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Archive for January, 2019

Week 4

January 30th, 2019 at 04:28 am


We had a 3-day weekend - it was a public holiday for Australia day.

Grocery = $98.40. We had celebrated Australia day by having a bbq. We end up getting a lot of meat, about $60 worth, we didn’t it all though.

Dinner = I also went out on the weekend to catch up some friends. Dinner and drinks was $43.50.

DH’s Phone = DH dropped his phone last week, the screen is shuttered (a lot) but the phone still function. He will need a replacement. He has looked into just replacing the screen, it doesn’t very promising. He’s been hoarding some cash he received as gift, not enough to get a phone that he wants.

Online course = Last week I decided to start an online course (for free), so far I am enjoying it, but it is keeping me a bit busy. It’s a 4 week course.



Week 3

January 22nd, 2019 at 06:12 am


We had a quiet weekend, apart from grocery shopping we went out for an afternoon drinks at a café/bar in a nearby golf course.

Grocery = we didn’t get much, spent $24.15 in total.

Outing = Spent $33

Week 1 & 2

January 15th, 2019 at 05:11 am



DH had to do a back-up of my computer and then he cleared everything in my computer and then re-installed everything. I think my computer has needed doing that for months now. So I haven’t had time to do my spreadsheet for this year and to write a blog post for the last week.

Anyway, recent spending for the first 2 weeks of this year:

Groceries – Week 1 = $59.09
Week 2 = $72.99 – We went to the market on Sunday, got the sweetest strawberries I’ve ever tasted for $5 for a kilo and also got 2.5 kilo beetroot (with a freebie small pumpkin) for $6. Then we went to a nearby pier to buy a kilo mussel off someone’s boat for also $6. Then we bought fish and chips nearby and had an impromptu picnic by the water.

New Kettle – Our 10 year old kettle stopped working last week. So we bought a new one for $59.

Insurance – Today both our car and home insurance got paid. Car is $455.35 and home is $651.44. We managed to lower the car insurance by changing and upping the excess.

Garden – since Christmas we have been getting a steady harvest of vegetables (tomato, cucumber, beans, zucchini, and herbs). I’m really enjoying gardening this summer but in the last few days we have been experiencing a heatwave and we haven’t had a decent rain since about a week from Christmas.

2019 Goals

January 10th, 2019 at 03:01 am



I’m pretty much sticking to last year’s goals with only slight difference and added a couple of things that might be fun to do.

Financials-

*Add $40K into Investments.
I’m lowering it this year since we’ve increased contribution to DH superannuation (retirement fund).

*Stick to $3K budget for Holiday.

* Keep saving money for that “Challenge”


Other –

*Read 200 books.
I read 180 in 2018, I want to see if I can make it to 200 this year. So far, I haven’t done much reading but I’m starting to get into my routine again.

*Continue learning Spanish.

* Wake-up early workout and or meditate 5 times a week.
Let’s see if I can do better at this in 2019.

*Blogging once per week.
Good habit for me to have.

*Continue Garden/Landscaping.

*Continue Decluttering.

*Learn to draw.


Also other thing that I really want to work on is menu planning and having a shopping list that is based on that menu plan. First that I want to do this week or so is to go through our pantry and freezer to take stock of what we got at hand. It is good time right now for us to eat out from the pantry and freezer.

2018 Summary of Spending

January 9th, 2019 at 12:55 am



TOTAL = $30,651.89. This not too bad I like our spending to be at $30K per year but the camper trailer and other purchases made in December really what push it over. Overall, I’m fairly happy with it. It included 3 holidays and some purchases. It also included bills that we pre-paid which should benefit us in 2019.

Quick summary:
Household Expenses - $12,576.93
Transportation - $4,201.30
Entertainment - $2,086.28 (for 2019 I’m hoping to cut down on our takeaway food purchases)
Personal/Medical - $3,821.41
Other Expenses - $1,878.57
Holiday Expenses - $4,754.63
Xmas/Anniversary& Birthdays - $1,332.77 (we end up spending a bit more for Christmas than I was hoping).

Now let’s see what 2019 brings…

DECEMBER 2018

January 8th, 2019 at 02:12 am



Happy New Year everyone!

This is very late because we had guests for almost 2 weeks and it has taken me a while to get back on my routine.

Total for Dec was $4,394.98

Grocery - it was by a lot, $448.14, extra 3 adults and a toddler can cost a bit.

Household goods – we bought a portable air conditioner, bed and bed frame for a total of $1,243.97.

Christmas Expense for December - $524.84

Car Registration – We renewed our annual car registration for $816.50. We looked at paying it quarterly but it would actually cost more.

Entertainment – We went out with our guest a few times, $268.59.


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------------2018 Goals---------

Financials-

*Put as much money we possibly can into Investments (at least $45K). -DONE

*Save $4K for Holiday money. – Didn’t spend any this month

*Save $5K for future House Repairs/Future Remodel. – Spent $188.50, mainly fixing the main bathroom for our guest.


Other –

*Read 70 books. – didn’t have time to really read.
176 Breakfast with Einstein - Chad Orzel (2 Dec) - Audio
177 Saga Land - Karl Gislason & Richard Fidler (11 Dec) - Audio
178 The Spider and the Fly - Claudia Rowe (18 Dec) - Audio
179 The One Who Got Away - Caroline Overington (19 Dec) - Audio
180 The Fox - Frederick Forsyth (20 Dec) - Audio

*Learn Spanish. – still at it everyday
*Workout 3/4 times a week. – what is workout? Lol. Massive fail!!!

*Try new recipes every other week. - I’ve tried a bit of fermentation and I think a new recipe in the bbq.

*Blogging once per week. - failed

*Continue Garden/Landscaping. – yes still tiring out the front lawn, almost done. The back garden has been neglected and is not cover with pumpkin so we will have to wait until they are gone before we can finish the concreting bit.

*Wake-up early (before 7am) – yes but I finding myself slipping a bit. At one stage I was waking up around 6 am or just before but lately I’ve been getting up at 6:40am

*Continue Decluttering. – did it with the Christmas items.