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.

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 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.

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.

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.

I've been busy and haven't had time to blog. Been going to bed at 3am, staying up watching the cricket game between Australia and England. The day is a lot shorter when you wake up around 11am.

Anyway, week was the usual grocery shopping and managed to go for a run. Did not do to well with the running, the weather was bad really windy and again staying up late doesn't help. I was dying towards the end. But at least I've done it.

Saturday afternoon I went to the dentist for check up, clean, fluoride and x-ray. The clean and that came out $0 out of pocket but the x-ray (2sides) was $24.85. It would have been $217.10 if I didn't have private insurance. I have to come back for a filling though

DH was also meant to have a dentist appointment but the dentist was sick so he got re-schedule for next month. He could have seen another dentist on the day but he prepare to see this one particular dentist so he will have to wait until next month. This dentist is a lot better. The one I saw was rough and I think I will get my filling done by this guy too. DH have tried a different guy in the past and didn't like it at all. Butcher was a word he used to describe him.

After my dentist visit we stopped by at Costco, it's on the way home. Our membership is finishing this month and will not be we will not be renewing for a while. So we shopped like there is no tomorrow. Over $300! Yikes!

Things that we will not need to get for the rest of the year:
Rice - we got 25kgs
Honey - 3kgs
Coffee - massive can
Toothpaste - 4 tubes
Mayonnaise - gigantic jar

We also got some milk, eggs beef and fish and other items that I can't remember now. And got some pyrex containers with those snap on lid (BFA free). DH uses them for his lunch, the lids are so much better on these new ones. DH should be able to take soup now and his home made yogurt. That was $35+ for 9 various sizes and shapes. They are great, I think if I bought them individually they will end up costing over $100.

Also got a big box of Xerox paper. This should last me years.

So we are not almost $100 over on grocery budget for the month because of this Costco trip. Hopefully, we will be able to get back on track in the next couple of months.

We almost had 5 days of NSDs last week, from Monday to Friday we didn't spend on anything except for DH putting more money into his train pass for $50.

The weekend is a different story. The weather was terrible all weekend so we missed out on running but now shopping though.

Saturday morning DH got up early to go to Aldi, during the week we saw an ad they had for a sound bar and subwoofer. DH been looking at getting one for over a year now but the one we wanted to get is $250 which I thought was too much. The Aldi one is only $99, so got one to try it, if we don't like it we can always return it. They have 60-days money back, no question ask guarantee. So far we are loving it. He also got mobile accessories for $9.95, it had a pouch for his mobile and car charger. The pouch was a bit small so he had to return it. But he got another one somewhere else later that day for $19.95, it had no pouch but the car charger two USB outlet and few different connections. We can both charge our phone at the same time and other gadget can connect to it too. DH had to get another audio connector for the sound bar, it was only $7.50.

Later that day we went to get a quote to replace the window in the study and another small one at the end of our hallway. It came to around $1500 for both windows and labour. Too much I thought. I think we could find somewhere else for about $1000.

Got a venetian blind for the study window for $78, it was 40% off normally around $120. Lucky I saw the ad for this too.

The rest of the day we went back to Aldi to return the mobile phone accessories and to do some grocery shopping. Spent just over $40.

On Sunday we went to the meat market and spent $32 on meat. Had lunch at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant, $20. Afterward, DH got a haircut for $11. This is the cheapest haircut ever.

DH skyped his mum and asked her if she wanted a new phone for her birthday and the answer was a resounding yes. She was kind of giving hints that she wants a new phone with Bluetooth in it to go with their new car that they just ordered. So DH ordered another phone for her mum, exactly the same one that he got. It's good that they will have the same phone that way if she got any problem with it DH will be able to help her out easy.


Reno update:
Painting is all done except around the window. My project for this week is to replace the door in the study. We have been meaning to replace this for couple of years now, we actually got the new door in the garage for all that time. The door jam is not standard size anymore (old house, nothing is standard) so I will have to trim the door a bit, just a bit fiddly. It will also need to be painted.

I was meant to post this yesterday. I like to do weekend updates because it is when we tend to spend a bit of money.

Friday just stayed home and watch of football team play (we won, yeah!). DH the cc bills and the electricity and gas bill too. Also DH got data connected to his mobile phone. He got $100 for 10gb that could last for 1 year. He thinks this should be enough for him to use for the whole year. When he is at home he can connect to our wifi, the same at work and even at my mum's place. This is why I thought his phone would cost $250, it includes $100 worth of data. Not bad.

Saturday, we did the usual grocery shopping. We got a lot of stuff from Aldi, spent almost $70. Also went to Coles for about $20 worth of shopping. We got a lot of snacks, which we don't normally get but we had people over that night. We had lunch out sushi and McDonald's (got a craving for McDonald's that I don't normally get), I took out this spending off my allowance money. Afterwards, we went to a hardware store to get some supplies, spent $13.50. On the way home DH fill up the car.

Saturday night, we had couple of friends over to watch a movie (we watch Pitch Perfect). We ordered pizza and ate a lot of junk food. Spent $20 on pizza.

Sunday we went for a run. I almost made it to under 30mins and probably could have if it wasn't for the wind, it was a bit strong. Afterwards we went straight to my mum's place for a bbq. We got change at her place. So, lunch and even dinner was free (we got to take some food home). But I did gave my mum some money to spend for her 60th next month.

All up it was a very expensive weekend but spending was mostly for necessary items except for those snacks.

The study painting is still going. The ceiling is done, which looks so much better. I've now decided to just redo the whole room and we are also thinking of replacing the window in that room. It really needs a new one and it might be best to do it now.

Friday night we stayed home. DH started fixing my laptop, it has been acting up lately. He backed up everything that was in it. Right now I don't have access to my excel spreadsheet of my finances so I can't finalise my June numbers yet. DH haven't had the time to reinstall Office yet, it should get done tonight.

Saturday, I did a load of washing (colours) then we went to the bank to deposit a cheque. After we did some grocery shopping at Aldi, only spent just over $18. Also went to couple of other stores for items that we couldn't get at ALdi. Also got personal items and found monopoly board game on sale for only $25, I always wanted to get one. Then DH got some USB sticks to use for backup. I've asked him to save my financial spreadsheet to couple of different places. I'm just paranoid about losing it.

On the way home we got some gas, I think it was for only $25-30. DH did a bit more work on my laptop and until we went out for dinner with some friend, I think we spent about $65 for dinner. Afterwards we went and watch Man of Steel, that was for free a friend got connection. The movie was good, not what I expected, different to old superman movies.

We didn't get home until midnight, DH spent another hour to finish uninstalling everything in my laptop.

Sunday, DH made yogurt and did another load of washing (whites this time). He also started reinstalling stuff that I wanted back into my laptop. The weather was good yesterday that I actually decided to put the washing out on the clothes line. Around midday DH went for a run, I ran my PB! I've still got a lot to go to achieve my goal for the year but I'm getting there.

Afterwards we rewarded our self and had lunch at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant. I love this place, great food but cheap. Only spent $17.80 for two very big dishes.

We then went to the hardware store to get a new hand sander, that was $30. While there I found a tool caddy for $8.

When we got home I was disappointed to find out that the pork I got out for roasting for dinner was still frozen. We decided that we would get Thai take-away for dinner instead. We spent just over half an hour washing the car, it really needed it and we got it done just before it got dark.

The rest of the night I just watched tv while doing some crocheting and icing my sore legs. DH in the main time was skyping his parents while doing more reinstalling with my laptop, it has taken a long time, there was ridiculous amount of updates.

So that was our weekend, spent just a bit over $300, too much eating out.

Friday was payday, there was again missing amount, annoying as hell. I was looking forward to putting a bit more into the mortgage but will have to wait now. DH paid $2,500 to pre-pay his margin loan for the year.

Saturday we went for a run then afterwards had lunch at cafe in our favourite nursery which very close the where we go for a run. After our lunch I bought couple of small indoor plants and a couple of asparagus roots/crowns and we also got a cherry tree. We have been talking about getting a cherry tree for years now, thought now is a good time. We will hopefully put it where the palm tree that fell few months ago was.

Afterward, we went to a store that sells rubber and foam items. We got DH some gym rubber mats, we used it to put his weight bench on. On the way home we stopped by at Aldi.

On Sunday, DH mowed the lawn and poisoned some weeds. I did clothes washing, cooked some beef ribs in the slow cooker and cleaned the back room. We are turning this room into DH's room (man cave). We finally moved back his weight bench back into that room, he can use it again now. We had to move it out when we renovated that room about 4-5 years ago. The rubber mats looks good but I think we need few more for the weights.

We were going to go out for coffee afterwards but we decided to just stay home and relax. So, Sunday was a NSD. DH instead skyped his parents and I did some knitting and did the ironing.

Apart from prepaying the margin loan we only spent just less than $250. It's always good when we spend less than $300 on the weekend.

Our social calendar have been very full lately. Just a typical summer and holiday time. Yesterday we travelled just over an hour to the other side of the city to visit a friend. She bought a house over there earlier this year and we finally made it to her place. We had lunch there, hamburger and a bit of sweets.

Afterwards, DH and I went into the city to watch Samsara, they finally released it here in Australia. It is on limited release so we had to watch it on a small cinema. I've never been to this place before, I really liked it only seats about 35 people. Great movie.

Then we had dinner and few drinks at the casino afterwards, we parked there because it is free, well not really since we lost. Oh well, we go there 2-3 times a year not too bad and we had fun. We did get home until after midnight.

Today we are going grocery shopping for tomorrow night's (NYE) picnic with some friends. I'm planning to make quinoa salad, I'm following Jamie Oliver's recipe, I got his 15 minute cookbook for christmas.
I'm planning to make something from the cookbook once a week, I will try anyway.

I'm halfway to putting away the christmas tree. Hopefully this afternoon I will still have energy to go for a run.

I was meant to blog about our weekend yesterday. It was a very spendy weekend but most of it was for christmas and also got my brother a gift for his birthday this weekend.

For the first time ever we got a fresh christmas tree, we decided last year that we would get a fresh christmas tree this year, just to try it. I was expecting to get it for around $100 but found one by accident while driving to the factory outlet for only $45. We checked it out on the way home, they look so much better than the fake ones. The roof rack came in handy, it save us on delivery cost.

I spent last night decorating it, we also discovered that DH might be a bit allergic to it but as long as he doesn't go too close to it he is alright. I love the smell of it. I think we need to get more decorations though, just a bit extra.

I also spent time yesterday gift wrapping the gifts that we got on the weekend. I run out of ribbons, so I will need to also get some more of those. We are about 90% done with christmas shopping, not including food.

Late last night my friend contacted me and told me that she was not feeling well so her housewarming get together will have to be cancelled. She was hoping to do it on Sunday instead. Then this morning she text again saying that she was feeling better and that the party was on again today. We decided to have a sleep in this morning so when I got her text at 9:30 this morning we were still in bed. She lives over an hour away no way we could make it for lunch.

After breakfast, as we planned we went to our bank. Well, unfortunately they don’t open on Saturday anymore. We went to another branch the same story. So now I will have to go to the city during the week to deposit my cheque, DH can get his one done on Monday there is one just across his office. I will go when the weather gets a bit better. In the last two days we’ve had what we call ‘typical’ Melbourne weather, which is having four seasons in one day. Actually today it was more like four seasons in an hour. The sun would shine and it would be nice and warm but then all of the sudden it would start raining and be icy cold.

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7 Sept: 10,032 steps (had to do a bit of pacing up and down to get to 10K lastnight)

I’m already over 10,000 today have been walking a bit. When we went to the second branch we decided to also go to the Asian shop across the road too to get some groceries. Instead of parking close by, where it is crazy especially on Saturdays, we decided to park 2 blocks away and just walk the rest. We also went to Costco this afternoon and did a bit of walking around then too.

Near Costco there is a store called Royal Doulton, they were having a sale up to 80% off. I got this for $2.95, down from $10.


Well since I bought this I guess I don't have enough now...

I'm having tea with it right now

We had amazing spring weather this weekend. It was a beaut!

On Saturday we had BBQ at my mum’s place. I made potato salad and bought a bag of charcoal.

On the way there we filled up the car, lucky too. As DH was filling up they were in the process of changing the petrol price from 135.9 cents per litre to 155.9 cents per litre. 20 cents increase in price – YIKES!

Went to Aldi and bought some tomato seedlings and some seeds (cucumber, spring onions, radish, beans and basils). Aldi had great sales on them.

On Sunday DH mowed while I planted some tomato seedlings and basil seeds. Then we trimmed a palm tree and did some weeding at the front of the house.

Afterwards we went to the hardware store to get some materials for more works we need to do around the house. Now that the weather is warming up, it’s time to do more repairs around the house.

I love this time of the year, not too hot or too cold, just perfect

Went to Costco and renewed our membership. End up spending just over $200 including the $60 membership fee. Most of the stuff I got was for gifts and the rest will come out of grocery budget. Also stopped by at a market for fruits and vegetables, spent $51.

The rib eye steak for dinner last night was so good. It was more than an inch thick that I had to finish cooking it in the oven. It was cook to a perfect medium well. The garlic and mushroom sauce worked really well. DH was glad he didn’t have to go out to get the chips and it saved us $3.50.

Today we went to my mum’s place to pick up some sausage rolls, a friend of my mum works for a big bakery company. They actually supply bread to Aldi around here. I think they get the rejects/left over and for some reason she gives a lot to my mum and in turn since my mum can’t eat it all and don’t really like sausage rolls she gives it to us. She also takes some to her church and work. She also gets a lot of bread. Last week I managed to score a whole fruit loaf, I think it got rejected because it was slightly squash.

We also end up having lunch there, it is very rare that we go to my mum and that she won’t have anything for us to eat, she is always cooking. And after lunch my mum was cooking empanadas, someone was picking up an order of 30 empanadas. This makes me laugh, apparently this guy has been ordering 30 empanadas every week for the last month, I think he is addicted. There were some rejects that split a bit that we got to eat. She also cooked some extra for us to take home. And we got more take away food from our lunch leftover that DH can take to work tomorrow.

Tonight I’m thinking of making risotto with mushrooms, I want to use them up because they don’t last long.

Oh, today should be a NSD, I just realised. We were actually planning to go for a jog after lunch we actually had our running gear on but the weather got really bad this afternoon so we just came straight home. We also planned to stop at Aldi for milk but it can wait until tomorrow, lucky we did because DH just had enough time to mow the lawn before it started raining, I didn’t think he was going to make it.

So, we only spent just over $100 this weekend, nice start to the month.

I haven’t done much lately. I still got this annoying head cold. I stayed home all weekend. DH did the grocery shopping and all up only spent just over $33 on the weekend. The only positive thing about being sick I don’t have the energy to spend money.

I asked DH to get me Vicks VapoRub and he ended up getting it for free because it register the wrong price at the check-out and it is their policy that if they charge you the wrong price you get the item for free, so that was $6 in saving.

Still no news at DH’s work it has been 3 weeks and some of DH’s workmates are working without a signed contract. Apparently, they are waiting for the boss (who will make the final decision) to come back from his holiday. Hopefully they have sorted this out for the next round of contract negotiation which DH will be part of.

We went for a another run yesterday. And then we came home had showers and went out for dinner near where we went for a run (25mins away from home). We didn't plan it very well yesterday. We had a voucher for this place it was for $29 but parking cost $10, actually more than in the CBD. I haven't been to this area for almost ten years. It's nice area, by the beach there are lots of nice restaurants but parking is crazy.

Today we might go grocery shopping, we need to get some meat.

In the last few days I have been sewing holes from DH's socks. There were about half a dozen that had small holes in them, I don't know how he does it holes in exactly the same spot. They are still relatively new, normally I would just throw them away. This is my first time trying to fix holes in socks, they turned out well and I'm glad I took the time to fix them now we won't need to buy new ones for a while yet.

We have been spending a bit lately.All weekend we were out and about, except for breakfast we ate out 3 out of the 4 meal. The only time we were more to eat was on Satuday night but even then we got takeaway sushi. On a good note we found a nice Mexican restaurant and I guess I could argue that our grocery bill was really low. All up it cost $98 for 4 meals, definitely not frugal.

No more eating out until next month. There is more money in the budget for it, actually we are already over in our entertainment budget. Anymore eating out or activities it will have to come out of our individual allowance money.

Last night DH took me out for dinner. He was really determined that we go out he even picked out the restaurant, I’m normally the one that plan this stuff. He has wanted to take me to this Mexican restaurant that he has been to before (over 10 years ago). Well I think they’ve change management since then and while the food was nice I think it was too pricey for what we got.

DH feels bad that I’ve been doing the renovation by myself all week and that’s why he wanted to take me out. He wanted to use his allowance money for but I insist that we have enough in the entertainment money for it.

Speak of renovation, we only got a bit of tiling to do, hopefully we will get it done today, and then just painting. It has been really slow waiting for the plaster to dry. It needs to dry before I can sand it properly, sanding it while wet just clogs up the sandpaper. It should really be done by tomorrow.

Yesterday (Saturday) we went to my mum's place to again celebrate my birthday. My brother came and few other people were there too. We had a bbq and lots of other food that mum cooked. Also had a birthday cake. DH decided to update mum's computer, so we ended up spending all of the afternoon there. We came home with lots of leftover, I don't even need to cook for dinner tonight.

Today was a relaxing day. Was meant to plant the lime tree but my mum thinks that I should wait until the full moon to plant it. She believes on that stuff, may as well give it a go which means I won't be able to plant it for another 2 weeks. May aswell I think The soil is still not right yet and I will also need to get some sort of material to protect it during winter, which mean I will need to build/ put posts around it.

Today was a NSD, yesterday I bought couple bags of coal for $6. Very low spend weekend, was not plan really. We didn't do any grocery shopping at all. I'm not too worried though, we got plenty of food in the freezer. Also, this Wednesday is a public holiday we should be able to get milk and fresh produce then. DH should be able to make his yogurt then too. Only got $27 left in the grocery budget, should be enough if we are careful.

We normally go away to the in-laws, which is in the other state for easter, this year we decided to stay home. The in-laws decided to go visit my sister in-law instead in another state, we could have meet up with them there which is more of a half-way point (which would have been only 6 hours drive). DH has not been feeling that well so we thought for his sake we stay home and get a proper rest. We did a lot of sleeping in.

It has been pretty good just staying home, we did do a bit of eating out. So, we spent a bit of money this long weekend but not as much as if we went away.

Thursday night I meet up with DH and some of his co-workers for after work drinks. Then afterwards DH and I stayed in city for dinner we had dumplings and noodles, it was nice and cheap. We will definitely go back there again it is only about a block away from DH's office, I think it will be nice place for lunch date.

Friday was a quiet day at home, just ate a lot of seafood.

Saturday we went crazy with shopping, most of it was things that we needed, mainly groceries. We did have lunch out at a celebrity chef's restaurant, it wasn't bad at all, I was expecting expensive stuff but only spent $31 and we couldn't finish it. It's a nice place right by the river where people rides their bikes and go for a jog/run and the food was amazing. Sometimes places like these are just over-rated. Plus this place is close to our favourite nursery, about 5 mins walk along the river.

Sunday, I got a haircut and afterwards we watched The Hunger Games. I've read all the books couple of months ago, of course the book is always better but the movie was pretty good, except we had to move seats to the back becuase we both got a bit sick watching it too close when the camera moves too much. We went out for dinner again, to one of our favourite restaurant. Afterwards we went for a walk to a nearby pier, where DH once proposed . It is one of our favourite place in the world.

Today, we slept in. Then went to my mum for lunch. We came home this afternoon with a bag full of goodies. Today was a NSD!

Spent a bit of money on grocery this week, we went to Costco and spend $44. Our Costco membership is actually expiring the end of this month, I thought it was suppose to end in Dec, anyway we probably won't be renewing the membership for a while. We also went to ALdi and at fruit shop. We only got $37 left in the grocery budget this month, i don't know if we can make it but will try, we shouldn't need to get anymore meat this month. Our Transport budget for the month is extremely low now only got $20 left in it, but we just filled up last night so will try. But I think my budget in this category is a bit low I for got to accout for the 10% increase in DH's train tickets and right now gas has increase a lot, apparently it's due to the cold snap that is happening in Europe.

We aslo went out for dinner last night and got a takeaway fish and chip earlier in the week.

I also spent a bit on personal/beauty products.

Overall we spent just over $255 for the week. Today should be a NSD, we are planning to stay home and watch a cricket game. We should have 3 NSD this week.

Our financial life is so simple these days that there is not much to report about. This morning I just paid the AMEX, I'm pretty sure that was our record low bill, it was for only $69.99. And next month's AMEX bill should also be pretty low. I know so far I've anly spent over $5 for an Amazon kindle book, I'm not sure if DH have used it much this month either.

The other CC bill will be average around $1,000 next month, I know the home insurance that we paid last month will in that bill and that was over $500.

We did pretty good on the weekend. Apart from buying the 2 tyres we spent less than $100. The tyre cost only $238 thanks to a good sale. While out DH got some fuel for $30.

Saturday night we went to watch a cricket game, ticket was already paid for, it was my christmas present to DH. Parking was a bit expensive, always is in the city, that was $12 and then we did ended up buying coke and snacks but they will come out of our allowances. $4 for me for the snacks I got it at the shop before going to the game and $4.40 for Dh for the coke at the game. We normally would spend a lot more for food but we had dinner early at home and then brought extra snacks that we already had at home and water from home. We didn't have softdrinks at home that's why DH bought a bottle at the game. We should have bought at the shop it would have cost half the price.

The only spending that happened on Sunday was for grocery in Aldi. DH did will, I stayed home to do some cleaning instead but I give DH a list and a strict budget of $40. He only spent $37.20. That leave us $112.80 for the rest of the month. It is a good start but still going to be a tight budget.