after:






Well, it just makes me realise how much I don't have in the pantry! It looks quite bare once it's all tidy, doesn't it?

I just got charged an annual fee on my rewards CC - the one I will be cancelling once everything settles with the mortgage (ie. in a week...!).

I completely blanked on the date (yes, even though it's on the front of the card).

I just paid $48 to learn the hard way, remember when your fees hit.

BLAH!

Oh well. Now I will have to try EXTRA hard to makeup for it this year. I now have to find out a way to save (or earn and redeem rewards for) the $395 package fee for the mortgage AND the $48 card fee from my old CC card.

DF and I have been talking about how we're going to structure our accounts once the house sale is final. We both agree it would be a good idea to keep track of how much each of us pay off the mortgage. I'll just keep track of that on a spreadsheet, it will be interesting to see. I might even start printing it out to be motivating and stick it on the fridge.

These are my ideas for account structure:

Mortgage Account: we will make extra regular payments and these won't be withdrawn.

Offset Account: This will be our large savings account and EF. We won't take money out unless we get less work hours per week, something breaks etc or for planned (and saved for!) renovations. The point of this account is so we don't redraw from our mortgage, but it still saves us on interest. I may also, down the track, deposit amounts into this account that I've spent on the credit card and then withdraw when paying the CC. But only with complete control over the CC expenditures!

DF/My Personal Accounts: We discussed having personal accounts that we can access with ATM cards - where each week an amount is deposited automatically into this account. It will be our 'fun' money that we can use for whatever we please and not feel guilty about. Starting amount will be probably $50 for me and $100 for DF, and we will see how that goes. May have to adjust it up or down depending on how we feel.

Mini Savings Accounts: I might set up a couple of these to save for smaller items we agree on buying (so far: a new fridge, chest freezer, air con). It's pointless having these accounts, I know, when we can just add an extra amount into the offset acocunt each week - but it just seems more organised knowing the amount IS THERE and is being saved for, and is for a purpose. It's more peace of mind than anything else, and if it's only small amounts I guess the interest amounts are hardly anything anyway.

Main Account: Where all our wages will be deposited, and where all deposits to other accounts will come from. The mortgage interest payments will also come from here, so I expect to always have a minimum amount in here to maintain.

Credit Card: Will be used to purchase all or most of the groceries, petrol and houeshold expenses. Then I expect to transfer amounts spent from the main account into the offset account (if I'm organised) and then on due date back to the credit card. If not, then the money will sit in the main account. DF suggested keeping ALL reciepts (i am proud! he's doing well and is learning) so that if we spend money on the CC for say, a video game, then that person will know at the end of the month they have to transfer that amount from their personal account.


I like being organised, but what does everyone else think? having limits and set purposes for accounts really helps me keep calm for some reason (you would think it's the opposite!), much more calm than say, having a main account, a mortgage and a credit card. That just SCARES me.

Anyway. Because I'm such an organisational FREAK, I have even made a chart:

Well as I mentioned in my previous post, it was our last 'big weekend'. Here is the total damage:

Tickets: $281.50
Accomodation: $305
Dining Out/Takeaway: $150
Drink Tickets: $116
Petrol: $10
Activities: $175
Trinket-Memorabilia: $17.00

Total: $1054.50

BLAH!

Anyway, here are some promised pics of our new house, from the real estates website. Please excuse the previous occupiers furniture!

The view from our balcony. Our property backs onto a heritage park and creek, so there will never be another house behind us.


Main bedroom. Two of the four bedrooms have the squared-bookshelf feature in the walls. I love it! The entire house, except for the bathroom and toilet, have hardwood floors under the carpets and vinyl.


Front of the house. BF and his dad are going to put roller-doors where you can see the car parked, and then later on they will enclose that area so it is a double lockup garage.


The loungeroom. My favourite at the moment because it looks SO old. Again, when we move in it will have sanded hardwood floors and we will paint the walls white.


Back view of the house. I'm not so hot on the colour (who paints a house baby blue???) but it is freshly painted so neither of us mind leaving it for a while, until we build up funds. Then we'll probably paint it white.


And that's all the pictures I have now. I will post better ones later, probably after we have done all the work so we can post before and after pictures.