My Simple Financial Plan

January

January is normally the most expensive month for us because our annual car insurance and home and content insurance is due. This year it was 1,288.45 in total. We had to change car insurer because the old one went up too much. We also almost change the home and content too but when we called them they said that they have been sending clients the wrong quotes and reduced ours to a more reasonable amount (by over $100). Dodgy bugger! I have a feeling they would have never changed it if we didn’t call them. And for some reason this year they sent the quotes really late, we only had a week to pay for it, normally in the past they would sent it over a month earlier. I wonder how many people they screwed over.

January spending looked like this:

Mortgage - $1,218

Living Expenses (including the above insurance expenses) - $2,495.29

DH did a certification study (including materials and online exam) - $332.52

Other - $288.48 (Office supplies, camping items, plants, exercise tubes, 1 year fishing licenses for both of us and other small household items).

TOTAL = $4,334.29

February

Normally February is one of the lower spending month.

Mortgage - $1,218

Living Expenses - $1,128.02

We bought a New Mattress - $287.99 (got this online and was very surprise at the price because we been looking around in the shops and the cheapest we could find for the same kind was $800).

We went away for a weekend of camping and fishing - $65.80 (this included the fee for the camping site, food and bait for fishing – such an inexpensive weekend away and we caught a fish).

Other - $169.85
The 'other' expenses includes getting a laminator, 3 sets of cooking pots, garden supplies – pot plants and soil, and eco clothes washer from Aldi. The washer was about half the price than getting it at a camping store. DH and I has been talking about going away camping for few weeks, the washer would come handy.

TOTAL = $2,869.66

Time to get back to blogging, hi everyone! Life been busy lately but I still try to keep up with our finances.

The last time I blogged my brother was still living with us. He moved out late September. It doesn’t feel like anything has changed really, he was never really here that much and when he was here he was really quiet and just keeps to himself in his room talking to his gf/ friends.

Last year we budgeted to only spend $21,500 on our 'living expenses'. I decided on this amount and that start of the year before my brother moved in with us for 6 months. In the end we over spent to the total of $22,850.We were over by $1,350 but my brother actually gave us $200 a month to cover for his utilities and food, a total of $1,200. So in total we were really only $150 over.

The main focus for us last year was paying as much as we can on our mortgage. We paid off just over $40,900. The current balance is just under $28,000, this includes another couple thousand dollars that we have paid off since the start of the year. We will have to decide in July if we want to just pay it off. It will depend on DH's job. His current jobs will most likely finish end of June unless his employment gets extended again or if he kind find another job. He is now looking been applying for a new job but IT jobs is a bit slow at the moment though, it will take him awhile but we are hoping he can find one before June.

I have been very busy with our stock market trading/investing stuff. Our goal for a while now was to pay off the house and have $100k worth of investments by the time DH turns 40 (DH turns 40 in Oct this year). The house is not quite paid off yet but we have hit the $100K mark in our equity investments. I guess the step is to get it to the $200K mark. I'm hoping we could get there by my 40th, which is just over 2 years from now. This might be a bit ambitious but I think once the mortgage is gone we can throw more money on it and if the market continue to go up then anything is possible, but of course it could go the other way too.

That's it for now. I should be able to finalise Feb spending tomorrow.

We only spent $8.90 on mainly vegetables and $3 for milk. I don't think we will need anything else for the rest of the month. So, all up this month grocery bill came to $211.33. A lot better than what it was in the last quarter. Now we just need to keep it up.

This week's menu:

Saturday night we had a get together with friends. Spent $66 including parking.

Sunday, we spent most of the day cleaning up the garage and afterwards I decided that I really wanted burgers so we got Hungry Jack's (Burger King). I paid for it out of my allowance, $23.

Monday: Yesterday I made Thai fried rice with pork.

Tues: Today we are going to have tuna and salad.

Wed: Ribs - DH wants more ribs.

Thu: Leftover and chickpea/beans salad.

Fri: Either we will get pizza (Domino's pizza are now selling for $5) or we might be going out.

This week's grocery spending wasn't too bad, ended up spending $66.96.

Hardly did any cooking this week. We went to a party on the weekend and got to take home some food. and also DH got free lunch and snacks from work yesterday. I'm going to try have even less grocery spending this weekend. We got a lot of stuff that we can use next week.

DH got the car repaired the other day, they installed a brand new exhaust and did a lot of other services to it. All up it cost $462. Less than what I expected.

I know it's halfway through the week already, I'm a bit late.

Yesterday DH got his pay for last month (last one from his old agency), 3 weeks worth. A lot more than expected, which is good since last week's pay was less than I expected.

Did do much on the weekend but grocery shopping and got a cast iron French pan from Aldi, it was only for $25 and it's great. The grocery only came to $55.52, probably the lowest amount for the year.

The menu for this week was:
Sat - Pizza, we made it and got some leftover dough in the freezer. Probably cost around $8 to make.
Sun - Meatloaf and roasted vegetables (est. cost $6)
Mon - Butter chicken with Rice (around $10)
Tue - Spaghetti Bolognese (pretty cheap probably less than $5)
Wed - Today I'm planning to have grilled salmons with salad (probably est. cost of around $9)
Thu - Leftover - planning to have leftovers we still have some of those chilli con carne in the freezer.
Fri - Ratatouille with Tuna and Egg Salad and Quinoa (maybe $6-7 worth).

Our car is due for service, it will most likely need a new exhaust pipe or something. A bit of it feel off last month. Hopefully it won't cost to much.

DH received his new pay yesterday. He will be getting paid fortnightly from now on, which is good. It was for just below $3,000, it is not for a full two weeks only for 9 days but still a bit disappointing compare to what he used to get. We will just have to get used to it I guess. At least he will get paid for holidays now though. I did a bit of calculations last week on what this next year will be like for us financially unfortunately it will actually be $140 less than what I thought he would get net per month. So $1,680 less per year. I will need to re-do my calculations.

On to the good news, DH is still owed about 2 weeks worth of pay for last month. His old agency will be paying that next week.

Paid the normal monthly mortgage repayment on Friday. The usual $1218, $219.89 went to the interest and $998.11 to the principal (so close to $1K)

Saturday we went to an antique market (1hr away), a short day trip. We bought some stuff, one of the random stuff I got was Life magazines from the 1947 and 1948, interesting read. I love the old advertisements in it too. DH got an old shaving razor, he collects them.

On the way home we stopped by this small town where they had a small farmer's market. Got $13.30 dollars worth of vegetables, fresh from the market near by.

In the late afternoon we went to Aldi and other stores to do more grocery shopping. All up we spent a total of $63.30.

I'm working hard on trying to get our grocery budget back to a reasonable state. So back to doing a weekly menu. Most of the time I just have a rough idea of what I'm going to make for the week, and we normally do alright to stay close to the budget until this few months. Making a weekly menu and just grocery shopping based on that should help cut down on grocery expenses. And I'm even going further by estimating the cost of each meal (I think I need a hobby lol). This was the menu for this week:

Sat: Paella - this costs roughly $6.40
Sun (lunch): Pumpkin and Lentil Stew - costs roughly $1.10
Sun (dinner): Chicken Drumettes marinated in homemade Nando's style sauce - costs around $4.00
Mon: Chilli Con Carne - costs roughly $11.20 (made a lot, put some in the freezer). The red wine cost a bit but we got to enjoy the rest of it with the meal.
Tue: Pasta carbonara sauce - ~$2.00
Wed: Beef ribs (currently cooking in the slow cooker) - cost roughly $6.00
Thu: We will have leftovers tomorrow. My brother won't be eating with us. We will most likely have ribs leftover.
Fri: Spanish Omelette - around $2.00? Potatoes are in season right now, very cheap.

Okay, I'm gonna have to work on next week's menu.

I forgot to mention that we put an extra $1700 into the mortgage last week. I know, I said I was going to just save the cash and just pay anything extra to it at the end of the year. Well, I just couldn't wait to get us under $50K. Well that will be it for the next 5 months or so.

Even just paying the normal pay it should get us to $45K balance by the end of the year, which indecently about where we need to be to achieve Goal#1.

Balance at the moment is $49,976.24
This should go down further in either Friday or Monday.

How did we go in the 2nd quarter of 2014?



DH went to his interview Friday, it went fine. He had to change in the car though. Also on Friday, everyone in his team at work got to sign their new employment contract. As of today, they are now fixed full-time employees for the next 12 months.

On the weekend we hit the half-way mark of our workout program. We went crazy and rewarded ourselves by buying a PVR and 3D Blu-ray combo. For years now the in-laws have been telling us that we should get one. Every time we went out to see how much they were we always thought they were too pricey. But with technologies these days if you just wait long enough you should be able to afford it. Plus because it June 30 is our end of the financial year, every stores have their massive sales. We got one for $318.40 (down from $466). The first time the in-laws suggested that we should get one they were around $800+. Even at the price we bought it at we were still not too sure about it. We went to 4 stores until we decided to go for it.

A bit late on the weekend update. We just did the usual things - grocery shopping and eat out. We went to our favourite Vietnamese restaurant, it never disappoint. We also bought couple of pairs of weighted gloves, this should increase the intensity of our workout.

DH will be going on an interview from one of those jobs that he applied for couple of weeks ago. Initially he thought of declining it because it is in the other side of the city, probably over an hour away so it might not be worth it missing work for it. It is for a university, unfortunately it is not in the closer campus. The money will be a bit less than what he is getting now but it will be permanent full-time position. He thought it over and decide that he should go even just to get some practice on doing interviews again. He would just go to work really early and then take few hours off then go back in the afternoon.

This job sounds like a perfect fit for DH but the travel is a big issue. He might see if they allow working from home for couple times a week that would really help.

So yesterday I went to the city to pick up my new eye glasses. I ordered it couple of weeks ago. It cost $50, the actual glasses was free because of my private insurance but I decided to get an anti-glare on it which cost the $50.

While in the city I had lunch with DH. We went to an India restaurant that he has been meaning to take me for about a year now. A lot of his Indian co-worker friends like this place and DH has been there few times with them.

We got shared Chicken Biryani and a Plain Dosa (Indian pancake). Massive pancake.

So much food for only $19.90.


Afterwards, DH went back to work while I went shoes shopping. I got this $50 gift card for Christmas, I thought it was about time I spent it. It was for Myer (a big department store here), I knew they would be having a sale for the end of financial year. I managed to get a pair of boots for only $49.

While walking around Melbourne I took some of these photos. It was icy cold so I decided to walk through laneways and arcades. It's amazing how they can squeeze in cafe's, cake stores, etc. in those little laneways. I was drooling over those cakes and I wasn't the only one, there was a line up of people trying to get in, it must be good.



I wasn't in a hurry so I took my time trying on shoes and just window shopping. I then went back to the other side of the city where DH works. I got coffee just across his office and watch a bit of soccer, They put up a massive screen just for the world cup. Australia have got no chance but we are sport nuts here in Melbourne.

The after work drink didn't happen yesterday, mainly because of the weather. The girl that got married recently doesn't work in the city anymore so it was not very easy for her to come. It was a bit last minute so they will try to organise it again next week. Anyway DH and decided to use one of our Groupon voucher, it was for a Korean place. We got 2 Japanese beer and a plate of fried chicken for only $15.40. It was enough that we didn't bother having dinner.

Then we went home and did Yoga.

DH forgot his lunch today. Normally when this happens he would end up spending around $15 for lunch. Today he was gonna go to Nando's to get chicken and chips instead he went to nearby supermarket and got this 1/4 roast chicken for only $3.25. He took it back to his office and had it with oats and milk. He is so much more frugal than me. Even better for me I won't have to cook dinner tonight because we will have enough leftover, DH can have his packed lunch tonight. Maybe I will just make a quick salad or steam vegies.



I think he didn't want to spend too much today because we already had plan to meet up for lunch tomorrow and maybe even a get together with his current co-workers and old co-workers after work tomorrow. An old co-worker he had just got back from her wedding in Sri Lanka, can't wait to catch up with her and see some of her wedding photos.

I'm going to the city tomorrow to pick up my new glasses that I ordered 2 weeks ago. And since I'm going to be there I will have lunch with DH and then go for the after work drinks.

I lost my entry . I don't even know how it happened??? Oh well. This will be a shorter version.


On Saturday we went to the market we used to go all the time until it got too crowded, everyone found out about this place I guess. It is only about 5 mins away from our house so it is very convenient but the parking is a nightmare. It was worst this time around, it is just getting more crowded, that reminded me the reason why we haven't been to this place for over a year.

But I did get some good deal, like the 3 kilos of bean for only $2 and the roasting beef (over 1 kilo size) for only $9.

Made Sunday roast out of it, we had enough for lunch and dinner and still had enough leftover for lunch the next day.


Saturday night we went out to the city and had Chinese, I was good and didn't have too much rice. I really tried to have a low carb weekend and really didn't have any on Sunday. I got to say it is working. The love handles are shrinking. But today I am really craving it so I made this:

Ricotta pancakes with fruit salad. Oh needed that.


The dinner out was a celebration on finishing the Phase 1 of our workout. We went a bit crazy and ended up at the casino. We ended up at the sports bar there and also did some gambling, and of course lost some money. It was good to watch a bit of the world cup at the sports bar, the atmosphere was great. We watch the first half of Colombia v Greece game. The Colombian fans were very cheerful, especially when they got a goal very early on. I can't believe we stayed out until after 3 am. I felt terrible the next day but it was so much fun.

So DH found out yesterday what rate he will be on. He is probably one of the lucky one, it will not be as bad as he thought it would be. His current contract will end at the end of this month and then it will be change to the new rate, so there will be couple of thousand or so worst off but we just have to think of it that at least his employment will continue for another 9 months before that. Also he will be getting paid when he takes holidays and will also be paid for sick leave. If he accounts for all that it is not that far off to what he gets paid for now.

According to his boss most people got 10-15% pay cut and DH's boss probably got the biggest cut of them all.

DH agreed to the new rate. Our biggest goal at the moment is to pay off this darn mortgage. These extra months will be enough to get us to the end of our mortgage. DH can then decide what he wants to do afterwards.

It will just now need to be sign off by someone even higher up. Unfortunately she is away until Monday. According to DH he heard rumours that she has taken time off because of some "incident". Some weird stuff has been going on there since these new bunch of management came along, which she is the leader of. When she got hired (very questionable the way she got hired, she was auditing the place now she is a CIO or something) she brought her "friends" along, now one of this so called friend is on extended stress leave because they are not getting along. Crazy stuff.

I just got an email from DH.




He is getting annoyed but at least he still got his sense of humour.

He at least found out from others this morning who had their interview with the boss late yesterday afternoon that all contracts will finish by the end of the month, not good.


As you can tell I am getting as impatience about it so I feel sorry for DH and his co-workers but most of them have found out about it now. He will probably find out in an hour or so, definitely before the end of work day. It's now 3:30pm here.

Almost a month into our workouts (Tapout) and we are still going strong. The best thing I could have done this winter. Last winter I couldn't shake off a cold and I was really lethargic and never got anything done I even quit blogging for months. This winter I got a lot more energy and in so much better mood and have not got a cold (knock on wood), the same goes with DH. My brother got a cold few weeks ago and I was surprise that I didn't get it. I really believe it to do with eating a lot more fruits and vegetables and exercising more.

Last night we did Muay Thai workout for the first time and afterwards I made this.


Grilled pork, qinuoa with apple, beetroot and walnut salad.

Then been having smoothies to fill me up.


The photo made it look quite big but I actually been very good with eating smaller portions. And I've also been good at cutting down on carbs, I try not to have too much of it especially at night. Also on Sunday out rest day of working out I have decided to make it no carb day. And today since we will be doing Yoga not as intense (but I actually find this exercise the hardest - I have no balance what so ever) I will try to make it low carb day.

DH was meant to talk to his boss about his employment early in the morning today but his boss was given the run around by his boss and was not given the go ahead until late in the afternoon. Apparently, DH's boss was told that he has to talk to everyone's agencies (probably 3 or 4 of them) first before he can talk to the employees about what's going to happen. This thing is a mess and it doesn't help that the upper management doesn't seem to give a damn about the employees. There are apparently 2 tester that have been told that they will only be needed for only 2 months. The 2 months is so they can hand it over and trained up the new people that will only be paid $60K a year. They want to do things cheap and expect everyone to just agree with it. It will be interesting to see if those 2 tester will actually stay, very doubtful there will be any extra pay to make them to stay for it. Anyway, hopefully DH will finally find out tomorrow.

Today I made this for lunch.


This was my first time making carbonara sauce without cream. I topped it with parsley and chives from the garden.

Mortgage payment went through earlier last week. It was $1218, $232.58 for interest and $985.42 for the principal. I still can't put any extra into it this month.

DH's job is still really iffy at the moment. Everyone that is in his team is waiting to see if they will still have a job. They already know that their contracts will not be renewed. They are getting rid of contract workers, so they are proposing to offer people a fixed 1 year full time job. Some people's contract is finishing the end of this month but they still haven't found out what the new rate for this fixed full time deal will be. It will be for sure lower than what they get now. And the worse thing about this deal is they will not get a redundancy pay out at the end of the term, so it will be worst than a full time job rate. The money has to be slightly higher than full time rate for it to be worth considering. It is doubtful that it will be. DH's boss, who is in the same boat as DH and who's contract is finishing the end of the month, has been going back and forth negotiating with the his new boss (who is implementing all these changes) for 3 months now. He doesn't really care if people are going to stay or go.

They are looking at replacing the current system that everyone is working on, so the new management doesn't care too much for the contract workers, they have been treated like they are not part of the company now. Their problem though is they haven't really found a new system (that will be off the shelf) to replace the current system, this system by the way deals with 2 billion dollar payments so it's not child play but these new bosses doesn't seems to get it. Fair dinkum, one thinks that there should be no different if you were dealing with 2 million. lol
So, basically they still need all the people that is left (which is now less than half to what it used to be 2 years ago). DH who is the team leader has been covering a lot of the work that those people that have left used to do. Not only he has to do his job but he now has to do the Business Analyst job, data management and even do a bit of testing work and also if there are any questions/problems from the customer he has to deal with it.

DH's contract doesn't end until end of Sept but he will get the same deal as the people that end this month. Although there could be a chance that the company will just push forward everyone else's contract to end this month and offer this new rate to everyone at the same date. Either way DH will be moving on sooner or later. There is obviously no future for him or the other employees in this company, they are not offering anyone at all to work on the eventual new system. At the moment, DH will consider staying if the rate is at least reasonable until he will get a new job, if it is too low, he will most likely just quit and spend more of his time looking for a new job instead.

We have been through this before so we are not panicking. DH quit his previous job without any lined up but was hired right away in this current job. And he has been through long term unemployment before, we survived that we will survive this too. At least this time we are prepared. This is why I'm always putting paying the mortgage off and savings first in our goals every year. All that hard work is for this time. Don't get me wrong, it would have been great if this were to happen next year when the mortgage is paid off. So for now that extra payment to the mortgage is at halt but I'm very determine to still pay it off by October next year (DH's 40th).

Oh, this weekend was a long-weekend for us (Queen's birthday), DH spent most of Saturday applying for jobs. And he is also studying to get some certificate that he believes he needs to apply for more jobs.

Went grocery shopping, spent just over $80 I think, I haven't added it yet. We are really spending a bit more on groceries these days, it's because of extra person (my brother staying with us) and because we are spending more on fruits and vegetables. My brother doesn't really eat every meal with us, probably only 5-6 meals in a week. He doesn't eat breakfast or lunch here during week days and at least 2 nights a week he gets dinner somewhere else (at mum's on Wednesday and at his footy club on Thursday).

Also finished 2 weeks of our workout program today, 2 weeks down, 10 to go. I'm now down about 1 inch around my waist. It's going fast but I know it will not be as easy to get rid of the last couple or so. I probably only really need to get rid of another 2 or so inches around.

Tonight, I got another allergic reaction, this time I think it's because of the squid ink. I can't believe that's another one to add in the list of things that I'm allergic to. It really sucks.

These spams are driving me crazy!
Go away!

On Saturday we got through our first week of our exercise program and Sunday was rest day thank goodness. I was a bit sore but not too bad at all after working out for 6 days in a row. So 1 week down another 11 to go. We are actually enjoying it a lot. My midriff area (which is my main problem) have shrunk already, the love handles have gone down probably about 30%. DH is starting to get a 6-pack. To go with these exercises we are doing we have been eating a lot more fruits and vegetables. I think right now I'm spending extra $10-15 a week on it. The smoothies have been great at eating more vegs and fruits. I'm actually eating 2 breakfasts, and having extra snacks but everything in small portions. I really don't want to loss weight but I need to eat more to have the energy to exercise. So far so good. I'm getting in to a good routine at the moment.

On our rest day DH and I went to the movies. We went and watch X-men. The movie was free, we got a free ticket that we really needed to used because it was expiring next month. And for my birthday last month a friend gave me a gift card to the movies. The gift card still got $60.50 left but it won't expire for another 2 years, I think. DH did get popcorn and coke, he could have used the gift card but we didn't think about it until after he got them, next time. The popcorn is not too bad but coke is a big no no but I only really have them now when we eat out.

The rest of the weekend were as per usual, grocery shopping and doing the washing. We also bought some exercise mats and DH replaced the sliding door lock.

DH's pay came 2 days ago, normally I would put some of it to the mortgage but this time around DH used more than $3500 of it to buy more shares. He received an entitlement offer earlier in the month for this share and it is due on Friday. Now that our mortgage is only around $50K we are not as worried of the interest we pay per month. I'm actually thinking of hoarding cash instead of pre-paying the mortgage every month, I think I might just save it and then pay a big amount at the end of the year.

Anyway, this share offer is for $6.75 per share but right now it is at $7.38 so not a bad offer.

Another reason that I want to hoard cash right now is because DH is a bit iffy about his job. Hopefully things will improve at his work but just in case.

Weekend was a lot of fun. Bought a lot of fruits and vegetables for our smoothies. Also bought a squat rack for DH at a garage sales for only $100. He included a bench and couple 20kg weights for only $10. Also got a heavy duty ratchets and strap for only $10, they were selling the set for $15 (they are normally around $50+ new) but got them down.

Parts of the squat rack (the long side bits) wouldn't quiet fit in the car but luckily we only live a block away. DH had to carry them home.

We went out for dinner with couple of friends Saturday night it was really good but a bit pricey. We went all out it will be our last big dinner out for the next 3 months. DH and I will be starting the Tapout program today, it will be going for 90 days and we want to do it right, which means eating right. I'm looking forward to it but at the same time I'm a bit scared.

Now that is cold outside DH and I are not doing as much running, so we decided to look for a workout we can do inside. DH already do weights at least 2 times a week I sometimes do it with him but I'm not great at it. I also get on the exercise bike but I get a bit sore on the bottom if stay on it for too long, I like to use it for warm up and warm down. Anyway on the weekend we tried out an exercise that is similar to Tapout on youtube. We quite liked it so last night DH bought the first version of tapout on ebay for $46.

Apart from doing a bit of working out on the weekend we also went shopping grocery and shopping for Mother's day gift. We also spent couple of hours watching my brother play footy (Australian Rules Football), he plays competitively in the amateur league. Unfortunately they lost to the top of the ladder team and he got injured in the first quarter, he got kicked in the shin and it bruised the bone according to their trainer guy. He kept playing though but he was very sore after.

Yesterday the mortgage payment for this month went through.
Paid= $1218
Principal = $981.25 (getting closer to $1K)
Interest = $236.75
Balance = $52,661.66

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.