My Simple Financial Plan

I finalised my October numbers the other day and have already updated my sidebar. I so busy at the moment to write out a proper blog entry.

These were my October goals:
1. Grocery bill under $200, by sticking to the Menu Plan and by only buying what is in the Grocery List.
==Didn't quiet make it, we only have over $300 in the grocery budget for the rest of the year==

2. Entertainment exp no more than $100
==Failed!! ==

3. Living expenses under $1,100
==Almost but because of execess in #1 & #2 goals, it was a bit over.==

4. Spring Cleaning
==I was happy with my effort but there are a lot more to do around the house, so this going to be an going goal==

5. Blog more often to stay motivated.
==I blogged a lot last month, almost everyday, until I got too busy==

Hopefully I will have more time to blog again next week...bye for now.

The only thing that I must finish today is the IRONING (I hate doing the ironing!)...(DONE!!) I also managed to clean the toilet and fridge. The house is now mighty clean

DH couldn't get the car started yesterday afternoon, he was at work trying to get home. He had to get the roadside service assistant, which cost $280 but at least this means we are now a member for the next 12 months. Next year the membership should be a lot cheaper. The guy said that it there is something wrong with the fuel pump or something. He managed to get the car started to get home. Today he will need to take the car to the shop again, I didn't know that last week they didn't actually service the entire car, they only looked at the brakes and the radiator, not enough time. I guess our car is 10 years old now and we will probably be expecting more car repairs from now on. We really need to beef up the car fund sooner than later.

Things that I've done today and things that still need to do:

1. 2 load of washing (DONE)
2. Vacuuming (DONE)
3. Swiping the garage floor (DONE)
4. Empty out the dishwasher (DONE)
5. Ironing
6. Cooking (DONE)
7. Scrub the shower (DONE)

Didn't quite finish my to do list yesterday, we got distracted. It was such a beautiful day yesterday, that we decided to go out instead. We went for a walk around a park near the city and also drove to the beach for more walk. All up I think we did about 5km walk.





The tallest building in the background is called the Eureka Tower and it is the tallest building in Australia.

Today we've painted the waterproofing stuff (2 coats)on the floor, it will need 48hrs before we can do anything else to it.

Today I've also done the following:
- Shopping
- Cleaned up the dining table
- Cleaned the kitchen
- Cleaned the lounge room
- Cleaned the family room

Yet to do today:
1. Cooking (DONE)
2. Ironing (half done)

I couldn't log on here for the last couple of days. It wouldn't sign me in at all. Anyway, the last two days I just been working a lot, I haven't done anything around the house (I can't remember what I've done now, I just did whatever needed to be done around - nothing much). So, today (Sat, 24 Oct)I intend to do a lot of work around the house.

1. A load of washing (DONE)
2. Dusting (DONE)
3. Moping
4. Waterproofing a floor
5. Water the plants (DONE - DH did it)

I got one main thing to do tonight and that is to finish my painting job. Also

1. Need to cook dinner (DONE)
2. Clean up the kitchen (DONE)

That's it.

Today is a NSD...yipee.(hmmm...I prematurely celebrated)

Painting (DONE)

NSD was actually spoilt by DH. He came home early today with vanilla essence. He decided to make a carrot cake. The last time he made a cake he finished the vanilla essence, so he had to get one today. But for some reason it was only worth 80cents. It is normally around $3.80 and according to DH that was the price that it actually showed on the shelf. DH thought he misheard the lady and actually gave her $4, but he was given $3.20 change. So, I guess I'm not really that upset about him spoiling the NSD coz it was a steal.

Probably should also mention that it was really DH that did most of the cleaning in the kitchen after he made the cake.

Right now DH is picking up the car from the shop. We got it serviced today, the main thing they did to it was changed the front brake. All up it should cost around $500. DH told me they apparently found 3 holes in the radiator and this will cost around $1,000 to replace but it can't be done today. We will need to bring it in again some other time. This will all come out of the car fund.

Tonight I will try to get the following done:

1. Wash bath mats and other rugs (DONE)
2. Cook dinner (DONE)
3. Do some more painting (DONE)
4. Tidy up one of spare room (DONE)


Good news, the car repair wasn't as much as they first quoted. It was only $360.80 in the end.

We actually end up getting the milk yesterday, while we were out getting some stuff at the hardware store.

Today I intend to do the following:

1. A load of washing (bed sheets) - already on (DONE)
2. Painting a final coat onto the door frames (DONE)
3. I've also decided to paint other stuff - a window frame and some other timber boards that I been meaning to paint (half-way)
4. Ironing (DONE)
5. Vacuuming - if I have enough energy to do this (DONE)
6. Cooking Dinner (DONE)

Damn, I should just go to work today then I won't have to work so hard!

It's Sunday here, and it has been a lazy Sunday so far. Got up late and just been chatting online all morning. Still recovering from yesterday, we went for a drive to nice winery yesterday afternoon. This winery is surrounded with reserve wildlifes and wetlands. We had lunch at the cafe and then took a 2 hour walk around the property. It was very nice.
I will put photos later.

Things to do today:
1. Change beddings (DONE)
2. Finish painting door frame (Done but I think it needs a 3rd coat, I will reasses when it is dry)

Some photos from our day trip yesterday:



Bridge


Wild Ducks


Grape Vines

I didn't get anything done at all yesterday, not even the dishes! We went out for dinner after work yesterday and didn't get home until 9:30pm. I watch a bit of tv and actually felt asleep on the couch. When I woke up it was already after mid-night, too late to do the dishes.

I just got up, today I got a bit of cleaning up to do:

1. Wash dishes and clean the kitchen sink (DONE)
2. Do a load of washing (DONE)
3. Change beddings (DONE)
4. Update my financial spreadsheets Oops this is DONE)
5. Might also do some shopping - not crucial but we are running out of milk (not this one - DH will get this after work tomorrow). Decided to get this while we were out at the hardware store.

Didn't finish everything I set out to do yesterday.

Today I've done some online banking, so it was a spendy day. Just realised we had 4 NSDs in a row before today.

Things to do tonight:
1. Cook (DONE)
2. Clean the microwave (DONE)
3. Clean the Stovetop spotless (DONE)

I actually managed to finish all my to do list yesterday.

I got up this morning thinking about Christmas. I am pretty much done with my christmas shopping, except with a couple of things. I know what to get, I just can't get them yet because they will have a used by date. I don't want to get them too early. So today I want to:

1. Gift wrap at least half of the christmas gifts (DONE)
2. Dusting (DONE)
3. Polishing the furnitures (DONE)
4. Maybe spend 1/2 hour in the garden, if the weather gets better (Weather was horrible but I did water some plants that don't get rain on)
5. Sand and Paint 2 door frames (Need second coat)
6. Check online banking (DONE)

After cleaning the bathrooms the other day my back got really sore. I didn't get much done after that. And I pretty much just rested my back yesterday.

So far today, I've done some tidy up in the garage. Today I still need to:

1. finish the ironing (DONE)
2. patching up a small wall, above the sink. It will need light sanding and painting (DONE)
3. really need to do the vacuuming today (DONE)
4. shampoo one of the rug (DONE)
5. update my personal finance spreadsheets (DONE)

Friday I did absolutely nothing but went to work. I went to bed really early, I've been really tired lately.

Yesterday we did the grocery shopping and we also went to check out some new fridges, we are looking at getting a new one soonish. We were just trying to get an idea on what is out there, we probably won't get one for another year but it's good to start looking into it.

These are the things I've done so far this weekend apart from shopping:

1. 2 loads of laundry.
2. A lot of cooking - I think half of my cooking for the coming week is already done.
3. Cleaned the kitchen benches.
4. Watered the garden.

I'm aiming to still do the following today:
1. Ironing (Half-way through)
2. Clean the bathrooms (DONE)
3. Do some cleaning in the garage.
4. Vaccuming
5. Mopping the kitchen floor (DONE)

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

Stock Talk:

It's company reporting season at the moment here, which means dividends are being paid. I think all up I got about $300 worth of dividends, and DH got more than $500. A lot of it has been reinvested via DRP or will soon be used to buy more shares.

Our stock market is still going up. Our economy have now recovered, they even increased our interest rate by 25 basis points few days ago, which means our mortgage payments will start to go up again (I've always known that the low rate will not last that long, it was nice though but I've always made sure that we didn't get used to it). The recent employment numbers were a lot better than expected too. People here are seeing a lot of positives in our economy which is being reflected in the stock market. DH and I already got our plans set up for when this opportunity were to come up.

I haven't done anything but work, it has been really busy. Been coming home late and just dog tired. I can't wait for the weekend to come. I've got a lot of things to do. Financial wise, I need:

1. to get my tax organise (DOne some)
2. do some research on my current stocks (read all the company reports that have accumulated on my desk)- (So boring)
3. to pay bills (DONE)
4. to check Bank accounts (DONE)

I got the day off today, so I'm planning to do a lot around the hourse today.

1. Do a load of washing (DONE)
2. Cook stew for dinner and some for the freezer (DONE)
3. Vaccuming (DONE)
4. Clean Dining table (DONE)
5. Filing (DONE)
6. Organise DH's suits and winter coats so it can be taken to the dry cleaners sometime this week. (DONE)
7. Dusting (DONE)

I was also going to water the garden but it rained this morning so that's one thing I don't have to do today.

Was out all day on the 4th of Oct but I did cleaned out the fridge and all the rubbish bin for collection.

Today was spent all day at work. But tonight I will:
1. Pay couple of bills (DONE)
2. Clean the kitchen sink spotless (DONE)

I actually managed to finish all my to do list yesterday. The ironing got done late last night.

Today I want to do:
1. Clean the freezer (DONE)
2. Do about an hour gardening (DONE)
3. Grocery Shopping (DONE)
4. Go to the bank to deposit a dividend cheque (DONE)
5. Do some cooking for sunday night because we will be away all day tomorrow. (Didn't need to do it coz mum gave us some leftovers when we went to her place for lunch so - kind of DONE)
6. Make coriander pesto - to use up all the remaining coriander herbs. (DONE - turned out really good, I freeze some of it and will use it in a week or two).


Got to run to the bank now, it's going to be a busy Saturday.

I got more than 5 things to do today.

1. Menu Planning for Oct (have started)(DONE)
2. Grocery List for Oct (DONE)
3. Ironing (DONE)
4. Sewing- fixing a dress (DONE)
5. Clean closet (DONE)
6. Clean study desk (DONE)
7. Mop kitchen floor (DONE)

Things that I've done so far today:
- Check online bank account (DONE)
A load of washing (DONE - it's now drying outside)
- Finalise Sept numbers (DONE)
- Blog about Sept numbers and update sidebar(DONE)

1. Grocery bill under $200, by sticking to the Menu Plan and by only buying what is in the Grocery List.

2. Entertainment exp no more than $100

3. Living expenses under $1,100

4. Spring Cleaning

5. Blog more often to stay motivated.

As can be seen on my side bar our Sept Exp was through the roof. A lot of our expenses are due in Sept and because it is the start of the warmer season everyone wants to go out. There are a lot of birthdays and celebrations that happens in Sept too. Christmas and New year babies.

We are now in the red with our Entertainment budget for the year and there are still 3 months to go. We really got to do better this month or we will never make our $19K challenge this year. Spent a bit more on groceries but a lot of it will use in Oct. So I expect to have a very low grocery bill this month but we might be getting visitors so who knows how well we will go.

Good news was that we still managed to have 8 NSDs last month.

Spent a lot of money again on the weekend. This is becoming a habit for us, buying too much stuff on weekends, and it has to stop. I will have to make a list of things that we bought this month, it's not pretty.

Apart from shopping too much on Saturday we also did a lot of gardening on Sunday. DH planted a lemon tree and I planted a tomato. DH also bought a blueberry bush, hopefully we can plant it sometime this week. We've never had berries before (except for strawberries), so this should be interesting. It was only $8, and DH really wanted to try it.

Nothing much else happened here, there are a lot of bills this month. Our quarterly property rate is due this week, and utilities are a lot more this month because of annual fees. I can't wait for this month to finish, October should be so much better than this month.

I've decided not to waste my time with the veggie garden this summer. According to the experts this is going to be a very hot summer. We just don't have enough water to have a veggie garden. Hopefully this time next year we will have a water tank but unfortunately that is not our priority right now. I also want to spend most of my energy this summer on doing more house repairs/renovations instead. I think if I plant too much it will get neglected, and it will just be a waste of time and money.

I'm thinking of still planting a couple of tomato plants and keep up with my herb garden and other plants that is already in the ground. Also DH want to get and plant a fruit tree or lime/lemon tree this year. We will probably get one and plant it this weekend. I really miss our fruit trees (esp the fig tree), we had to get rid off it because it was in a bad spot.

Hopefully the weather will be nice this weekend for gardening, we need to get our garden and lawn prep before the really hot weather comes. This should have been done a month ago but we got too busy and on our free time the weather hasn't been as co-operative.

DH won a $30 Gift card last week from work, and it didn't cost him anything. They were celebrating some milestone at work and was just giving a lot of prizes. Many people got movie tickets, alcohol and gift cards.

The one he got was for Bunnings (a one stop shop Hardware Store). We spent it by buying new filters for our under the counter/sink water filter.

Our holiday cost was just few cents below $1,930. It was worth every cents. Our accommodation was expensive but was very nice, the view from the balconies (it had 2) was priceless. Hopefully next time we go to this side of the country I'll be game enough to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef.

Here are some of the photos, hope you enjoy them.

The Marina


DH enjoyed cooking bbq at the upstair balcony while watching the sunset.


There were some very friendly visitors. Cockatoo birds.


We did a lot of swimming and kayaking here.

We got back couple of days ago but was too busy to blog. I haven't even uploaded any of our photos from the holiday yet. We had a great time, and the bonus was that we went way below our budget. I budget $2,500 but only spent less than 2 grand. We saved a lot by cooking all our meals, we didn't eat out at all, only spent some on some snacks. We could have saved more, but the food in the island on average costs about 2 to 3 times more than want it is normally at home. The costs for activities were pretty reasonable. We did a lot of swimming, kayaking, hiking, cruising around the island with a golf buggy and just relaxing while watching the sunset. We also went on a boat cruise to "find Nemo" at the coral reefs.

Hopefully, in the next few days I can finalise everything and might even put up some photos.

I tried this out last month and it worked out so well that I decided to keep doing it for this month too. I've never really done a whole month menu planning before, I think the most I've done in the past was for 2 weeks. I like that I only spent about 1/2 hour writting it out and I even got some input from DH. For some reason he is craving for maccaroni and cheese, weird man!

I really like how I just get up in the morning, look at the menu list and just take out the meat (if required) from the freezer. It really helps me from agonizing on what to cook for dinner that night. This way I make the menu list and then from that I spend about 15 mins writting out the shopping list. A lot less work doing it this way than weekly or even every other week. Well so far so good anyway. The biggest reward for doing a menu plan and then having a grocery list based on that menu plan is the savings we make from reduce grocery bill. Last month we only spend $196.10, our lowest grocery bill since Jan. I don't know why I don't make menu plan all the time when it saves me so much time and money. Pure laziness I guess, which is stupid cause by having one I actually spend less time thinking about what to cook every night.

Interesting topic BA.

I guess it depends on how you define frugality, if it means always buying the cheaps item then that's not us; or if it means always watching our money then that's not us; or if it means always thinking only about the future then that is not us either. Mmmm...maybe we are not frugal at all.

This is what we normally do:

We don't always buy the cheapest thing in the market. No matter how cheap an item is, if it doesn't taste good or it doesn't work then it just become a waste, and that is just not frugal to us.

We are not a "brand name" snobs either. Sometimes this saying can be true: "Only the rich can buy cheap". For us it mostly about quality rather than quantity, don't really care about its brand name. Most of the time it can cost less in the long run. A RayBan sunglasses that DH bought back in 2000 for almost $200 is still in very good condition despite how many times he has dropped it and wears it practically everyday.

For us it's all about having a balance life style. Eventhough we put money away for our future we also have no qualms about spending our hard earn money today either. If it's within our budget then why not spend it, especially on something that we value, like date nights or holidays. Our relationship is more important to us than money.

So I think overall we are not uber-frugal but mindful about where our money goes.

I personally do love doing up the budget, I just love working with the numbers. I just love thinking about what we can do/buy with the money. It is not necessarily about things that we want to buy really. Most of the time I dream about which stocks I can buy for the money I save from spending less on groceries or from lowering utility bills. I just love buying shares

Saving = $1,000 which was put into the mortgage account.

Also, $1,190 into the Household Fund.

All left over money from Aug to Nov will be allocated this way - $1000 into saving and the rest into the household fund. In Dec it will be put into Xmas/Anniversay Fund for 2010.

I've been thinking a lot lately about our 2010 goals, I have even spoken to DH about it already. He seems to be all for it, he is easily persuaded though. Initially, we were just going to have similar goals as what we have this year but now we are really eager to finish all our major renovations by mid-next year because we are getting sick and tired of living in a place that is always "under construction".

So next year we will postpone putting money into the EF. We currently have $8K in it, which cover about 6 mnths worth of living expenses. It should be enough for now and we will continue funding it again in 2011. Car fund will have to stop for a year also. We are not planning to get a new car for another 4-5 years. Right now we have about $5,000 in it so anything untowards were to happen with our current car we got that to fall back on. Well, that's what we are thinking at the moment, I guess we got another 4 months to finalize our goals for 2010.

Better go and update my side bar.

Oh by the way we had 11 NSDs in August.

DH just received $194.60 dividend for one of his stock, it will all be reinvested.

Most of our dividends are being paid this time of the year & I love it.