- 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!

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.

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.

We got everything done but starting on the painting the ceiling in the study. I'm hoping to get this started this weekend. One thing that I got too busy with was knitting. I decided to take up knitting, I've never done it before but I thought I could use a scarf at the moment. So far I am enjoying it. I bought the needles for $3 and $7 on the wool/material. I'm finding it relaxing to do while watching tv. Hopefully this is a new hobby that I can do that doesn't cost too much money.

Another thing that we did on the weekend was spend money on eating out, there goes the no eating out for the month challenge. Although this was already planned over a month ago.

Yesterday was DH's payday, he got few hundred dollars extra for overtime work. He doesn't normally get overtime so this was nice. It will go towards buying some shares. I did my stock reasearch and have decided that we will get two stocks. One is a mining company and the other is an employment agency company, both are mid-cap shares. So we decided to only buy ~$1000 worth so hopefully we will still have another $1000 to put into the mortgage. So the question about which one to spend the money on, we decided on both instead. With DH's extra pay it makes it easier to go this route.

We just found out that DH will be getting a bonus from work sometime this month. It's not much, after super/retirement money and tax gets taken out we are hoping to get around $1,500 net. We will be using some of it as our spending money for our holiday. Oh yeah, we will be going overseas for our holiday this year. Both the airfare and accommodation has been paid for, we just need some spending money. We shouldn't need much, DH and I have been saving some of our spending money for it too. So far I've saved up about $100 and I think DH has been stashing away almost $200. I don't think we really need much, we will just be staying at the resort and our breakfast is already paid for.

The rest of the bonus money will go in the car fund. At this stage we will take $500 out of the bonus money as our spending money but anything left over will be put in my trading account maybe.

I've really got nothing else much to update about, our smart meter is now in action. So far the electricity has gone off twice.

We've had a bit of health issues in the last month or so, it has cost a lot of money, sent a bit going to the doctors, physio, acupuncture, and of course meds. So again we are over our budget this month.

Just received a reminder notice for gas bill. Apparently we are 1 month over due. What the? Where the heck is the actual bill? Plus gas bill is normally due every other month, so it should have been due this month not last month.

This month sux - car problems, health issues and now this. I can't wait for this month to be over.

On the positive, we should be getting extra income this month because of dividends and should also be receiving some money owing to us.

Yesterday was our valentine's day and chinese new year here. We went out to check out the chinese new year celebration in the city. Couldn't help ourselves but we had to try out some of the yummy food they had for sale, I think we spent less than $20 inc parking. So, yesterday was another points off for me in the Feb challenge. We also spent a bit more than what I budgeted for valentine's day gift, but in a long run it will actually save us some money since it is something that we both really wanted to get this year.

So far 3 points off the challenge for me.

We ate out 4 times during our weekend away so that's minus 2 points for me in the Feb challenge. The actual money spent was not that much at all though, less than $70 dollars all up.

Today I am openning a new trading account my old one now doesn't exists. I don't really know what happen to it. Nothing else much happening around here, it is hot so I am just trying to keep cool.

So far so good, but this weekend will ruin it But I will try my best to come out with minimum damage as possible.

Also we've had 2 NSDs so far this month.

Just looked at our networth (finalise) as at 31 of Dec 2009. I know it is a bit late but we just got our statements for our retirement accounts. Anyway to my suprise we actually now above $250K networth. This is such a milestone for us.

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Nothing much is happening here. Been doing a lot outdoor activities, we are taking advantage of the good weather. Health wise it is really good for us but it also means spending a bit. Nothing too extravagant though.

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We are also trying to organise our holiday for this year, haven't decide yet, just looking at our options. Our options will depend on how much money we got to spend for it.

We got our annual car insurance bill earlier this month and it went up again to $707. It is due very soon. I really wasn't happy about paying that much for it, so I got DH to look at a better deal online last night. He found one for $565, there are some differences in the contract but nothing too extreme, overall really it is very similar. I think the excess is a bit higher but nothing that we can't handle especially now that we got a reasonable car fund. So couple hours work saved us almost $150.

We just got notice that our electricity will be going up again next week, they suck!

Really busy at the moment.

We are now officially over our 19K challenge and there are still 10 days to go to the year. I'm predicting that we will be over few houndred dollars. Even then we will still be better than last year's spending.

There are a lot to do before christmas, so hopefully after christmas I will have time to put my goals together.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

and we've only got $107 left in our 19K challenge (all bills has been taken out already). Half of it will probably be spent for fuel. Also we will probably need some groceries. And then we are planning to go out this weekend which would cost us around $40-60. And a possible new year's eve celebration, possible cost???

It is very likely that we will go over our $19K challenge/budget this year, but it won't be much. Lucky the christmas expenses will be taken out of the xmas fund .

Had our first NSD for the month. yeah!

I just recieved $1,500 from the government, it feels like an early christmas present. It got deposited straight to my retirement fund (superannuation). This is a program for people who earn less than $80K, depending on your income, if you put in $1000 (which is the maximum)for the year they will put in $1500 extra. Its free money so I'm happy.

The other day I updated my sidebar. Nothing else is happening here, which is good coz it means we are not spending money.

4 more weeks until the end of the year, I can't wait to finalise everything and to start tackling our new goals. Next year's main goals will be finishing the renovation (first half of the year) and then tackling the mortgage.

Just a quick update:

- Still looking at changing bank.
- Also researching for a new online broker, my current one is going out of business.
- Still doing a lot of stuff around the house. It's a never ending renovation.
- Christmas budget is still on track.
- Our 19K challange for the year is right on the wire. Some items are way over the budget. But I think overall we will just get there.

Things to do this weekend:
1. Finalise Nov numbers (DONE)
2. Open new bank account.
3. Clean clean clean the house.

I'm so sick of my bank, that I'm looking at changing it. I've been with this bank for half my life but now they are just driving me crazy. The fees even though not that much it adds up. Talking to them doesn't help so I guess the best way to resolve it is to change bank. It is going to be time consuming but I'm just not happy. Enough about that.

To my to do list. It's really hot at the moment so I won't be doing much today. I'm only looking at doing the cooking today.

Not much is happening here at the moment but we've had 4 NSDs in row and I'm hoping that today would make it 5 in a row. It must be the hot weather that we are not spending money

Was busy this weekend going through my budget and been trying to finalise my 2010 budget, still not done but it's getting there.

I also did some wall painting, will need to do some more.

Also I bought some more shares through a 1 on 1 entitlement offer. The money will be taken out from my Sunny day savings (see My Pages).

In the next few days I want to do:

1. more painting (Still going)
2. cooking to put in the freezer (currently cooking away)
3. find recipes to make for christmas (Found some but no final decision yet)
4. vacuuming and polishing the floor (I mopped the floor instead)
5. washing and ironing (Did a load and waiting for it to dry to iron)

I'm haven't here as much these days. I need to get back to it. Spending has been crazy lately and will need to pull it back to achieve our goals for this year. Only a month and a half to go and this is not the time to screw it up. I need to get focus again.

Things I need to do this weekend:
1. Update my financial spreadsheets (DONE)
2. Check online banking (DONE)
3. Make shopping list and menu plan (DONE)
4. Go grocery shopping (DONE)
5. Washing & Ironing (Done the washing not the ironing)
6. General cleaning (Did some)

The only thing that I must finish today is the IRONING (I hate doing the ironing!)...(DONE!!) I also managed to clean the toilet and fridge. The house is now mighty clean

DH couldn't get the car started yesterday afternoon, he was at work trying to get home. He had to get the roadside service assistant, which cost $280 but at least this means we are now a member for the next 12 months. Next year the membership should be a lot cheaper. The guy said that it there is something wrong with the fuel pump or something. He managed to get the car started to get home. Today he will need to take the car to the shop again, I didn't know that last week they didn't actually service the entire car, they only looked at the brakes and the radiator, not enough time. I guess our car is 10 years old now and we will probably be expecting more car repairs from now on. We really need to beef up the car fund sooner than later.