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.

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.

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

Got a phone call from our internet provider, they are calling again to get us to sign up for a 12-month contract with a 10% off. Last time they called I think they wanted 24 months, which DH said No to. This time DH agreed for the 12-month deal. They will also give us $10 credit per month for 6 months on our home phone, it is with the same provider. It is about $120 worth of saving for us.

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I've been enjoying reading everyone's $1K lists.

I think the only thing worth over 1K before I meet DH was my second hand car that was worth $2K. And I guess my education, which I haven't fully paid off yet anyway. DH and I spend a lot on our education almost every year on both formal and informal studies.

Apart from the House and Car which is really DH's purchases. Here's ours list, the ones that I can remember:

Wedding/Rings/Honeymoon ~$20K

Bed Set (Mattress, Bed frame, 2 bedside tables, and Tallboy) - $2.7K great sale price

Gift to Parent - $2K (2002)

Overseas Holiday - $3K

Laptop - $1.2K but it included wireless router and powerboard w/ surcharge and also got some tax refund for it, so this probably ended up to be less than $1K

Interstate Holiday - $1.3K

LPG Convertion for the Car - $2.4K but got 2K rebate back from the gov't and we have also saved so much more from reducing our fuel cost.

Gift to Parent - $4K (2008)

Dental Surgery ~$2K it included Hospital excess pay, but I did get some rebate so all up it would have been around that.

New Gutter - $2.9K

Roof Restoration - $1.3K

Gift to relative for hospital cost for major medical surgery - $3K (2008)

Electrical work - $1.9K (2009) There is more work that needs to be done here but hoping it won't be as much as this.

Repairs and renovation -$2.9K (so far this year). This incl plumbing work and materials, we did most of the labour ourselves.

*I call them "gift" because it is better to think of them that way, no resentment. I really don't believe in lending money to family and friends, it ruins relationships. We gave away quite a bit of money last year, but we were lucky too last year because we earnt so much more than expected. I've never talked about this before, not even here. I believe in helping out because we have been there before too and we were lucky to have someone help us out just for the seek of helping out without expecting anything back.

A lot of our big purchases is for house improvement and holidays. I'm amaze that a lot of our holidays didn't make the list. We do have our upcoming holiday that will most likely cost around $2.5K.

That's all I can think of for now, I don't think there's any left really.

We decided to start putting our monthly savings into our mortgage redraw again, starting this month. It is most likely that our interest rate will go up before the end of the year. So we want to put some extra money in it to keep within our current payments.

I've mentioned before how for a year now we been putting our monthly savings into the stock market. Lately, I haven't been able to find another stock to buy, not that I'm looking that hard though. I'm really waiting for the market to retrace a bit before getting in again. In the mean time there are few grand in the trading account waiting for the next buy. But we won't be putting any more money in it for the next few months, maybe not until next year again.

Sunday (which was yesterday here) was spent working around the house. DH and I got up late and had a very late breakfast. DH decided then to clean the gutter and resealed a couple of the joints where it has been leaking a bit. I on the other hand did some weeding in the herb garden and tidying up the front garden, raking leaves and pulling some more weeds. DH was also planning to do some spraying at the back but it's very windy around here at the moment so hoping he will get that done next weekend. I'm hoping we can get rid of the weeds in the next month coz I want to aerate the lawn soil and then spread more grass seeds before it gets too hot again.

The herbs are doing really well at the moment, I got some coriander (cilantro), flat parsley and rosemary. I just planted some basil last week, I don't know if they will survive, probably a bit early for them. The capsicums (bell peppers) are also doing well considering I haven't really been looking after it. There are about a dozen of them in just 2 small plants. I was going to pick 2 of them yesterday but the bee buzzing around kept me out.

All up we spent almost 3 hours outside working, it was nice weather except for the wind. Afterwards we had our afternoon tea in front of the tv watching Australian football. It was just a very nice Sunday at home and it was a NSD.

It was a very tiring day, DH and I spent the whole day shopping. Spending (and making) money can be tiring. Got some really nice bargain today though. We bought:
An engagement gift for next week for $29 (down from $70)
Slazenger sunglasses for DH, good for when he plays tennis or go running - only $15 down from $100, 85% off!
I also got 2 sunglasses, I only really was planning to get 1 but it was such a good price that I decided to get 2 coz I couldn't decided which one to get and plus it was within my budget. I budgeted $200 for a new sunglasses. I ended up paying just over $203 for a Gucci and an Oroton brand. I'm normally not that into brand names but these were good and most importantly actually fit my face. Besides the only other ones that I liked and fitted my face was already around $170-$199. Also the Oroton one is prescriptibles, it will be nice to wear sunglasses without having to have contact lenses on, which I hate wearing.
We also stopped by at Aldi, the tomatoes and mushrooms were really cheap today. Only spent $21.22 on groceries today. We should have enough food for the rest of the month.

Well that was our Saturday, now I'm beat and all I want now is to eat dinner and watch tv all night.

Costco just opened its first ever store here in Australia yesterday. Its first store is in Melbourne so it is not that far from where we are. Apparently there were some people that drove for hours just to go to Costco. I'm not sure if I want to pay $60 (Aust dollar) just to have a look. I don't think we buy enough to make it worthy of becoming a member. I think I will wait and see what it is like in few months time. I still think this is good for increasing competion around here. We need it.

We had a big weekend spent way too much at Nobu, but it was so good. We really didn't do much because the weather was horrible, raining and really windy.

Not much to update these days. We've been pretty good with NSDs so far this month.

We will be going out to Nubo Japanese restaurant this weekend for some celebration so that will be quite pricey.

The Aust market is still going up like crazy, I've closed out my short trade. Loss some from it but the up side of my individual shares more than covered by almost 3 times. The portfolio just hit 40% profit today, I really doubt that this will stay up this high though.

Nothing much happening here. Just paid off our accommodation for our next vacation.

We haven't been grocery shopping for over 2 weeks, apart from getting milk, bread and that, I just been using up whatever we got in the pantry and freezer. But I think we really need to go this weekend. I might make a menu plan and shopping list later today.

Just heard from the news that our employment numbers are a lot better than expected. Our economy is looking a lot better that before and this could mean an increase to our interest rate by the end of the year. We have definitely avoided the recession here in Australia.

We needed it. This weekend day trip will be pricey. But we really need to get away and try to enjoy ourselves. DH has been working so hard lately and really need to enjoy life a bit.

We spent a bit of money this weekend. We bought some clothes and eat out a lot. The eating out was bad, we really didn't need to do that much eating out... regrets, regrets.

Early Saturday morning I got woken up by the beeping of our security alarm. It needed a new battery, that cost us $40. While out getting the new battery we also got some noodles for dinner. We didn't feel like cooking at all this weekend. The only thing I cooked this weekend was the carrot cake. It was such a naughty weekend. I'm sure having regrets right now. Oh well live and learn.

The only good news was I managed to only spend $32 on grocery this week.

We've had 3 NSD in the row, I didn't even realised it until today. Today should be a spend day though. I asked DH to get some stuff for me today and I'm pretty sure he will need to fill up the car again today. Tomorrow we will need to go to the market to get some meat and fresh produce. I also want to go shopping for some stuff for our get away.

It is almost the end of July and it is time to start thinking about Christmas. Yes...that's right! I said Christmas. It is only just around the corner, so I am starting to think about it now. Luckily we have the funds set a side for it and all have to do now is make a list of what to get people and what to make. And also whether we will be spending it at home or somewhere else.

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.

DH just got paid and he is getting just over $100 a month extra due to his pay rise and also the recent tax cuts. Our financial plan will continue as it is, no major changes at all.

Expenses this month has been really good so far, most bills has been paid for. So hopefully no suprises will come up.

Just got info that DH will be getting a pay rise this month. Don't know exactly how much it will but we should find out sometime next month. It won't be much, probably only around $80 per month after tax and super. Better than nothing I guess, considering this wasn't on the cards for this year at all. Few months ago they were told that there won't be a pay rise this year. So this was a suprise. A nice little suprise.

Really haven't done much in the last week, I've done the painting job. I just can't be bothered at the moment.

I'm still waiting for my $900 stimulus payment from the our government. I don't think I will be able to get it this month, which means we won't be able to fully fund the Car fund.

That's all I got today.

After living it up Friday night and Saturday, Sunday was much more low key. We got up really late (after 10am, we had late night watching cricket). DH made pancakes and cafe latte for breakfast. Afterwards we went grocery shopping, hardly spent any money (just over $20), we didn't need to get any meat only fruits and vegies.

Our afternoon spent cleaning the garden, in particular trimming the trees. Our yearly green pick up is coming up next week. This is the time were you can put out as much green items (branches, grass clippings, big items that can't fit into our normal rubbish bin, etc).

After that we did a lot of cooking. I made roast capsicum and tomato soup, while DH made bread in the breadmaker. I also made chickpeas and vegies curry, while DH cooked some steam rice. I'm trying to make more vegetable dishes this winter.


Soup and Bread

Our night was then spent sipping red wine while watching CSI and tinkering with the computer. DH was looking at margin loans, he is seriously looking at getting it. We've been talking about this for a while now, and now might be the best time when the rate is very low and the prices are low. No final decision is made yet, we will see.

I was paying some bills online and I also did some stock research on my computer, I'm looking to get in but I don't think there will be an entry this week. I also check my current stocks and they are all doing well SO FAR (I try not to count my eggs...you know).

and its great.

Last night (Friday night), DH took me out to a nice Greek restaurant. Their antipasto and dips were so good. DH paid for it out of his own money (the money I gave him as a bonus for hardly spending his allowance last year - can you believe he still hasn't spent much). This was of course already been deducted as an expense last year. The man just doesn't know how to spend his money.

Today we got up late and decided to go for a day trip to the Yarra Valley wineries, it's about an hour away from our place. There are probably about 100 wineries in the area. First winery we went to was Domaine Chandon winery. Their facility is really nice, people can actually see where they make the wines.


Biggest cork I've ever seen.






We had lunch at a nice bakery (it is suppose to be Australia's best bakery - I'm not really sure about this claim, nice but not great). It was however a lot cheaper then having lunch at a winery restaurant. Overall we only spent $20, light lunches at the winery would have costs at least $17.00 per dish.

After lunch we went to another winery called De Bortoli. This one is pretty famous here is Australia, especially for their cheap wines. In this winery, they also had some nice cheeses. We got an $8 worth of cheese platter and crackers, and took it with us when we went wine tasting.


This place almost got distroyed in the recent summer bushfire. This is bad photo but if you look closely, those brown trees in the background actually got burnt in the fire.

Going home we took the back road and in some area one side of the road got burnt and the other side was lush green.

Also when we were driving home we drove through a small place called Kangaroo Grounds, I was jokingly complaining to DH about how it is called Kangaroo grounds and all I see are cows. About 2 mins later while driving through a winding road, we could see 2 kangaroos hopping towards the road. Knowing that they were most likely going to cross the road DH slowed right down. The car coming from the opposite direction from us hardly slowed down at all and almost hit the second kangaroo. We don't think he saw the second one at all, probably just assumed there was only one. Needless to say, we almost had kangaroo steak for dinner (just kidding!).

We had a great day and hardly spent any money. Apart from spending money on lunch and the cheese platter, the only other thing we got was a bottle of wine. We still got about 2 dozens at home so we didn't want to get too many, we are running out of place to put them.

Well that's my weekend so far, Monday is our Queen's birthday holiday...so it's a long weekend!

He has been away for work since Monday, so he has been away for 3 nights. This is the first time ever since we got married that we been apart. I'm really not used to it, and it's been so quiet at home alone.

Financially, while he has been away I haven't spent a cent, not even for bills. DH will get (reimburse) $50 a night for food spending, knowing him he probably hardly spent any. I won't know exactly until he gets home but I suspect he will come out ahead.

We got a lot of work done around the house on the weekend. Have put up couple of the doors up, did some sanding and painting and some yard work as well. Still got a lot to do though. My main goal this month was to clean the garage, well I did some of it but have now also put more junk/stuff in there again.

We also managed to go out and watched X-men:Wolverine, it was really good.

We just bought 3 new doors to replace the old ones. Also got new handles with it. I hope it's not too hard to put them up.

I will be doing some painting soon, so I will need to get some paint. We will also be getting some electrical and plumbing work done. I got a lot of work to do in the next week or so. And a lot of spending too (bad but necessary spending).

Our hot water wasn't working the other day so we had to get someone to have a look at it yesterday. The guy came in and replaced the controller, it took him not even 20 mins. Labour cost $110 and the rest was for the new part. Where can I get a job like that? Not bad at all.

Wow I haven't been here for over a month, we have been very busy. We had people over and then we went away for a while. I'm still trying to calculate what we have spent our money in the last month or so. I don't think it that bad but I think the grocery budget will be way over. Hopefully I will finished my caculation today.

Got a letter from our internet provider today, wanting us to renew with them for 12 months (i.e. go on another 12 months contract with them) for 10% discount. DH and I are thinking about it. Last year we did research on finding a better internet deal but we come to a decision that this company's deal is what is best for us. So yeah we are thinking about this deal. I don't think we will be changing provider in the next 12 months, so may as well right? Although it is really not much saving around $50 for the whole year. We have been out of contract for couple of years or so now. Generally, we don't like to be locked in but in this case it might not be a bad idea, especially since we have been with them for about the last 7 years. DH will give them a ring hopefully tomorrow and he will decide then whether we will go ahead or not.


8 Jan - 8:30pm

Received a $75 cheque from our electrical company today for overcharging us last month. Also I was checking my saving account online tonight to make sure I have enough funds in there, to my suprise there was a $35.53 deposit in there from my health insurance. Keep them comin'!

It will all go towards the household fund.




7 Jan - 11pm

It's a really nice Sunday afternoon right now, we are just relaxing gearing up for tomorrow's back to work day . Lunch was riccotta and spinach in filo pastry with a side of salad (mostly from the garden - lettuce and rockets were from the garden).

We got the statement for our annual car insurance (due in a week or so). It is less than what I anticipated it to be, which is fine by me . It will only be $686.60, under budget by $23.40 (great start for our 2009 challenge). Last year the increase for this insurance was around $50 more than the previous year, but it only increase by less than $10 this year...yipee!

Oh today should be a NSD. 3 days in a row for us!

Basically he doesn't use it so he loses it -lol. He seems to have problem spending his allowance money. Most of it this year was only spent when he forgets his lunch or if there was a special occasion at work were he might need to spend some of it. But most of the time he spend it either on something for us or on me.

I on the other hand spend what I got up to the very last amount, as evident in this year's allowance spending. I tend to stick to my budget. But because DH spend his money on me it kind of like I got double allowance so if I don't have it in the budget I won't be tempted to think that I got some money reserve somewhere.

DH has been so good that he sure deserves a good reward. Since we are under on our $20K challenge by $260, he got $150 to get whatever he wants with it.

Dh and I had a very nice new year last night.

Still really busy here and been spedning quite a bit of money. I haven't really added it all up, I'm kind of scared. I should be able to finalize my 2008 $20K challenge later today and will post it maybe tomorrow.

Again have a safe new year everyone.

We've been really busy with christmas stuff, so I haven't been here for few days. I need to catch up on what every one has been up to. I will update when things settle down here, hopefully in few days time.

Hope everyone had a great christmas.