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.

The actual trip it self wasn't as much as I expected it to be, it was about $100 less than I anticipated (all up we spent just under $310. What cost a bit that wasn't in my budget was when I broke my favourite sunnies . While trying to put my gear on I dropped it and simultaneously took a step forward, with my ski boot on I stepped on it breaking it into several pieces. There was no rescuing it. I bought that thing less than 3 years ago for $180, so that was the unexpected cost. I will need a new one before we go away for our vacation to the Whitsundays (to the beach) in few weeks time . I was actually thinking already of getting a new one (with prescription) this christmas. I guess I will be getting it earlier than planned but I will just get an ordinary sunnies and keep wearing contact lenses. I was also already planning to get my new prescription glass this month but I think I might get them around Christmas time and I think I will get one with transition lenses instead. I seem to have a lot to think about .

Fortunately and unfortunately it wasn't sunny, so I didn't really need my sunglasses but it wasn't the best condition for skiing. There wasn't much fresh snow so it was more ice. This is not the best snow field in Victoria, and we would definitely will go somewhere else next time. The place took almost 4 hours to get to, next time I would rather we go to the ones that take 6 hours or so but nicer resorts. I would also prefer to go for few days rather than just a day trip to get more time on the snow.



Not the best weather. Loved watching the kids and some adults getting ski and snow board lessons.

DH earned some extra money this month (couple hundred dollars on overtime) and we are thinking of spending it on a day trip.

The trip will probably cost a bit more than couple hundred dollars so we might have to take some out from our allowances or holiday fund.

There is nothing really to update here. I'm still trying to save as much from our grocery budget. It is slowly getting better but I think we might to have a challenge next month to only spend $150-$180 on grocery. It will require a lot of planning but I think it can be done. It would mean doing menu planning again.

Had problem logging on here yesterday.
Anyway, I got really lazy yesterday and didn't do much at all. I did managed to do some ironing (which I hate so much!). DH spent some money on gas and I also got him to get us some toilet paper.

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We have decided to go to the Whitsundays for our holiday this year. We are going in 3 months time. We currently have just less than 2 grand (saved last year) in the Holiday Fund. I will most likely start putting more money in it again in 2 months time. My budget for this trip will be around $2-$2.2K. The flight are reasonably cheap but the accommodations are not.

was another very expensive week. Both DH and I went to see the dentist last week. I will have to go back next month for some fillings. DH had to also see the doctor twice. Not to mention the car service was very expensive. The rest was spent on groceries, take-away and gas, and also some snacks. Apparently, the accommodation that we booked last week will not actually be paid until we go on our holiday so I will take that amount out. I guess if we decide not to go we won't have to pay, that's good.

We only got 1 NSD last week. Hopefully we will have a bit more than that this week and to start the week today was a NSD

I got a massive headache right now so I'm off to bed early.

We haven't had a NSD for over a week. Spent a bit of money last week. I bought some gifts, food, fuel, snacks and of course the tyre repair.

The other day we booked and paid for our accommodation for our up coming holiday. Not too bad i guess.

We just got back from our holiday, visiting families. I didn't have time to blog before we left last week. Our holiday was great, we just went interstate to New South Wales (near Sydney). All up we spent just over $220, this is including the airfare which was paid last year. I will take the costs out of our holiday fund, which should still leave us about $600 in there.

Well, I got to catch up reading everyones blog so catch up with you guys later.

Well, we managed to stay under budget. We still got just over $21 left in the Xmas fund.
I think I will use the left over for NY eve celebration. Our christmas was good, ate too much as per usual. Spent most of it buying great gifts. Just love giving gifts. It's great to have money set a side for this kind of occassions, no stress at all. We will be doing it again next year. I'm thinking of putting $70 p/month for it.

I'm still tinkering with my spending plan for next year, pretty much done. I'm getting really excited about next year, we will be focusing more on investing and saving. There will be quiet a bit of money coming in around early next year.

We are about to open 2 managed funds (maybe be 2?), domestic and international. Pretty much decided which once ones we want to get, we already got the money set aside for it (from the company shares that we sold few months ago). We will then be putting $100 p/m for each funds. Hoping to keep these for at least 10years or more, maybe until retirement. We'll see.

Overall, our spending this year has been very good, way better than the previous years. But I would like to do even better next year. I've already told DH of an idea I got on lowering our expenses (it will be our personal challenge for 2008), he seems to be with me in this one. I am in the process of putting together a plan to achieve this goal/challenge. And will blog about it once it's done. In my head it's achievable!