My Simple Financial Plan

We only got 5 goals this year and they are mainly continuation to last year.

Goal 1: Save $10,000 into the Household Fund (2 bathrooms renovation).
Action Plan: To be fully funded by April, ~$2,500 per month.

Goal 2: Save $1,700 into the Christmas/Anniversary Fund.
Action Plan: To be fully funded by May.

Goal 3: Add $5,000 into the Car Fund.
Action Plan: To be fully funded by December 2011.

Goal 4: Add $3,000 into the Holiday Fund.
Action Plan: To be fully funded by December 2011.

Goal 5: Prepay $20,000 into the Mortgage by the end of the year.
Action Plan: Put any extra money towards this goal.
Everything is pretty much straight forward. We are planning to throw anything extra into the mortgage this year. Any bonus, interest received, dividends, etc. will be paid into it.

$3000 into the holiday fund is a lot for this year and we are not really looking to go on holiday this year, except for visiting family interstate. Visiting family interstate doesn't normally cost for more than few hundred dollars. But we are planning to go overseas (somewhere in Asia) late next year, that will cost a bit so if we can save for some of it this year it will not be as tight next year. I always look at our Holiday Fund as our reward for hard work. I am hoping that by the time we take this holiday to Asia we would have paid an extra $50,000 into the mortgage. Won't that be sweet.

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We are going back to 20K challenge this year, 19K was just way too tight. I've omitted the item donation. We decided to sponsor a child again this year, we used to do this years ago and unfortunately had to stop when DH was unemployed. Now is the time to start it again, we will try it for a year. I guess I don't want to classified it as living expenses esp since we can get tax refund for it. I will still budget for it but it will not be included in the 20K challenge.

I have made the necessary adjustments and I hope that things will not change too much this year.

20K Challenge:

Grocery - $2,800.00
Utilities - $2,200.00
Rates - $1,350.00
Home Phone - $300.00
Mobile - $250.00
Internet - $550.00
Fuel & Fare - $2,400.00
Car Registration - $630.00
Car Insurance - $502.00
Home Insurance - $525.00
Health Insurance - $2,520.00
Entertainment - $2,000.00
Gifts - $800.00
Personal/Medical - $700.00
Clothing - $300.00
Allowances - $1,820.00
Miscellanous - $353.00

TOTAL = $20,000.00

I hope we do better this year than last year.
I hope everyone here in SA achieve their goals this year.
We can all do it guys!

Was meant to do this blog few days ago but I have been in pain. My neck and left shoulder has been really sore for a week now. It was worst yesterday, DH had to help me get out of bed.It is feeling a bit better today after taking few painkillers yesterday. I hate taking medicines, I normally refuse to take any until I can't take it anymore. Typing still hurts my shoulder a bit but the neck is a lot better.

Anyway, our final total for 2010 for our living expenses (excluding mortgage) came to $22,468. That is $3,468 over the budget. The main problem were:

-Entertainment over $1,141 (we went crazy and the budget was not realistic, I have increase this item this year)

-Medical/Personal Expense over $702 (a lot of major injuries last year and it appears that is still continuing now)

-Clothes/Manchester over $606 (had to buy DH a new suit for new job and other items that we probably didn't need)

-Fuel & Fare over $433 (just general increase in price, i have also increase the budgeted amount for these items this year.

- Utilities over $326 (again fees have been going up and will continue to this year)

- Groceries over $246 (this is not bad at all, our budget here is tight to start with but a $3,046 groceries for a year for 2 adults who loves food is fairly reasonable)

- Misc Items over $179 (we need to cut this out this year).

Well, there you go not a very good year last year but I am hoping to improve this year.

We did managed to more than achieved our financial goals (sidebar goals), however I wasn't as good at keeping up with the non-financial goals. The good thing about a new year is we can start and try again. I have a feeling that this year will be better than 2010. DH and I had good talked yesterday (while I was stuck on the sofa dealing with my neck and shoulder) about what we want to achieved this year. Our priority will be to renovate the bathrooms and then pre-paying the mortgage as much as possible. To start with we put in $500 into the mortgage principal yesterday in the middle of our discussions. And we also agreed to put in another $1000 on Friday when DH gets paid for this month. We could put a bit more but we need to keep cash on hand for the renovation.

I will put up my 2011 goals later, I think I need to rest my shoulder for now.

I hope everyone is having a great new year so far.

Argh! I lost my post...

I was doing an update on our doings here in the last week. Christmas was low key but good. DH and I spent less than $50 gifts on both of us. Since we been buying things that we wanted in the last few month, we don't really need anything else at the moment.

We got all up $200 cash gift, so on the 27th we spent it all on clothes and gadgets that were half price.

We also bought a new fridge (which arrived after I posted the missing post). This was something that we wanted to get maybe in a year's time. But my mum needs a new fridge, since her one is not working properly any more (everything is turning into ice), we will be giving her our fridge. She actually offer to pay for half the new fridge but we won't do that to her. Our fridge works fine but it is already 10 years old. I don't think it would sell for $650. The only problem we have with this fridge is it is not big enough for us, but it should be perfect for my mum.

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This week we got our annual bills for both home and car insurance. They are not due until mid next month. The Car insurance is down $60 but the Home insurance is up $30.

Also just got a notice from our electric supplier that the fees will be going up by around $1.60-$2 p/week, also starting next month. So at least $100 increase for a year. I have a feeling that they will most likely put it up again mid next year.

That's it for now I can't remember what else I wrote.


Have a Happy & Safe New Year everyone!

Since it is our new year's eve here, I thought I should do a last blog for the year. We have been busy this week with various activities. DH and I went to the boxing day ashes (cricket) test (only Australian or British will understand this).

We also did a lot of shopping on the 27th. We got $200 cash gift for xmas so we spent it all on clothes and gadgets. We also found our new fridge, the price was so good that it was time to get it. Fridge is probably the only thing that I would consider getting next year. Now we don't have to deal with it any more. My mum will be getting our old fridge, since her one is dying, her one is not working properly anymore, everything is turning into ice. This was also another reason for us to get the fridge now instead of waiting for another year. She actually offered to pay half of the new fridge ($650) but both DH and I decided that we will not take her money. There is really nothing wrong with our fridge yet (although it is already ten years old) but we have been unhappy with its size for a while now. But it is perfect size for my mum. But it is 10 years old, so it will be unfair for her to be paying $650 for it. It can be part of her xmas gift since we didn't really get her much.

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We finally be getting our tax refund for 2008-2009 financial year (I know we are really bad at it). DH's fault, it takes him forever to gather the paper work. But anyway I don't want to get upset about it, he does try but it is one of those things that is the last thing on his mind. Good news is that we should be getting around $2,500 after accountant fees.

I am hoping now that DH will get our 2009-2010 tax done in the next 2 months.

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This week we received our annual bills for both the Car insurance and Home insurance. They are not due until mid next month. Car Insurance is down by just over $60, while the Home insurance if up by $30. So we will be better off by $30.

However, we just got another notice from our electric supplier that starting next month fees will be going up around $1.60-$2 p/week. About $100 increase for the year, I do anticipate that they will most likely put it up again half way through the year.

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I have been suffering from a sore neck and shoulder in the last two days, so I will be taking it easy tonight. DH and I are just planning to stay home since it is going to be very hot (40deg Celcius). I do plan to make paella for dinner, so that will be our new year's eve celebration tonight. It will be very low key, not even inviting anyone over. We actually been invited to someone's place but I really don't want to be driving in this heat. Plus the new fridge will be delivered today, and I have no clue on when they will actually get here so I can't go anywhere until they get here.

Just received another check from one of our stock, we normally have a DRP with this stock but they have postponed it at the moment. Cash is good too, we could used some more for christmas.

Today should hopefully be another NSD, this would make this 3 in the row this week.

Nothing really much happened here in the last few days. The weekend was a bit spendy with christmas lunch with dear friends and a lot of christmas shopping. I have not been as prepared for christmas this year, but luckily we have decided to keep it low key this year. So it has not been stressfull at all. Well, not yet anyway.

I just got back from the dentist ($219) and just in time too because it is now raining. I took public transport so I had to walk to and from the train station. Anyway, my teeth are now fix and would not have to go back for another 6 months for the usual check-up and cleaning. The new tooth feels funny at the moment, my tongue can't stop playing with it.

After the dentist, I meet up with DH for our monthly lunch date. We went to a Thai restaurant, not bad and pretty good cost wise. Only sepnt less than $30, including drinks.

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I'm expecting to do a bit of cristmas shopping this weekend.

Sunday we will also be going to a christmas lunch with my university friends.


Have a nice weekend everyone.

A guy is coming today to remove some rubbish for us, it will cost $260. This is the best price we could find, I don't think we could do any better if we did it our selves. We would have to hire a trailer, pay for petrol, and pay for entry into the tip. At least this one they actually load the rubbish for us, so we don't need to do anything.

I'm just hoping he gets here soon before the rain comes.

By the way, Monday and Tuesday were NSD. Obviously, today will not be a NSD.

Lost my first post

Anyway, I was saying that on Saturay we spent 4 hour at the zoo. We didn't have to pay for the entrance fee because we still got our annual pass. We did spent a bit on lunch and coffee. My legs were really sore that night though, I really need to exercise more.

On Sunday we went to my mum's for my brother's birthday. I bought the birthday cake. We got to take home a lot of leftovers so we got enough for dinner and lunch today.

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On Friday we decided to put in an extra $500 into the mortgage this month. We could have put in more but we decide to keep a bit of extra cash for this holiday season.


Have a nice day everyone!

Went to the zoo on Saturday, they got a new baby elephant, old 3 months old. It was so cute. We spent almost 4 hours walking around, my legs were so sore that night. Obviously, I don't do enough exercise. Afterwards we went to Aldi and the fruit shop for grocery shopping

Sunday we got free feed at my mum. It was for my brother's birthday celebration. We got to take home a lot of leftovers. All I bought was the birthday cake, it was a bit expensive but yummy and we got to take about 1/4 of it home.

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On Friday decided to put in $500 extra into the mortgage his month, could have put in more but we want to have some extra cash around during this holiday season.


Have a nice day everyone!

Today is payday...

And yesterday was NSD.

Nothing much financial is happening around here.


Take care everyone!

Our weekend was really relaxing, we didn't do much but some shopping. We went grocery shopping, all up we spent just under $100. $20 was spent on a turkey for christmas. The freezer is now full. We also went and got a new basin for our ensuite. This is our first purchase for our bathrooms renovation. This place that we found is a lot cheaper than the other once so far. We got a perfect size for our ensuite so we bought it and it fit in the car. We also found a couple different sizes for the main bathroom. We will go back next month after christmas. This place is so much better than the other places that we been to, a lot cheaper for the same product. The only problem is the shop is in the other side of town. They also got nice toilets that we want to get and the taps are more reasonably price. We asked how much the delivery will be to our place and it would be $120, which is quiet a bit. But the guy that serviced us said that he could do it for half that if we come on the weekend. Luckily he lives near our place and he normally does the delivery during the week and hence own a truck. If we go there on the weekend then he can drop off the stuff at our place on his way home. Perfect!

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Got $60 cash as dividend payment for one of our stock. Nice!

We had two NSD in a row, athough we almost got tempted to get fish and chips for dinner yesterday but somehow we ended up having pasta. The weather hasn't been that great lately, it has been raining cats and dogs and that was why we didn't want to go out. So NSD was saved by the rain.

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My birthday is not for another 4 months or so but I already know what I want. I want to see the King Tut exhibit that will be coming down under (in Melbourne only), the last stop before it goes back to Cairo. This is the perfect present for me, it is all I really want. DH will be getting the tickets soon, pre-booking is a must especially during peek time. We went to the Titanic exhibit here recently and we were lucky to get in, probably only because we went during a weekday. Even then there were a lot of people. So to avoid disappointment we buy the ticket 4 months in advance.

Was going to post this yesterday but I got distracted with emails.

We managed to save $2000 for the month of November, $500 of it was put into prepaying the mortgage. Overall, it wasn't that bad, again entertainment was over (what else is new). I think we will try to get it out of our system until the end of the year. Next year it will have to stop. The dental work I got done and the property rate also made up a lot of our expenses in November.

So we only got $1000 to go to achieve Goal #6 for the year. We should be able to do it but I don't think we will be able to save $2000 though. Our car registration is due.

Our 19K challege is way out of hand now (I will update my sidebar after this). Really I got no excuses anymore.


By the way, yesterday was NSD, first one for the month of December. Oh and we had 11 NSD in November, I will try to achieve this again this month. I think today could be another NSD, but I'm not really sure yet, DH might get his monthly train ticket today.

On another news, we received our $250 wish card from claiming our AMEX points, and it did came with 2 movie tickets. I will probably give those tickets to my brother and his gf for christmas as part of their xmas presents.

- Friday was another NSD.
- Saturday we spent money on groceries. And gift for a friend's house warming. We also spent money on Hungry Jack (Burger King) after the housewarming. She didn't have much food and on the way home we were still hungry so we got some burgers.
- I decided to buy my contact lenses online (first time doing this), I thought I should give it a try. I only got the smallest quantity I could get. Only cost me $40 incl postage. Not bad.
- Paid the property rate for the quarter, $322.

We are already officially over the 20K mark. I think we might even go over $21,000 for the year. We got our car insurance due in 2 weeks and that will cost over $600.

Things have to change next year. We have to stop eating out too much. The head of our reserve bank is actually telling everyone to start saving more of their income while we are in a boom because it will not last. I wonder if people will actually listen to him. I do know that people are more aware about it since we can clearly see what it has done in the US and EU.

I was going to keep this really short but it is not as short as I intended it to be. Today is the end of the month so I will post my November numbers tomorrow.

It has been really hot in the last couple of days. We've had 2 NSDs in a row (Mon and Tues). Today the phone bill is due so that will automatically get direct debited out. Not much to update really.

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Stockmarket: the Australian market has been going sideways in the last 3 months, so there hasn't been much of an opportunity to do much trading, I have just been in the sideline waiting.

Yesterday (Sunday here) was spent window shopping to get an idea on how much are stuff for our bathroom renovation is going to cost us and the sytle that we might want to copy. Unfortunately most bathroom showrooms were closed on Sundays, so will have to go back sometime soon. We did get to see some and we have concluded that prices can vary so much. We really just have to have a reasonable budget and get quotes from builders. We don't want anything too fancy just to update.

We also went grocery shopping yesterday, spent just over $60 for everything we needed this week. Asparagus were really cheap at Aldi so I went crazy and got 4 bunches (for 89cents a bunch).

We also ended up eating out for lunch and had afternoon tea at this really lovely nursery. DH and I shared a cake and he also got a cup of coffee. At one stage I grab the coffee without thinking and almost had some but DH managed to stop me...lol
While there I got a plant for the front yard. And DH got this containers for sprouting seeds and some seeds for it, that was $29. We started sprouting some yesterday afternoon and they are already starting to sprout. I can't wait to have them in salads, sandwiches and stir fries.

On other news, DH did actually put in $500 extra into the mortgage. He also applied to get $250 gift card from our AMEX reward points. We got a letter from them that if we get at least $250 gift card this month we will get an extra 2 movie tickets. It was good timing since I was thinking that we should cash them up to use for next month's grocery and fuel. So it worked out well for us.

Today is Monday here and I am hoping to start the week with a NSD.

Have a nice week everyone.

Yesterday was a really productive day for me. Deposited my cheque. Went to the dentist, that cost $373 which is a lot. And I still need to go back next month, probably another $150+. When I was in high school I chipped one of my front tooth and had to eventually get a root canal. Now that tooth is starting to discolour again and had to get it bleach internally and will get the old capped replace next month. Since it got bleach over a month ago that tooth is now whiter than the rest so to make it all even I am currently under going a bleaching regimen in the next 2 weeks, everyday for at least 2 hours a day. I'm not suppose to drink coffee, tea and eat anything that might stain my teeth. Unfortunately, I only lasted 24 hours without coffee before I couldn't take it anymore. I did drank it through a straw and brushed my teeth right away...haha..total addict.

Our lunch date yesterday was fantastic, we went to a nice Greek restaurant, I had a really yummy calamari salad. I think we spent $43 including drinks (I'm yet to put yesterday's spending into my spreadsheets, will do that after this). We also got coffee and macadamia baklava at this Greek bakery that was next door to the restaurant, that was $11.

After our lunch I got DH's old watch a new battery. We have been thinking of getting him a new watch but this was definitely a cheaper option. I think he have kept this watch in the drawer for few years now. He has got another working watch but he only wears it on special occassion, it's a bit fancy to wear around everyday. I spent $15 for new battery. However, it is not waterproof anymore, that would have cost a lot more, anyway he never wears his watch while swimming or in the shower so no big deal.

And last night I got my hair cut ($25), nothing special just my usual style.

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Today we did end up going hiking, it has been such a lovely day. Perfect spring temperature, not a cloud in sight. We walked for almost 4 hours on a fairly tough terrain (it is rated easy to medium) for us amateurs. It was really enjoyable until towards the end when I started getting a headeache. By the time we got home it became a full blown migraine. That was when I decided to have a cup of coffee. Thankfully, 3 hours or so later, it is now almost gone. 1 day down, 13 days to go. I don't think my teeth will ever get to my desired whiteness before I go back to get my tooth fix again. It has to match you see. I guess I can always reschedule it to give me more time. But they are closed during christmas, which means it won't get done until next year. The old capped bit of that tooth is really standing out to the rest that has been internally bleached. Ohh the vanity! I wish I was more careful in high school.

Today could be another NSD, which would make it 4 days in a row. Horray for me

It is raining at the moment, which kind of suck since I was half planning to go hiking this weekend. Hopefully it will just be a passing shower. I haven't been anywhere for almost two weeks now and so I'm really eager to get away for a day.

Been looking at our finances again today (I just love it), and I think we can put $500 extra into the mortgage this month.

Well that is all I got for now. I probably won't be able to blog tomorrow, I got a lot on my plate tomorrow: dentist, haircut, banking and meeting DH for lunch. DH and I are trying to get together for lunch once a month. We have tried it for the last 2 months. Now that he is working in the CBD it is a lot easier for us to get together. He works near my dentist so that helps too.

Have a nice day everyone.

I woke up this morning and I didn't feel like going out to get a haircut or to the bank. It's such a nice day, I didn't feel like lining up at the bank. Anyway now that I've decided not to go anywhere it might turn to be a NSD. I might just get it on Friday after my dentist appointment.

I've just been tinkering in the garage and garden today. The weather is really lovely today. While I was outside I've been thinking a lot about our budget for next year. On Friday DH got his full pay for the first time with this new job. On average, it will be an extra $1000 more per month plus an extra pay per year. In this new job he will get paid every 4 weeks, so 13 times in one year. So I thought, that's is not bad increase, especially since his retirement payments has also increase by $200+ per pay. But when I did our budget for next year it is still doesn't seemed enough. I'm still feeling deprive. There are always a lot more to spend it on. But I think if we can follow our budget next year it will mean a lot for our future.

This was another thing that kept me busy in the last couple of months. I'm actually been to the dentist few times already and will need to go back again this Friday. Most of it is necessary but I'm also getting some cosmetic/ or preventative job done. Unfortunately, the cosmetic work is not covered in my health insurance. So far I've spent already $350 and I think I still have another $400 to go. I'm just thankful that DH health issues earlier this year was covered by his old company.

I thought about maybe getting this work done next year but since it is not covered by my health insurance I thought I may as well get it out of the way. But then I probably should have got some of this work done last year. The previous dentist we went to was terrible and it has taken us a while to find a decent dentist.

I also went to my optometrist a month ago, no changes necessary this time around. I did get my eyes check for catarac (sp?) and stuff like that which cost me $20. But I will also need to go back soon to get more contact lenses. This will probably cost over $100 depending on how many sets I will get. The last time I got some was about 3 years ago and it cost me about that much.

Yesterday was a NSD and I'm hoping for another today. I'm thinking of getting my hair cut tomorrow, I should have really went with DH the other day but I was to lazy to get out in the rain. Anyway, I need to go to the bank to deposit a dividend check so I should have time to get my hair cut too.

Our weekend was spent reading and watching old tv shows. It rained all weekend so we didn't have any choice but to stay indoors. I didn't go out at all, DH however went to get a hair cut and did some grocery shopping. All up he spent less than $50. Spending less than $50 all weekend has been unheard of for us for a while. We were actually meant to go out with some friends on Saturday night but that was cancelled. I was actually glad about that, it was cold and wet that night.

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We just got news about our mortgage rate going up again. I think it will add another $60-$80 a month! I'm really sick of this debt, I can't wait to pay it off. It will take a while though.

Hmmm... I don't even know where to start. I haven't been in the mood to blog at all lately. I have stopped by few times a week to read other people's blog. But I haven't had much time to actually write and update my own blog. As a consequence we have over spent by a lot. Our 2010 challenge/budget is officailly over budget. I have actually already revised it for next year. We will try to go back to the 20K challenge. I hope this will be enough, but I can't predict how much more our utilities bill will go up by. As I was looking back to our spending this year, the gas bill has been crazy, I didn't even realised it until now. At the start of the year (note: this is our summer time, when we don't use as much gas) was only around $80, but our last bill for it was almost $250! Water and electricity has been going in the same trend.

Also it doesn't help that we have been going out so much. This the definitely the biggest item that we need to change next year. Reason for it to be so huge expense this month and last month is that we had relatives visiting us and we took them out a lot. So this was an unusual occurrence, we are hoping not have too much of this next year. We had a lot of people visiting us this year, more than usual.

We have also been spending a lot on other areas, we spent a bit this year on buying new furnitures and other "want" items. Example, I just recently bought a kindle. This was an item that I wanted when it first came out, but it wasn't really avaible here in Australia until mid last year. At that time I wasn't that happy about the price. But the new kindle is so much cheaper and now that the Australian dollar is in parity (and at time of buying, it was even above) with the US dollar. It is the best time to import it. I have been downloading a lot of free books, mostly classic books that are now past copywrite. I'm really loving the new kindle so I'm not as guilt-ridden about it (oh I'm so weak, justifying this right now...lol).

Anyway, we will most likely be over $1,000 over our 19K challenge. It is bad but if I look back 5 years or so ago we used to spend around $23-25K for these items. So it is still an improvement.

The good thing however about not blogging is I've been busy cleaning the house, and I have to say that it is now about 90% clear from all the clutter inside the house. I've only got the pantry and a closet to clean out. We are trying to eat as much of the stuff in the pantry so it gets clean. I am currently trying to tackle the garage. We will probably get someone to come and pick up the rubbish as soon as I'm done clearing out stuff we don't need anymore.

Hopefully after christmas we can start our renovation again. We decided to delay it because of DH new job. And now that christmas is just around the corner it is a bit risky to start one now, I don't want to deal with it during the crazy season.

I now feel better writing this blog, I just really need to get back to my routine. This is always what happen to me when I'm out of my routine, I end up over spending.

Now I need to update my sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by.

- I've been sick for a week now - not fun at all.

- DH quit his job and got a new job already! This one offers more money, a higher position, better location which means a lot less traveling and have a better future in terms of the type of work he wants to get into.

- Have spent a lot of money on entertainment - we have been celebrating a lot, couple of times when he quit and when he got an offer. You see he quit before finding a new job but luckily the new job offer came on his first day of unemployment.

- Also spent a bit of money on clothing for DH. We got him a new suit and business shirts. We spent over $200 on those items.

- Basically, at the moment our budget is getting pretty ugly. Ohh well, we will try again next year. But in saying that we will still try to do our best to get better this year. However, I don't think we will ever be under budget this year especially with our utility bills just keep going up and up everytime, not because we are using more but because they keep putting the service fees up!

Ther are a lot changes happening with us financially. I will talk about it when things are all finalise.

Here's our Aug actual and Sept budget:



As can be seen, DH's medical rebate has been paid in August.

We also managed to put a bit in to our sidebar goals. The Car Fund in now fully funded for the year. And $2K went into the saving/investing fund.

I know I said I wasn't going to buy one until the end of the year sales, but this one was too good to pass up.

This weekend, there's a massive sale on dishwashers in one of major appliances store here in Aust (Harvey Norman). Yesterday DH and I (DH was very keen, he hasn't been that happy washing dishes by hand at the moment)thought we should check it out, we thought that even if we don't buy at least it will give us an idea on what we can get for our budgeted $800-$1000 range.

Well, we hit the jackpot when we saw an Ariston Dishwasher for $595 down from $1200! Plus with this weekend sale, they are including delivery fo free (normally cost $60) and double the warranty to 4 years. So basically we were sold right there right then. And then as we walked off to pay for it at the counter the sales lady decided to give us a big bottle of rinse aid, the one that you suppose to use every other month to clean to pipes, it apparently dissolves grease and that. It is normally sold for $13.

As I've researched last week, Ariston is one of the top brand. It is not however the most energy/ water efficient in the market at the moment, but those are about another $1000 more than what we got. But it is not that bad at all. It is still a bit more efficient than our old Asko.

We've had 3 NSD so far this month and I'm hoping today would be another NSD. As long as DH don't stop to fill up the car. I guess I will update this later.

I tried to make a dentist appointment for this month but they don't have any available on Saturdays until next month. So we need to wait another month for our dental check up and cleaning.

This dentist is through our private health insurance (NIB), they have a Dental Care Centre in the city. According to their current deal, I should get my dental check up for free but I think DH will have to pay some because he used up a lot of his rebate earlier this year when he got injured.

Also by going by 30th of Sept we can go in the draw to win a trip to New Zealand. That would be a bonus.

I'm just really hoping that this dentist will be better than the last one that I went to last year. He was hopeless, my teeth felt so bad and it really hurt too. I had a filling put in but he didn't smooth it out properly, I could feel it with my tongue for few weeks. I decided to never go back there again. And the reason why I haven't seen a dentist for over a year now. I just hope this dentist will be more professional.

July was a lot better than expected, we only went over our budget by $41. A lot better than the previous few months.



July Achievements:
-We had 14 NSD last month, so $70 into the Sunny Day Savings
-Have fully funded the Baby Fund for the year.woohoo!
-Only got $500 to go in the Car Fund, this should be done in August.
-Have put in some money towards the principal of the home loan. And now our cash flow is pretty low. This is because DH's reimbursement for hiw medical expenses that was meant to be deposited on our account on the 22 of July didn't happen. Hopefully they will put it into his next pay.


Here's hoping next month will even be better. We really need to see the dentist though.

Our dishwasher is broken and it is time to get a new one, there is no point in getting it fix. It's about 11 years old and I think there are more efficient ones in the market now a days. I'm not planning to get a new one until the end of the year sale. This way we got few months to really research it. Washing dishes by hand for few months doesn't bother me at all. I'm budgeting around $800 -$1000 (australian) for it, I'm willing to pay a bit for a really good one.

Emergency Fund:
I had to get some more money out of out EF. We’ve had a death in the family and we decided to give some money for hospital bills and funeral expenses. Right now our EF is down to ~$5,600. I will not put any money into it until next year.

June Expenses/Budget:
Sorry this is a bit late but as you can tell from above we’ve been busy. We went over again! A lot of it was because I bought/prepaid train tickets. Also we have been driving a lot lately, and so our Transport exp was through the roof.



DH’s medical bill reimbursement:
DH received a letter from HR yesterday telling him that they will be reimbursing his medical exp earlier this year. It will be deposited into our savings account on the 22nd, it will be over $600. Right now I’m just trying to figure out how to deal with this money in our 19K challenge. I don’t want to classify it as an income. I need to put the money back into the personal/medical category of our budget. Right now all I can think of doing is to put it in as a negative amount to nullify the previous expenses. It’s really not a big deal - this is only for our challenge. I’m just glad that we are getting some money back, now we can spend it on things that I actually budget it for, dental and optical expenses.

DH’s pay rise and overtime:
Here is Australia, July is the start of new financial year and usually means for DH it a pay rise. It’s not much but it’s something. We don’t really know yet how much net per month, maybe $100 per month after tax and superannuation is taken out. Right now I would like to put it all into the mortgage.

This month’s DH pay should be a little more than usual, on top of the pay rise and reimbursement he has also done a bit of over-time, maybe few hundred dollars worth. I can’t wait til tomorrow for his pay day.

July Budget:
There are a lot of utility bills due this month so I’ve budgeted a bit for it this month.