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Archive for May, 2012

May 2012

May 31st, 2012 at 10:25 am

We just made it under budget.

May 2012:
Grocery - $250 --- (over $12.69)
Utilities - $100 --- (under $8.05)
Rates - $340 --- (under $3.00)
Home Phone - $25 --- (under $8.00)
Mobile - $20 --- (under $5.00)
Internet - $50 --- (under $0.05)
Fuel & Fare - $200 --- (under $2.80)
Health Insurance -$250 --- (under $0.79)
Entertainment -$200 --- (under $15.70)
Gifts -$200 --- (over $11.20)
Personal/Medical - $50 --- (over $39.38)
Clothing - $30 --- (under $18.52)
DH Allowance -$100 --- ($0)
DW Allowance - $60 --- ($0)
Miscellaneous - $25 --- (under $11.06)

TOTAL = $1,900 --- (under $9.70)

We had 10 NSDs so that’s $100 into the Sunny day savings.

Property rate tax

May 31st, 2012 at 01:35 am

Just paid the property rate for this quarter, $337.
That's it for the month, I can now finalise May. And the will come up with the June budget. Next month should less expensive than this month.

NSD

May 30th, 2012 at 11:31 am

NSD today...yeah!

DH went to see the doctor tonight he got a blood test for his kidney he will have to go back next week for the result. He also got his eye looked at, he will need to go the the eye hospital to see a specialist about a cyst (chalazion). The hospital final contacted him about it, it's only been 8 months since his doctor requested the hospital to see him. Oh well the cyst is actually really small now, it is not noticeable anymore but the doctor still want him to see the specialist just in case. She wants him to get it taken out. We don't know if it will cost us any money, it might be cover by medicare. I guess DH will find out when he go see them.

Today

May 29th, 2012 at 11:58 am

Again, I've been busy renovating. It is taking a while, I've been doing it by myself in the last two days. DH had to go to work, he can only do a bit after work because firstly he is already tired and we are not allowed to use power tools after 8pm.

I decided to make a built in shelf into the wall so that is also taking a bit of my time, it is a bit fiddly to make.

Spending today was only for DH train pass $20 and yesterday was $14.05 at the hardware store. Tomorrow should be a NSD which would make it 10 for the month. I can pretty much finalise this month, the only spending left is for property tax due on the 31st.

I got my laptop back

May 28th, 2012 at 02:37 am

DH managed to fix it last nigh, it took him almost two days to figure it out. First thing I did was to gather my receipts that we collected on the weekend and then updated my spreadsheet.

I'm planning to do a little bit of plastering today. DH will need to go back to the hardware store tonight to get something else, the hardware store is near the train station where he park the car so it is convenient.

Pizza for dinner

May 27th, 2012 at 12:11 pm

Too tired to cook tonight, so we got some pizza. Spent $17.50 for two large size, plenty of left over for lunch for tomorrow.

We finished building the wall today. We had to go to the hardware store to get some more supply that we couldn't get yesterday (I think we spent about $30, I left the receipt in the car). The store yesterday didn't have what we needed. There are still a bit to do, we still need to do plastering, put up the cornice, a bit of tiling and painting. I'm hoping to finish it by next weekend.

Both DH and I are a bit sore today. I actually decided to put some money into the exercise challenge, with all the hammering and sawing that we did today it feel like we have been exercising. (I forgot to mention that I deposited $31 on Friday into the xmas fund/exercise challenge, its 4 weeks worth of exercise).

I accidently hit my thumb when I was trying to hammer a nail and a blood blister developed. I pricked it because I don't like looking at it. It was tiny and it didn't really hurt.

I also forgot to mentioned yesterday that we went to Aldi yesterday for grocery shopping, got more than what we need for this week. We are now about $10 over on our grocery for this month, it's not too bad.

Yesterday, I got another nasty virus in my computer, it happened while I was reading some blog (not SA). DH is fixing it right now, hope to get it back soon. I got few spending to record in my spreadsheet which is in that computer. Luckily, I've backed up about a week ago, so if DH can't get it back it will not be hard to update my spreadsheet.

Pomegranate and building a new wall

May 26th, 2012 at 11:07 am

I bought a couple of pomegranate last Sunday at the fruit shop. It is something that we don't find here that often, so I don't really know what to do with it except eat it as it is. Few days ago I Google it and found a nice recipe that I can use it with. I found a simple recipe for a quinoa and pomegranate salad. I haven't had time to make it until tonight. Tonight was the best time to have it because we were too busy removing the old door in the toilet and building a new wall to close it off. Now that the light switch has been moved next to the new door we can finally do this. We should be able to put up the new plasterboard tomorrow.

Anyway the salad was really good and it took no time to make.

Tonight

May 25th, 2012 at 03:20 pm

I managed to finish the painting just before we had to go out for dinner at 8pm. It is extremely cold here today so it took forever for the plaster to dry; I resorted to using the hair dryer just to hurry it along a bit.

I left the paint to dry while we were out, left all the windows and door open to get rid of the paint smell. It is now after midnight and we just finish putting the bed back so we can sleep in there again tonight.

Today was payday and have put in another $900 into the mortgage - that makes it $2500 extra for this month. We should have around $1000 left by the end of the month to go towards household and holiday fund. I will probably just go 50/50 to each saving fund.

Alright, I’m exhausted I need to go to bed now.

Ceiling Fan

May 25th, 2012 at 05:21 am

We now have a ceiling fan in the bedroom. And the toilet got a new fan and light. All up it took the electrician almost 3 hours. He had to get up in the attic, which is cramp and dusty. He had to provide some of the stuff like light switches and light batten. I thought for sure he would ask for more money than what he quoted. Even though it took him a lot longer to put the fan (it’s a new kind that he has never seen before), it was a lot fiddlier.

So in the end I gave him $300 cash. Unfortunately there was a bigger hole in the ceiling, which couldn’t be covered by the fan so I had to patch it up. I’m just waiting for it to dry and then I will paint it. I also had to do the same in the wardrobe area where it had some holes from the old screws from the old light fitting.

Electrical work

May 24th, 2012 at 04:34 am

I’m just working on emptying the bedroom to get it ready for the electrician to install the ceiling fan tomorrow. I want to empty it because I don’t want dust and worst insulation dust getting on our stuff. The electrician is coming at 9am tomorrow so DH and I have to move the bed before then, he will have to go to work a little bit later tomorrow.

The electrician will also be moving the light switch in the toilet next to the new door and he will be changing the light fitting near the wardrobe. All up he quoted $300 but it could be more, I hope not.

After this all we really need to do in the main bedroom is to put in a proper wardrobe. At the moment we just have an Ikea wardrobe without any doors, that’s why I have to move all our clothes in the spare bedroom. I would love to get an inbuilt one, maybe next year.

Today was actually a NSD

May 23rd, 2012 at 12:19 pm

The home phone bill is actually not due until tomorrow, it gets directly taken out of our bank account.

So we actually did not spend any money today.

I didn't get to put the towel rail up, I will need DH's help so we will have to do it on the weekend. But I did managed to put up the hand towel holder.

I really liked the avocado and cucumber sushi roll yesterday that I made some more today.

Quick Update

May 23rd, 2012 at 03:01 am

I got a lot to do today. My legs are 100% better so I can actually move around now.

Things I need to do today:
I need to finish my ironing - I started last night, got tired so I went to bed. It’s half-way done.
Need to vacuum the house.
Put up the towel rail in the bathroom.

Spending:
21/5 = NSD
22/5 = DH got a haircut. This was not in the budget for this month but he needed it and he had some free time yesterday afternoon to do it, which is rare for him. He also bought some vitamins that have run out.
23/5 = Today the home phone is due.

Okay better get started on those to do list.

Avocado

May 22nd, 2012 at 05:34 am

The avocadoes are ready for eating. DH use one last night, he made a banana and avocado smoothie, it was really good. I want to try it with just avocado. There are still 6 left we got to eat them quickly because they don’t last long, I don’t want to waste them.

So today I’m making some avocado and cucumber sushi, I got some sushi rice and I bought a packet of seaweed when we went to the Asian shop earlier this month, so I’m all set to go. I’m not going to make too much, we are already planning to go to a Japanese restaurant this Friday night. We’ve been having a lot of Japanese food lately, not that I’m complaining I love it.

Price is down because of competition and painting.

May 21st, 2012 at 07:56 am

Even though I wasn’t feeling well I decided that we really got to paint the bedroom ceiling now before the ceiling fan get installed later this week. I think it would be more of a pain to paint it after the ceiling fan is in. When we got home after our run/lunch I spent about half an hour preparing the room while DH did the mowing. I had to put the plastic drop sheets all around the walls, floor and furniture. It didn’t take long to paint; I used the paint brush around the side while DH used the paint roller. It only needed a coat, we are just refreshing it really. We were finish by 6pm, including cleaning up.

We bought the plastic drop sheets earlier yesterday, I was surprise to find out the price is so much cheaper now. I buy them all the time and they were always $1.50 each but yesterday it was for only 0.98 cents (it is not a sale price either), that’s 30% less than what it used to be. Since a new hardware store opened up down the road last year prices in this old hardware store has been a lot more competitive. I guess they have to lower prices because they have a policy that if you find an item cheaper somewhere else they will match it with % discount (I think it used to be 10%).

Another expense yesterday that was totally avoidable was the Thai takeaway. I was craving it and just did want to have hamburger for 3 nights in a row. And I just got lazy to cook anything else after doing the painting. I opted to pay half of it out of my allowance money, serves me right.

Running and lunch out

May 21st, 2012 at 04:08 am

So we went running again yesterday, the same place that we went to 2 weeks ago. I did better this time around, there was no side stitch (I did more side stretches this time around) and I definitely did more running than walking. I managed to keep up with DH, although to be fair he was going slow because his leg was a bit sore and he stopped a bit to stretch. I felt good right after running but I got a headache and was nauseous on the drive home. My legs are tight and sore today but it is not as bad as last time. Last time it took me 4 days to recover. I’m trying to stretch my legs today.

Afterwards we went to a nearby café for lunch. DH got a 20% coupon from his friend for this place. It still ends up being a bit pricey but it is one of our favourite places to go. We could have really skipped the lunch out and just brought our lunch with us just like last time.

I put a bit more money into the exercise challenge Smile

Dry Cleaning, Pots and Painting

May 20th, 2012 at 01:43 am

Yesterday DH took some of his suit to the dry cleaners.

Also bought couple of ceramic pots, they were 50% off. I will use them for my orchids that need re-planting. We also got some towel rack and hand towel holder for 30% off. I will put them in the ensuite bathroom.

Today I’m planning to paint the bedroom ceiling we should have done it last year when we renovated it. Oh well, it wouldn’t take long. I want to get it done this weekend because I got the electrician to coming next week to install a ceiling fan. We need to get some plastic sheeting to cover the furniture.

We are getting ready to go for a run and will get the plastic sheeting on the way home and then paint the ceiling this afternoon.

Grocery Shopping

May 19th, 2012 at 02:03 pm

DH went to Aldi Friday night to get some hamburger buns for dinner, he also some other items that we needed. All up he spent $13.21.

Today we got some fruits and vegetables, $12.45. And we also got a big pack of toilet paper. I didn't get any chicken because we didn't go to the market.

We only got $15.16 left in the grocery budget for the month. We will definitely need to buy more milk next weekend. We got more than enough meat to last the month. Apart from milk I don't know what else we will need, I guess I will see next weekend.

Dinner tonight

May 18th, 2012 at 07:35 am

Tonight our football team is playing against the team that beat us in the grand final last season. DH and I are really looking forward to watching it live on tv tonight. I thought it would be a good time to have sausage roll and homemade hamburger. Good food to eat in front of the tv.

DH will have to stop by at Aldi tonight to get burger buns, milk and other things we will need to get from Aldi. This will save us a trip there tomorrow. We will only need to go to the market tomorrow for fruits, vegetables and maybe some chicken if it is good price.

I didn’t do much cleaning today just cleaned all the cabinet doors in the kitchen and also cleaned the microwave, it only took a quick wipe it was pretty clean to start with.

I spent a bit of time knitting today I decided to bring out my knitting basket. I’m about to finish one that I started last year. I tend to get excited starting one but fizzle out towards the end. But it is good hobby to do while I watch the stock market take a dive today.

Today

May 17th, 2012 at 01:15 pm

was another NSD. I did more cleaning today I want to do a bit each day until I get it all done. I shredded six months’ worth (paper basket full) of paper. The study is not too bad. We are pretty good with filing papers away. When we get a mail we straight away either file it, throw it away into the shredder basket or general rubbish bin. I also gave the range hood filter a really good clean. I normally do this at least once or twice a month. It gets cleaned every day when I clean the stove top. But sometimes it just needs to be taken down and given a good soak with hot water, it just helps melt all that fat/grease away. I’m currently watching this new show here called Hoarding: Buried Alive and it is giving more motivation to keep cleaning.

Today's Spending

May 16th, 2012 at 12:04 pm

Nothing! Another NSD - 5th one for this month.


Spent over an hour cleaning the bathroom today; I scrubbed and polish every tile, cleaned the walls with sugar soap, washed the glass doors. There is no more soap scum, it’s now sparkling clean.

I’m thinking of cleaning the study tomorrow. Nothing else to report...boring.

More in the mortgage and cleaning

May 15th, 2012 at 11:11 am

Yesterday was a NSD. Today DH put $60 into his train pass.

I got bored of waiting until payday (next Friday) that I decided to put another $1000 into the mortgage tonight. Current balance is $133,943.68.

Not much is happening here. I’m in the mood to deep clean the house. Today I changeover our summer clothes in the wardrobe with our winter clothes. The summer clothes are now put away into plastic containers. Found about a dozen clothes to giveaway. Also emptied and cleaned 1 of the utensil drawer in the kitchen. Tomorrow I’m planning to give the ensuite bathroom a good scrub.

Grocery shopping and yogurt

May 14th, 2012 at 04:09 am

On the way home yesterday we went to Aldi we got everything we needed there that we didn’t bother going to the fruit/vegetable shop. We only got milk, a dozen eggs, bananas, bunch of spring onions, asparagus and a bag (1 kilo) of avocado. It only cost $11.35.

The avocados are not ready for eating yet hopefully in few days DH can make smoothie out of them. DH is still making a batch of yogurt every week. Most of it he uses to make smoothie normally with banana and honey. Last night we tried pineapple, we had leftover pineapple when I opened a can the other night to use for our homemade pizza. So I can’t wait to try the avocado.

Mother's Day

May 13th, 2012 at 12:37 pm

We got to my mum’s place as she was leaving to go to church. We spent the next 3 hours changing her kitchen tap to a new one that we got her for mother’s day. For the last two years she has been telling me how she wanted to get a higher/taller tap so that she can wash her big pots easier. The one she had was a really low profile which was a pain to wash anything tall, plus her sinks are quiet small so anything big like pots are hassle to wash. And in the last few months she has been complaining about it needing a new washing. The dripping has been getting worst every time we go over there.

It would not have taken as long but the one we got her was way too big for her sink, it looked ridiculous. I don’t know what I was thinking when I got it last week. I didn’t realised how much smaller her sink is, it’s only half the size of our one. So DH and I had to go back to a hardware store to get another one. The one we got her didn’t have the vegetable sprayer part so it turnout to be almost half the price. My brother was meant to put in some money for it, I told him to just give mum the cash which he did. In the end mum was very happy.

Now we got a spare tap, we can either return it or put it in our kitchen. DH wouldn’t mind changing our current one. I don’t mind keeping it either. Our current one is getting old and there is always a paddle of water around the base of it, so there is a leak somewhere. Anyway, it is something we will think about in the next few days.

Pizza and another NSD

May 12th, 2012 at 11:20 am

We ended up with a NSD today. We decided to not bother with grocery shopping. We can do it tomorrow on the way home from my mum’s place. There is a nice fruit and vegetable shop near her place that we can go to and there is an Aldi store in the same shopping complex. The weather was not great today so we both did not want to go outside.

For dinner tonight we had homemade pizza, we haven’t made one for more than a year. DH tried out a new pizza base recipe I think it was the best one we have tried so far. The cheese we got from the market last weekend was really good in it.

We had few tomatoes that needed to be used (actually had to throw one out) so I made it into a sauce. I just put garlic, oregano and anchovy. It turned out really well. DH normally doesn’t like anchovies but it pretty much melted in the sauce so he didn’t notice.

NSD

May 12th, 2012 at 02:49 am

Yesterday was a NSD. Smile

Planning to do a small grocery shopping today. We only really need milk for the week. But I might also get some more eggs, fruits and vegetables. That's it.

We are going to my mum tomorrow for mother's day.

Last Night

May 11th, 2012 at 03:35 am

DH went straight to his doctor’s appointment at 7pm last night. He managed to get a back to back appointment so he won’t need to go back tonight. They cancelled his Friday appointment earlier this week because the doctor will not be in. According to the admin lady he was not supposed to do that, some problem with processing Medicare twice in one day. Anyway, one of the doctors said it was fine. In the end it didn’t cost a thing and DH’s uvula is almost better and the moles on his back are all normal. The doctor checked about a dozen of them. I’ve been telling him to see a doctor about his moles for months, now I can relax about that. Living in Australia mole check is one of those things that we need to care about.

We didn’t have dinner until DH got home around 8:30pm, a lot later than normal for us. We both didn’t have much to eat.

Also last night I paid the gas bill and AMEX. I’m not looking forward to paying next month’s credit cards. it is going to be a lot more than the last few months. The car service bill would be in it.

Today should be NSD.

Lunch

May 10th, 2012 at 08:18 am

I went to the city to have lunch with DH and 3 of his co-workers today. We went to an all you can eat buffet for $29 each. Wow…the place was massive and had so much food to choose from. It had an area for antipasto and salads, soups, Chinese food (yum cha style), curries and roasts (pork, chicken and duck). It also had an area they called Japanese kitchen where they make fresh sushi and sashimi. And in the other side you can get the chef to cook a dish, just pick the vegetables, noodles, sauce, etc. and they will cook it for you. And then there was the massive selection of desserts. I didn’t bother with the soups, even though they look really good. I think if the weather was cold I would have. I did get any noodles either, had to have room for the yummy desserts. The crème brule was so good, one of DH co-worker had two.

While out at lunch I got a message from my friend letting me know that they got the wedding gift and that it is really lovely. I’m glad it got to them in time.

Last night’s Moroccan soup was good, although it was a bit too sweet for me (that’s what you get when you put sweet potato in it…Duh!), but DH absolutely love it, he had extra. I used some of the Turkish bread in the freezer as croutons. I have no idea what to cook for dinner tonight, after eating so much for lunch I really don’t want to think about it right now (it is 5:10pm at the moment so I will have to decide soon). We do have left over soup. I might be able to get away with no cooking tonight. I could make salad to go with the soup.

Cooking

May 9th, 2012 at 03:39 am

I cooked the Singaporean noodles for dinner last night. I also made a key lime pie. I found a really simple recipe yesterday. DH and I both agree it was nice but too sweet for us and we both preferred the cheesecake that I made last week.

On the weekend I bought a lot of sweet potatoes at the market, it was for only 69cents a kilo. I found another recipe yesterday that sound yummy it is for a Moroccan sweet potato, carrot and chick pea soup. I’ll make this for dinner tonight. I already started soaking the chickpea last night.
It must be the colder weather that I’m really in the mood for cooking.

There is no plan to spend money today. I might go out for lunch tomorrow with DH and his co-workers/friends. We want to try this new all you can eat place near DH’s work.

Airfare and Gift Basket

May 8th, 2012 at 05:51 am

This morning I saw an ad on TV for an airfare sale, its buy one get another seat for free. Unfortunately, it’s only on Oct to early Dec and for limited number of flights. I called DH at work and we decided to visit his parents in late October. We will only go for a weekend, so only an overnight stay. Actually found an $89 (for two) for an early Saturday morning flight. But we have to pay $89 each for a Sunday night flight home. This was the best value we could find in peak time. Normally these days it will be at least $120 each 1-way. The total cost in the end is $283 (including a $16 fee to pick your on seats). DH thought it was necessary, he wanted us to seat together. I couldn’t care much for it because it is only an hour flight, but DH wanted it and it is nice to have DH seating next to me when I have ear pressure problem while flying, it can be very stressful and he helps me relax.
I’m budgeting $500 for this trip. Will need about $60-70 for taxi back and forth to the airport, the in-laws will pick up/drop us off from their end. We will give $100 to the little kiddies as belated/early birthday gifts. This will leave us around $50 for spending, just in case we will need to buy food.

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Update
Last night I finally got around to ordering the wedding gift basket, it has a bottle of nice sparkling, two champagne glasses, champagne bucket and chocolates. It should be delivered this afternoon, just got an email from them this morning telling me that they are about to dispatch it. I like their customer service. It cost $115, including $15 for delivery.
The pilaf turned out really well last night, it is a very good one pot meal. Tonight I’m planning to make Singaporean noodles but without prawns. Don’t have any and I’m allergic (but I still eat them coz I love them).

Today

May 7th, 2012 at 08:09 am

Today my legs are killing me. It was painful trying to get out of bed this morning. I can't believe that jog yesterday was going to be this painful. I actually didn't even jog all the way through. I walked some parts of it, while DH jogged ahead and would came back to me. I'm not a runner that's for sure. I get bad stitch after 5 minutes of running. DH used to compete nationally when he was younger, as a sprinter and hurdler. I think he gets bored coz I'm too slow. I've spend the day icing and heating it, and also I've jump on the exercise bike for few minutes doing it very slowly. It is feeling a lot better this afternoon.

I’m thinking of making rice pilaf for dinner tonight. I've not made this before but always wanted to try it. I got a little bit of chorizo that I think would be nice in it.


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