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Archive for April, 2014

The last 2 weekends

April 29th, 2014 at 04:27 am

It has been a very expensive 2 weeks. We have had two long-weekends in the row which equated to a very social and very expensive weekends. First the Easter weekend, which was a 4 days weekend, and my birthday at the same time. Then the weekend after was a 3 days weekend, we celebrated what we call ANZAC day, which probably similar to Veteran day in the US.

So on those 6 days we went out for dinners twice one of which was a very expensive birthday dinner. Two lunches out one was when we went to the country for a day trip. Also had a couple of take-away. Went to bar couple of times. And had a high tea at some fancy hotel (this one was at least half price deal). We had fun so no regrets but a little bit lighter in the pockets though.

Mushrooms

April 16th, 2014 at 04:39 am

Last week we had 4 NSDs in a row only spent $10 for a pizza we had while watching our footy team on tv (we won, yippee!).

Weekend is always the time we spent a bit of money. We went grocery shopping and I bought winter pjs, I really needed a new one now that it is getting colder here (had to throw out couple old pjs that were no good anymore). Luckily they were on sale so also decided to get DH a pair, all up for both it only cost $23.80.

Saturday night we went out to a Korean BBQ with bunch of friends, lots of fun. I got a groupon voucher for all 8 of us and it only cost $26 each for a 7 course meal with drinks each. Not bad. My friends decided that it was close enough to consider it as a celebration of my birthday. They got me a mushroom kit and I also got $80 worth of movie voucher. I've never grown mushrooms before so it should be interesting. It has been few days now since I set it up and all I see is dirt.

On Sunday, DH and I spent most of the day doing yard work. Also went to the garden store to get some soil and seeds for winter crops.

Been meaning to blog about this. I made this garden bench, my summer project, took me over a month to make it. Most materials are scraps that we already at in hand from previous renovation work we've done around here. I think I probably only spent $20 on it.

New blender and chopper

April 8th, 2014 at 07:46 am

Last weekend DH and I went to the shop to look for hand blenders. DH loves to make smoothie drinks with his homemade yogurt. The one he is currently using a(a stick blender) is at its last leg. I also was looking to see if we could get one with a chopper (I haven't had one for couple of years now), and maybe one that is powerful enough to crush ice and vegetables. We saw the Ninja Chopper at Big W for $150, we both liked it but wasn't sure if we should get it, we wanted to think about it some more. We looked into it some more and we decided that the price wasn't too bad compare to the others in the market. It came with 3 containers with 3 different set of blades. So we decided to go back to get it on Sunday. It was now on sale for $99. You beauty! There was no hesitation then.

I used it that night and was very impressed. I made meatloaf and it chopped the vegetable so quickly. I also made a drink. I just put everything I could think of in it.

I put:
Apple
Cucumber
celery
Ginger
Banana
Carrot
Kale
Date
Frozen Blueberries
Beetroot
Lemon juice

I crushed all that with ice, no problem at all. I was very happy with it. I'm normally very sceptical with those info-mercial products on tv. But this by far the best blender we've ever had. DH loves the drink with his yogurt. He wasn't really sure about putting vegetables in it first until he tasted it. He particularly loves the ginger.

Mortgage April 2014

April 5th, 2014 at 03:30 am

Normal monthly payment - $1218
Interest - $268.53
Principal - $949.47
Current Balance - $56,142.91

Jan - Mar 2014 Spending

April 3rd, 2014 at 12:22 am

So every year I set up our spending plan (budget)for our living expenses. Below is this year's spending plan and the 1st quarter's actual spending.



*FUEL and FARE - Fuel in particular LPG (gas) is normally higher here during summer because of high demand for it in Europe's winter and because of the holidays they normally increase the prices too. We also do a bit more driving during summer when the weather is great and tend to hibernate in winter so I'm anticipating this to go down next quarter.

*HEALTH INSURANCE - DH changed our policy last week. Every 1st of April the prices go up but they go up at different rate. Ours was going to go up around 16%! By changing our policy our monthly payment will be going down instead from $273.89 to $224.64 (I think that's around 17%?). DH haven't had time to look at other insurance company yet so maybe this will change again in the future but for now this will do.


*GIFT - Not much celebrating going on during Jan to Mar, there's really only Valentine's day. DH got me more gifts but wouldn't tell me how much it cost, he took it out of his allowance.

Car is fix :)

April 1st, 2014 at 02:11 pm

DH was right that it had something to do with the power steering. After replacing some part of it and other things that needed to be done to it that weird noise is gone and all up it only added up to $132. A lot better than what I was expecting it to be, so I'm very happy about it.

Change my mind

April 1st, 2014 at 07:00 am

We got $320 left in March I was going to put it towards goal#2 but I instead put it towards goal#3 and have already spent it.

I found a great deal online for a place that we will go for our Anniversary. Our anniversary is not for another 6 months but this deal was really good it is to a place called Lake's Entrance. We love this place, it's about 3-3 1/2 hours away. We been there few times and even stayed there overnight as one of the places that we went to on our honeymoon (that was the last time we went there so it will be 8 yrs by the time we go back) . And DH was apparently conceived there (hahaha!). This resort that we will be going to was the one I really wanted to stay at on our honeymoon but since we were struggling then we just couldn't afford it. $200 a night was just too much for us then especially for just an overnight stay. The place was fairly new then. The deal I got is $299 for 3-nights (but will have surcharge of $60 for Saturday night stay) including breakfasts everyday, some credits on restaurant meals, drinks and massages. It also had other offers which I can't quite remember it all at the moment, I think one was a free tour to a blueberry farm nearby and some cooking class voucher. So there are a lot to do and I'm very much looking forward to it.

We will be going the weekend after our actual anniversary because it falls during school holidays I rather not go then, we will probably still go out somewhere on the actual night but it will be something small. I always make sure we do something special for our anniversary that's why it is in my financial goals. DH's birthday is just 2 days after our anniversary so it is even more reason to celebrate for us.

I normally try to limit the spending around $500 (definitely no more than $600) because I like to leave $1,500 to go towards Christmas spending.

My budget for this will look like this:
Accommodation - $299
surcharge - $60 I think this is payable later.
Transport - $30-50 This might include tolls if we want to get there quicker.
Food - $100 -$150 We will bring some food and drinks with us, unfortunately there is no kitchen so we will be limited on what we can bring. We will have at least one nice ("fancy") dinner out.

Anything more than this will have to come out of our allowances.


*No news about how much the car repair will amount to yet. DH will be home soon though, I'll find out then. I'm really hoping it is not too much. The no phone call from them kinds of a good news. They said that if it is small job they can do it today but if it is big we will have to book it some other time. If it is big and costly they would have called us by now.