Yesterday it was the home & content insurance and today our annual car insurance bill in due . Its bad but I kind of glad that most of these big expenses are out of the way early in the year and we don't have to worry about them for next 12 months.

Last night's dinner was steak with gravy & roasted vegies. I also made lasagne for lunch and dinner today, so no cooking tonight.

Better go and pay that car insurance now.




16 Jan - 9:30am

Today is DH's payday, yea! Unfortunately, a lot of bills come out today too. Just paid the internet and the annual home & content insurance. Also $1000 is put a side for saving this month.

Used up the zucchinis last night for dinner. Made zucchini and pasta with cream sauce. Had some salad to go with it. I think we could go for another week without going to the shop. So far we are on track with our goal of only spending $100 on groceries this month.




15 Jan - 11am

Yesterday got very hot, and was just not a weather for slaving in the kitchen. I thought about getting takeaway food but neither one of us was game to go out in the heat. So since for 2 days in a row, DH has been asking me about what we are going to do with the leftover turkish (flat) bread, that was of course a hint that he wants me to make a dip to go with it. So last night I made tsatsiki dip (I used sour cream because I didn't have any yoghurt), great way to use the cucumber I picked from the garden the other day. And I just pan fried the turkish bread with olive oil to go with the dip. That made DH very happy, he could eat a truck load of those. We then filled up with some of the leftover minestrone soup. And for dessert (we rarely have dessert) was chocolate bavarian icecream cake. We ate that while watching a game of cricket. So yeah managed to have another NSD yesterday, and I think today should be one too. Tomorrow will be a different story though, we got over $1K of bills to pay in the next 2 days alone.

Great news is I haven't bought coffee since the beggining of the month, I think I used to averaged about 2/3 times a week last year, this is really helping with NSDs. Also as a result I haven't spent any of my allowance money this month yet.

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While I was cleaning the wardrobe last week I was taking note of what we will need this year and the only thing that I could see is getting DH new work pants in few months time. He sure have enough business shirt, really I think he could wear one a day for a month without having to wash them. We don't really need much, especially since we got some new clothes from xmas. Maybe when winter comes I might want (not need) a new coat. And I also been wanting to get a new comfy work shoes.





14 Jan - 11:30am

I'm really killing NSD this month, after yesterday's NSD we are now up to 8 for the month. Another 4 and we will achieve our goal of having 12 NSD for the month.

Today's weather here is going to be hot so I made sure to water the vegie garden well last night. While doing that I also harvested more silverbeet (they grow so well), 3 baby zucchinis and the first cucumber for the season.

I made casserole last night, had it with steam rice. And had some extra to put in the freezer.



13 Jan - 11am

Yesterday was another NSD.

Had silverbeet (from the garden) pie for dinner last night, I used the leftover filo pastry that I had in the fridge. This was my first time making it and it actually turned out really good. I made 1 big one for our dinner and a small one for DH's lunch. To go with the pie I also made apple, celery and walnut (waldorf) salad. And I also made chicken stock, half of which I made into minestrone soup for my lunch. There are a lot of leftover for few more lunches or entree meals.

A bit busy today, so I will keep this short. Take care everyone.



12 Jan -2:30pm

Just got back from my mum's place. I gave her one of the chicken I bought earlier today. On the way there we filled up the car (less than $18 worth, I left the receipt in the car). And we also stopped by at the shop to get some blank DVDs and got a bottle of milk for mum for our afternoon tea. The milk will go under out grocery bill. So we spent another ~$39 today on top of this morning's shopping.

BTW yesterday was a NSD and I'm hoping tomorrow will be another NSD. I think our good run of NSD will be drying up though. A lot of the bills comes in the middle of the month. I'm aiming for a dozen this month so half way there.




10 Jan - 8:30pm

Not much to update really, yesterday was another NSD, our 5th NSD for the month...yipee. We had spag bol for dinner with salad and DH toasted some of his homemade bread and rubbed garlic on it. The leftover is for lunch.

I spent some time gardening yesterday and took some photos of the plants:



One of the basil plant/pot.



Lemongrass - not looking as good these days. I think I need to either replant the whole thing in the ground or at least replant half of it to another pot. Probably needs more watering too, this one tends to get neglected. I guess it needs more TLC.



Chilli plant - some are ready for picking.




9 Jan - 10:30am

Since before christmas DH has been doing research on our home and content insurance. He finally decided on one and we got the papers for it yesterday. He decided to go with the same company as our car insurance. They give us a 10% discount and some further discount because we decided to pay it yearly instead of monthly. Another reason for the saving is we got rid of a pesonal item, now that we have reasonable savings we can cover it. That personal item was costing a lot to insure, but its not really worth that much. So we will just "self insure" that item. Isn't it funny how the least you can afford it (insurance that is) the more you need it, just in case.

Anyway, the new insurance will take affect on the 15th of this month and DH will cancel the other one on the 16th. The new payment will be $488.50 for the year. In comparison, last year we paid $1,017.96 in total. Almost $530 p/a savings! It's a good idea to look at your insurance policy every couple years. You never know.

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The weather is a bit cooler today. Last night's dinner was osso bucco on a bed of mash potato with a side of peas and gremotala. I bought those osso bucco 2 weeks ago from the market, it was really good. I love the market, they have a lot of stuff that you just can't get from the supermarket. The herbs i used(thyme, oregano and parsley) were all from the garden.

Oh I also finished cleaning the wardrobe last night.



8 Jan - 12:30pm

Not much to update really. I made spring rolls to go with the leftover for dinner last night.

Yesterday turned out to be a NSD. I've really decided to cut down on buying coffee this year, and so far so good. It has also helped on having more NSDs.

I did more work on decluterring the wardrobe last night but I was too tired to finish it off. I should get it done tonight.



7 Jan - 10am

Our mortgage interest payment went through last night and it was for just over $936. A lot less than I expected it to be! Woo hoo!! This is a great moment for us, it's one of those milestone moment. In comparison, this time last year we paid $1,352 in interest. That's over $400 difference, which is almost 2 months worth of groceries for us.

Last night's curry was pretty good, I really like how the eggplant taste in the curry. DH also made a loaf of bread, which he took for lunch with a can of tuna. He has been craving for homemade bread for a while now and finally decided to make some last night.

My latest home project/to-do at the moment is cleaning and decluttering the walk in wardrobe in the master bedroom. I spent about half an hour on it yesterday and should be able to finish it later today. It doesn't really need much work, I just want to get those clothes that we haven't used all year out of there. Also I've put away most of the winter clothes into to the spare bedroom closet. We won't need them for another 3 months.



6 Jan - 11am

Our mortgage payment should come out today, I been waiting for this to see how much the interest payment will be this month. I'm really hoping it will be below the $1,000 mark. If it doesn't come out today then it will be another NSD, which would make it 4 days in a row. Either way I will be happy.

Last night's dinner was Stir fry vegies with Hokkien noddles and Tofu. And there are plenty of leftover for lunch today. I been trying to make at least one vegetarian or seafood dish a week. We are meat eaters but only in small amount.

Went out to the vegie garden early this morning and was able to harvest for the first time this summer a couple of baby zucchinis (they taste nicer when they are smaller) and 2 eggplants. So I'm thinking of making curry with those for dinner tonight.