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Archive for January, 2013

It's official

January 12th, 2013 at 11:46 pm

Just got back from the doctor to get my alergy test results. It's been confirmed that I am not allergic to most foods (eggs, peanuts, kiwi, etc) and pine trees (which means can again have fresh christmas tree next year, yeah!) BUT I am highly allergic to prawns, shrimps and crabs (and ohh moderately allergic to lobsters). WHY? One of my favourite food in the world and I'm now allergic to it. Just cruel!

Lastnight, DH and I went to a greek restaurant, we had a voucher for a 4 course set menu, it included garlic prawns. I was drooling at it while DH had it all.

Anyway, I'm having a pity party. We are off to go for a run now, I don't know how it will go we are both a bit injured/sore.

Just realised

January 12th, 2013 at 01:38 am

I was just checking my personal finance spreadsheet this morning and I just realised that we've had 4 NSD in the last 5 days. It just happened.

Monday and Tuesday were NSDs.
Wednesday paid the gas bill ($71.15).
Thursday and Friday were again NSDs.

I've been having lower back problem all week so I haven't been anywhere. Also DH haven't had to top up his train pass this week. So, it has been a great week except for the sore back thing, which doesn't help with the running goal. I think I went a bit too hard with the running, I need to slow down a bit.

Today we need to get some groceries and will be going out for dinner. We got coupon for this dinner so it shouldn't be too much.

Gardening and Free Travel

January 9th, 2013 at 01:54 am

We have been getting a lot of tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchinis from the garden this summer. There has also some strawberries and a handful of blueberries. We have been having salads everyday.

All this week DH has to catch the bus part way to work instead of the train all the way because they are doing some work on the train tracks. Not all buses has the ticketing facilities, I think most of them are school buses they have no need for it (it is our school holiday that's why they are using them). So DH hasn't been paying for some of his trip. I think it will be at least $20 savings for the week. And because of the inconvenience they have been providing breakfast, DH got free banana yesterday. They've also been giving away bbq breakfast sausages, he has opted not to have any of those.

Retail Entitlement Form

January 8th, 2013 at 01:29 am

ARghh! Lost my post!

Yesterday we got an entitlement and acceptance form for one of DH’s stock. He is entitled to acquire 4 new shares for every 5 existing shares, at an offer price of 20cents per shares. All up it amounted to $110.20. I’ve decided to use the Sunny Day Savings for this.

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I’ve added another goal for this year – to read at least 5 books per month. Right now I am re-reading “The Magic of Thinking Big”. I have not read this for about 15 years. This was the first ‘self-help’ book that I read. Someone gave this book to my mum in the early 90’s and just sat in the bookshelf for years until one day (I must have been bored) I picked it up. I’ve probably read 100 self-help books since then.

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January 8th, 2013 at 01:11 am

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What's going on with this blog???

Retail Entitlement Offer

January 8th, 2013 at 01:08 am

Yesterday we got an entitlement and acceptance form for one of DH's stock. He is entitled to acquire 4 new shares for every 5 existing shares, at an offer price of 20cents per new shares. All up it amounted to $110.20. I've decided to take this out of the Sunny Day savings.

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I've decided to add another goal this year. To read at least 5 books a month. At the moment I am re-reading "The Magic of Thinking Big". I can't remember that last time I read this book, maybe 15 years ago. It is probably the first 'self-help' book that I read. I remember someone gave this to my mum in the early 90's and it just sat in the bookshelf for years, until one day I guess I was bored and picked it up.

A week ago a friend of mine lend me "The Twilight" books. I didn't like the movies (I couldn't finish watching the second one) so I'm going to give the books a try.

Jan 2013 Mortgage and Pay

January 7th, 2013 at 01:16 am

Mortgage got paid few days ago.

Paid = $1218
Interest = $548.39
Principal = $669.61
Current Balance = $111,130.37

DH actually got paid on Friday, it is for only 2 days worth. This is because of the christmas break he only worked 2 days for that week. And because they paid him for 3 weeks worth before the christmas (which I'm accounting for in this month's income).

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Yesterday should have been a NSD but I was silly and decided to stop at KFC for burger and chips after our run, I been wanting some for days. I wish I didn't it wasn't that good, DH didn't even have any, not even 1 chip. We came home and he made himself quinoa and tuna salad.

The run was really good until my shin started getting really tight, I thought I was going to get cramp. I thought I was going to run it in 35 minutes but ended up finishing it in 40mins Frown . I've always have problem with my shin, I need to stretch it better.

The weather is going to hot here again today (38 celcius), not as bad compare to NSW where it is going to be 46 in some area of the state. There are still some fire burning around our state. Tasmania however was devastated by the bush fire, there is a whole town that has been wiped out.

Busy and Spendy Saturday

January 6th, 2013 at 01:58 am

We woke up 2 hours earlier than normal for a Saturday yesterday.

By 7:30 we were lining up at the pathology office to get my blood drawn. I had to get tested for my allergies. I should get the result in a few days time, so another doctors appointment for me, yay. Between DH and I we have had about half a dozen doctors visits in the last month.

The pathology only took 10 minutes as we were the 3rd person in line. It was my first time ever getting a blood test, and wasn't too bad. A lot better than going to the dentist!

Speaking of which, we went to the dentist a couple of hours later. I'm a glutton for punishment! Our dentist is in the city, we were lucky we were able to find free parking. Normally it would have cost about 5-10 dollars for a couple of hours parking. The dentist was happy and no need for fillings or further treatment. Just cleaning for myself but DH also had two x-rays taken as it was due. I will be getting mind next visit. My dentist visit cost $142.60, but it was 100% covered by our health insurance so I didn't have to pay anything. DH cost $211.60, the health insurance covered $187.45 so we had to pay $24.15. The extra was for the x-rays.

So far the morning was good, we hardly spent any money but then we went a bit crazy. As we were walking back to our car we saw a sale for 50% off on some shoes. DH badly needed walking/casual shoes as he goes through them so quickly. We decided to buy two pair an the price tag showed $70 each, so 50% off made it $70 for the two pair. However when we went to pay, they came out to be $12.50 each, so $25 for the two pair. Since DH goes through shoes so quickly, and these were so cheap we decided to stock up and bought another 3 pair for $62.40. All up we spent $87.40 for 5 pairs of shoes. I really don't know how DH ruins his shoes so quickly, it's different causes so it's not one issue. It doesn't matter whether we get him the $200 shoes they last as long as the $50-$100 ones. Our clothing budget this month was suppose to be only $30 so we are again now over. Why do I buy clothing in bulk? Because DH and I actually hates clothes shopping, so when we see something worth getting we buy multiples. Especially DH he hates trying things on. Anyway, I hope these will last at least 2 years.

Afterwards, DH took me to a new Mexican restaurant that he tried last month. It was really good. Spent $24.30 for 3 tacos, burrito and a drink.

On the way home, we went to Aldi to get some groceries and stopped at a discount warehouse store for more groceries, including cleaning products.

Then we went to the video store to return a couple of DVD's and then we borrowed another 6 weekly for $7.95. We tend to borrow DVD's this time of the year when there are hardly anything on tv and it's a getting to do indoor when it is very hot outside.

Today we are just relaxing and I hope to go for a run tonight when the weather will be cooler. I decided not to go for a run yesterday, I was really tired after all that stuff that we did yesterday.

January 2013 Spending Plan (Budget)

January 3rd, 2013 at 11:54 pm

I almost forgot to post this. We did well last year by posting our monthly budget here. It just helps so much.




We are in a bit of heatwave here at the moment. Today it will most likely hit 40+ celsius. And the wind is picking up which is not good, it's the same condition we experienced during that horrible Black Saturday, 4 years ago. Today is a total fire ban, this includes a ban on using power tools like a grinder.

Because of this heat DH and I haven't been able to go running since New year's day. I'm hoping we will be able to go tomorrow when the weather will be under 30.

2013 Spending Plan

January 2nd, 2013 at 11:33 pm

This is what our 2013 spending plan looks like. We are again aiming to only spend $21K for these items.



$21K Challenge - 2012

January 2nd, 2013 at 06:21 am

This was our 2012 spending (living spending):




Month by month breakdown:




UNDER by $277.60!
Grocery was pretty much spot on.
Utilities were awesome. I have adjusted it for 2013.
Fuel and Fare as predicted was over by a lot. I didn’t account for the potential increase in public transport tickets.
Health Insurance went up a lot more than I budgeted for. It’s getting very expensive.
Entertainment was good until this last 3 week, we went crazy going out. It’s a bit hard to say no to people you haven’t seen for months.
Personal/Medical, I always find hard to budget for this. I will try to get it right again next year.
Clothing is over because of this month’s spending. Don’t regret it though because it should save us a bit in the future.

So that was 2012. For 2013 (coming next entry), I’m hoping it will be as good as or better than 2012.

DECEMBER 2013

January 2nd, 2013 at 12:46 am

Grocery - $280.24 (under $80.24)
Utilities - $166.5 (under $133.50)
Rates - $141.54 (under $0.46)
Home Phone - $21.11 (under $48.89)
Mobile - $10.00 (under $10.00)
Internet - $55.00 (even)
Fuel & Fare - $177.72 (under $22.28)
Car Registration - $696.50 (even)
Health Insurance -$249.21 (under $0.79)
Entertainment -$359.7 (over $214.70)*wow this is what happens when I don’t keep an eye on our budget. We have been going out so much in the last 3 weeks.
Gifts -$47.60 (under $32.40)
Personal/Medical - $48.45 (under $11.55)
DH Allowance -$100.00 (even)
DW Allowance - $75.00 (even)
Miscellaneous - $21.64 (under $8.36)
*Clothing - $260.91 (over $260.91) Did not budget for this at all this month, but we ended up buying DH 3 suits and 3 business shirts.

TOTAL = $2,656.12 (over $287.62)


The good news is that even though we have gone over by a lot this month we are still under for the year. I will post our whole 2012 spending next.


We had 7 NSD for this month.
Put another $1000 into the holiday fund.
Went a bit over in the chirstmas fund by $82 so I put in extra in that.

2013 Goals

January 2nd, 2013 at 12:06 am

These are our goals for 2013.

Goal 1: Pay extra $30K into the mortgage principal.
Action Plan: Must put in $2,500 extra on average per month.

Goal 2: Save $3000 into the Holiday Fund.
Action Plan: To be done by March (at least $1,000 p/m)

Goal 3: Add $6000 into the Household Fund (There is a long list to do/get).
Action Plan: Will put any extra money to this from Mar to Aug (avg $1000 p/m)

Goal 4: Save $2000 into the Xmas/Anniversary Fund.
Action Plan: To be fully funded by Dec.

Goal 5: Add $2000 into the Car Fund.
Action Plan: Put any extra money towards this goal.

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1 Jan - Run for 40 mins (once around the track)
The other day I ran it for 35 mins, my best time so far. I guess yesterday I wasn't feeling 100%, was still recovering from the last run and was also tired from NYE activities, we played badminton at the picnic.

After our run we went straight to my mum's for lunch. Then in the afternoon we went to the local pool. Just a light session to help me recover. Then last night we watch a 3d movie at home. So that's how we spent our new year day.