Week 16 was a bit harder financially because we are waiting on some money from B's work & not sure when it will get there. We had $567 but after B's business expenses were left with $403. I wasn't sure how well we could live off $297 (being $403 less $106 52 wk challenge money), so used $38 of the $300 buffer in our savings- no idea why I picked such a weird amount!

I really wanted to go and see Fast & Furious 7 so we went to our local cinema (did not go out to tea first, simply ate at home & because this was a cinema close by didn't have to pay for parking). Still $62 including snacks though.

On the spur of the moment we decided to visit friends an hour away and stay in our camper trailer overnight. B was going motorbike riding with the husband on Sunday so we drove our own cars and I drove home first thing Sunday morning. Was nice to use our camper trailer without having to go for a big weekend away and we had a nice relaxing night. As our friends cooked dinner we bought desserts - $18.63 for the desserts (one of them was a really nice lemon tart), and $40 for petrol for my car - double what I normally spend but the car got a great run, which hardly ever happens- it's usually 5-10 min trips here and there.

We spent $65 on alcohol and $135 on food for the week, not bad amounts for us.

We turned our hot tub on for the first time since mid-March and spent a really nice couple of hours relaxing in it last night, a nice way to finish the weekend

Then B took the last $20 for his poker game.

We didn't have loads of money to spend but felt like we did a lot of really nice things (we also did weekly cleaning & laundry too so as to not get behind) and made the best out of our weekend.

Last weekend was week 15, and now in one section, the EF, we have hit triple digits! Progress is a beautiful thing

Last weekend was the first of three weeks where we really have to watch our money, because of B's uncertainty of when he'll get paid next- they're saying three weeks so we'll budget for that.

I prepaid over the interest to his card and then it wasn't charged (still on $0, yay). I normally would have counted it as a snowflake but he bought petrol for work at $96, so leaving off the $62 received, we had to pay $34. (So we had a $567 less $34). So this weekend our money situation was semi-normal really. Missed out on a snowflake, and while we couldn't afford the party savings, we still made the 52 week challenge (which to me is crucial, as we need to build up savings and reduce debt). Have to pay some bills next week and there is enough in that account to make the banking the difference deposit (estimated at $143), so as long I can do that, that's good.

We had a quiet weekend, saw a movie called "The Longest Ride" which was a really sweet movie (directed by the director of "The Notebook" and "Dear John"). With groceries, spent our old spend of $170, but part of that was dogworming tablets and we just seemed to run out of a few things this week. Looking over the month, we haven't actually spent that much on groceries because we were away the first week of April and then my birthday was the second week (we had lots of left over food that week).

I have been spending all month jotting down the things I spend and how long it takes to earn each thing as an exercise in money mindfulness. A few things I can tell you is, with both the challenges combined, have managed to save 11.7% of my pay (or 18 hours that I worked within the month). I was aiming for 20% but after the last couple of weeks, it's not possible.

It's really made me evaluate what I spend on though. I don't feel like it's made me not want to spend but rather aim for a few quality things, here and there. I guess I can tell you, the bills portion - housing, insurances, bills, door lock repair to car, dentist visit and insurance savings amounted to 45% of my pay.

I saved $10 on petrol because I filled up once at the second week of the month, for $50 instead of $20 each week simply because I couldn't be bothered updating my notes! They do say that if you fill up once instead of small amounts here and there your fuel does last longer, and I found that it is true.

As I started this exercise in the second week of the month it's not totally accurate. I'm great with tracking expenses most of the time but whenever we go on holiday, I am officially on holiday. No updating finances - the bills get paid before we go, we have some money to spend and what it gets spent on I don't note down because I'm on holiday and relaxing is my priority.

But I found that this exercise is great for helping me live within my means, and to appreciate what I earn and what we can afford.

On another note, B got told about a job opening as a Building Supervisor for a new homes construction company, so we did an application letter for it and sent it with his resume. He thinks it would be a good idea because of the physical toll carpentry takes on the body, he could have a point there. If he's happy, I'm happy, so hopefully he gets it.

Also, last week I had to go over B's tax and work out how much he's earned from 1 July - 31 March, and he came in at $30,814 with $2396 tax payable. As we've paid just over $2400 for the year, there are no problems with not having paid/saved enough. I wanted him to make $40k, and I think he would just squeeze through, if he's lucky. (Of course if he gets a job, we won't have to worry about this anymore)

As always, the 52 week challenge debits got paid. I was a bit busy during the week so didn't get around to paying bills until just now (I usually do this Wed/Thursday).

This week's bill savings were $133.27, from the following places:
- business insurance $9.68
- my phone $55.45 (thank you $30 plan!)
- animal registrations $7.50 (our cat has a reduced fee to due to her age now- lower price for animals over 10 years old)
- train ticket savings $60.64

Other stuff that went on:

I went to the dentist for the first time in 4 years, due to a chip on one of my fillings. Amazingly, that was my only problem (I'm strict with brushing, flossing & mouthwash). So a clean, polish & filling patch up was $270. I'm pretty happy that there was only 10 minutes of physical pain and, while $270 sounds a lot, over 4 years it works out to $67.50 per year. Not bad.

We are starting to plan B's 40th, which is 4 months away, and saved our first $100 towards it. While we're not sure how many people will be there, we do want to pay for food and alcohol. (We're not sure what type as yet though, that is negotiable)

We had some friends over from dinner last night that we hadn't seen since January, so was a lovely catch-up. We decided to do a last BBQ of the season. All up $60, however we put leftover meat in the freezer and are eating salads again tonight.

Today I went for a swim first thing, then went to the shops and spent some of my birthday vouchers- I got a pair of winter pajamas for $20, and my friends got me a Rebel sport voucher worth $150, so I got a nice tracksuit worth $130. Was great spending money that wasn't my own for once! (or our own I should say)

Then we went "camping shopping" eg getting things for our camper trailer. Today we ended up replacing my broken chair. We got a good chair worth $140 for $70, which I was very happy with.... If you are sitting around a campfire all night, a good chair is something that is money well spent. This chair is fairly straight with padding, I think it's a bit better for your back.

Food shopping wasn't too too bad at $120, however I pretty much got the bare minimum. Tonight we are having steak & salad, tomorrow ham, cheese & mushroom omelette, Tuesday pork & vegies, Wednesday & Thursday meatballs with tomato risoni (new meal, however looks like I can stretch to 2 nights).

Time to cook tea & then catch on blogs. Hope y'all had a lovely weekend!

Today it is exactly 3 months since I started the challenges, so it's time to note down the progress for a quarter of the year!

For month 3 of the 52 week challenge, approximately $1,381.00 has been saved/repaid against the various places.

For month 3 of the Banking The Difference challenge approximately $1,563.75 has been saved/repaid against the various places.

For both a total of $2,944.75 has been saved/repaid. Total current goal $5512 + $1,563.75 = $7,075.75. This makes progress of having saved 41.62% of the total goal (if there was no more banking the difference for the rest of the year and we just stuck to the 52 week challenge).

The result so far for each account / card is:
EF = $1,545.23 saved
CC 1 = $462.96 repaid
CC 2 = $489.56 repaid
Mortgage = $447 saved

It's great to see some results, now it's just a matter of not getting too complacent. It still looks like we kind of have a mini-EF now which is good. Credit card debt at the start of the challenge was $9.1k and is now just under $8.2k, so is moving further away from the $10k mark (which to me is scary). Mortgage $127k (we'll tackle the savings and credit card debt first).

Week 13 of the challenges has been a huge week. Not so much for the challenges, but more because tomorrow is my birthday and we have been celebrating all weekend. Currently we're winding down in preparation for the work week, so I thought I'd create an entry while we have some downtime.

Of the 52wk challenges, the EF is now creeping up to $1000, will be nice when it hits it!

Of the banking the difference challenge, my team St Kilda won the football by 28 points, so $28 will be transferred to the EF. Yay!

After Easter, a heavy workload at work and going out to our niece's birthday on Thursday night, I was glad that I thought ahead and decided that this birthday would be a quiet one. When we have parties with all our families, mine & B's, a birthday celebration becomes not only expensive but a lot of work. Before Easter I decided that as my birthday is not a special year, all I want to do is go out with my friends on Saturday night, and have my family over for afternoon tea on Sunday. B also came out with my friends, amazingly he was ok with being the only male, was very proud of him.

For my friends I decided to do nibbles platters plus put on some frozen food (mini-quiches, sausage rolls, spring rolls etc), and for my family, nibbles platters. So I decided when shopping to look for buy 2 get discounts deals. For celebrations I buy mostly brand name food. It's a celebration so I allow leeway in the budget to enjoy the nicer things. $111 in total, $10 was for grocery items however. Didn't have cash or money in checking, so used CC & need to repay tomorrow when I log into Internet banking.

Got my hair done, this was $95, paid cash.

Bought petrol & am hoping to stretch this for 3 weeks (fingers crossed), $50, which needs to be repaid back to CC.
Bought alcohol & am hoping to stretch that to 3 weeks too, $47.48, this needs to be repaid back to CC too.

So in total, I need to transfer back $209 back to CC tomorrow (rounded it up slightly), and $28 to EF.

We didn't go out until 10.30 so only had a few drinks, $65 was spent.

Had such a lovely time with friends and family! I'm glad that I decided not to do anything huge, because I had a great time, am relaxed and feel like I'm glowing! I love the people in my world

Week 12 debits got paid, so it's progressing well, no real interesting numbers this week though.

We used our camper trailer for the first time over the Easter holidays, which was nice. We were holidaying with my inlaws which was 50% fun, 50% I deserve a medal! I just hope hubby got some good memories. His aunt, uncle, cousins and nephews are fun.

I found four days with MIL and FIL very hard work though. MIL has onset dementia/Alzheimer's so swings between lucid and with it and her normal self when she has energy, and regressing to about a 3yo when she is tired and needing to be entertained from morning until night (and constantly watched). If she is not entertained she stares into space or complains constantly or constantly repeats the same thing or becomes obsessed with the time to the point of shooing anybody onto their next appointment so they are not late! Aaargh. The most success I had with her was treating her like a 3yo- do you want to come for a walk? Can you help with this? (Drying dishes for example). Eg making sure she is occupied. I feel sorry for FIL, this must be so hard for him.

However he is hard work in another way. Bossy, so we had a few disagreements about food-making. I thought as it is my & husband's camper trailer we would mainly be organising the food and cooking it (you know, like a normal couple!) but he barged in every time I would start to make something and not sit down (because it is really so difficult to cook hot cross buns and butter them...). He has a big control issue with food, it has to be perfect or he gets really upset, so I decided to be the bigger person and let him cook all the meals so he can eat his perfect food. He cooked a roast on the last night and decided it wasn't cooked to his standards and threw a huge tantrum. We all said it wasn't that bad (it wasn't) and later on I told my husband he acts like a three year old and could you imagine if I acted like that??? And he said, please don't!

At least I had fun drinking wine, eating chocolate and enjoying nature while having an Internet connection!! There's a silver lining in every cloud! (But no, don't want to go away with them again anytime soon.....)

Once again, typed up an entry, clicked "Save and Publish" and the damn thing disappeared into thin air! Ugh.

Take 2: the 52 week challenge amounts have been paid into various places (yay). Banking the Difference was not found in bill payments as such, but the difference in the mortgage repayment ($149 as per previous month), so that got sent to mortgage offset account. A bit under $500 sitting there now.

The other Banking the Diff saving turned out to be our credit card interest expense. I treat the interest expense as a bill and prepay the interest I think will be charged ($60 per card). My interest came in at around $55, so $5 saving there. B's card was the big saving with $0 interest charged! Not sure why. We swapped over the card to a low rate in Dec/Jan, and it says on the banking website 3 months interest free for cards opened between Feb & May. Who knows, maybe we got the deal too? I'm counting it as a snowflake and adding to the challenge.

As a result, B's card is doing great. I wanted it to be $3299 by March 31, it is that now (actually a bit under) so no extra repayment required there. My card will still need $29 transferred on Monday to meet my wish of seeing $4999 owing on March 31.

Hoping you all have a lovely weekend!!!

I wrote an entry yesterday and when I pressed "save & publish" it promptly disappeared. Maybe it's a good thing! I wasn't my usual self and was a bit cranky, so maybe I simply got to vent, let it all out and feel better without putting you all through my rant. (I feel better than yesterday).

We're now at week 10 and there's enough in the EF to consider it to be a mini-EF. I was thinking a mini-EF should be $1K per family member and readily accessible in a cash form, which means we're a bit over halfway there in that case. And then I was thinking the balance should be a maxi-EF which is saved/invested somewhere which earns a good return.

Checked the credit cards and my credit card stands at $5049 owing. Would love to bring that down to $4999 by 31 March. One more challenge payment will be made by then which will leave $29 to be made to reach that goal. If there are no more banking the difference payments I will pay the money. B's card stands at $3328 so we could also get that down to $3299. We'll see what happens within a week

Month 2 actually finished two days ago but I guess I've been busy and had other things on my mind. Now there's lot of money things to do, so need to get on it.

For month 2 of the 52 week challenge, approximately $957.00 has been saved/repaid against the various places.

For month 2 of the Banking The Difference challenge approximately $1,074.53 has been saved/repaid against the various places.

For both a total of $2,048.53 has been saved/repaid. Total current goal $5512 + $1,074.53 = $6,586.63. This makes progress of having saved 31.10% of the total goal.

The result so far for each account / card is:
EF = $1,087.97 saved
CC 1 = $301.78 repaid
CC 2 = $343.78 repaid
Mortgage = $298 saved

It's great to see some results! It looks like we kind of have a mini-EF now which is good. Credit card debt at the start of the challenge was $9.1k and is now just under $8.5k. Mortgage $127k (we'll tackle the savings and credit card debt first).

Sometimes I think if I didn't post and update weekly about the 52 week challenge I'd completely forget where exactly I am with it! It's helpful doing this. Anyway the debits have come out as usual and the balances are increasing as expected.

After the holiday last week, this weekend was very domestic. We cleared away nearly all trace of suitcases etc, washed nearly all the clothes (not done yet, a couple of loads to go) and had a big clean-up, as in cleaned the house from top to bottom (as opposed to the usual rush job which ensures that surfaces etc are clean). I hope to not see another cobweb for a while! I think I got everything. And other things just got cleaned better than usual (eg shower). We felt pretty accomplished by the end.
This took me most of the weekend so meal plans are out the window. As we've been home, not much has been spent so I guess that counteracts not having time to go to the butchers or Aldi. It is Coles and Safeway all the way this week. I'm guessing this may cost an extra $20 or so, which I'm happy to pay as we have seen some good results, our house looks cleaner than it has in a while.

We've been meaning to do car services for a while now and my goal was to have both cars done by Easter (April 2? around then anyway). The electrics cut out on B's car about a month ago and he never got around to booking a service. Well he drove it a couple of days ago and the electrics cut out again and when he looked at the manual it said "get to the mechanic asap", so we're not sure what we're up for. B has said that he can service my car (I think because it is now getting older he is not as worried about doing it as he was before) so it looks like he will do that to offset an expensive car service on his. If it helps our bottom line and doesn't wreck my car in the process I'm all for it!

That's about all from me, hope you're all doing well

We're back from our short cruise holiday/friend's wedding! We had fun, it was a very nice trip and we'll have many good memories for years to come because these are friends that we don't normally go away with. Would we go away on a cruise again? Probably would not rush to. I got motion sickness which was unpleasant for a short period of time.

As I can speak anonymously, we had an interesting situation. It was a destination wedding so we had to obviously pay our own cruise fares, flights, etc. I was happy to because the concept of going on a short cruise with my friends interested me. My boss said "you know they would have got the wedding for free right?" (I don't care if they did and I'm happy they got upgraded to a suite with a balcony) My friend said "don't be surprised if they don't pay for the wedding meal or drinks", which I replied "I don't think they would do that"- well there were no prices on the meal menu so we thought it was paid for like a typical wedding do so when we went to order drinks the waiter turned around and said "cruise card please" (you put money onto a card issued by them as a form of monetary denomination). We found out we had to pay for our own drinks for the wedding meal and the only reason our meal was free was because it was incorporated into the cruise fare! I'm all for saving money but to me this was beyond stingy, especially as everyone would have paid minimum $500 to go to the wedding! Rant over. What are your thoughts on the matter?

The 52 wk challenge debits came out as normal and we put money on B's credit card to pay for items on holiday and when we got back the challenge money was there plus $149 extra so I am calling that a snowflake and have added it to banking the difference challenge. My team also won by 50 points last weekend so that was a big win and therefore threw $50 over to the EF. Banking The Difference challenge now has hit over $1K, woohoo!

The debits for week 7 52 week challenge have been applied in the various places, and now the EF category there is just under $500. (With banking the difference also it is standing at around $810, so it's progressing well)

We have tried to spend as little as possible this week. Takeaway has been the lower end of our scale. Friday night B was out with friends and had McDonalds. I felt like getting a good quality bread (which is more than our grocery spend) so spent $3.50 on it instead of getting takeaway and had dim sims from our freezer for tea. B's Saturday takeaway was $6 chicken & chips (he can easily spend $15 on KFC, so swapped it this week)

We held a thank you dinner for B's parents and repaid them the final $700 of the money we had to borrow at the start of the year. They were very happy and we are so happy to have finished that chapter. Roast dinner with all the trimmings = $55 (we got a piece of roast beef plus we got all the vegetables also, bakery bread, nice icecream & cream to have for dessert, $9 vodka drink in case B's mum wanted something).

B plays poker once a week with his friends and they rotate whose house it is at. This week it is his turn. We decided to have a bbq for it, bbq meat = $25.

We have found that while we had to buy roast meat & bbq meat, we have enough food in our freezer to only buy 1 night's dinner this week so our spending has been offset by that reduction.

Of our $600 weekly spend, $256 has gone towards savings and debt repayment. ($106 52 wk challenge, $50 xmas gift card, $100 loan to inlaws). We have $143 left. With that I have to buy groceries (not looking at a huge spend), develop some photos and B wants to get some more alcohol before tomorrow night. Maybe we might go over but it won't be by much and it feels like we have done some good things this week.

The payments came out on Friday as scheduled (so handy having it automated!).

As it stands this week the balances are creeping up but no real digit change. Next week the EF category will be a couple of dollars shy of $500 which will be nice.

I could have had a Banking the Difference snowflake but we overspent this week and this helped to offset the amount we overspent. (Overspend of $110, snowflake of $48). Sometimes you have to allow a little leeway.

But not next week! We had a huge expensive week last week but this week we over-indulged in our favourite comforts so it was just an expensive week (fish & chips for Friday night tea, KFC for Saturday lunch for B, I went out with my mother & sister today, we borrowed DVDs, I bought a book) and bought a few new items- shoes for me $50, wine cooler from op shop (me) $2, camping plate set & kettle (B) $32. It all adds up. Did we enjoy ourselves? You bet. B had a day out with his friends ($29), I went out with my family ($20), we had our favourite takeaways and bought new things. Life is to be enjoyed sometimes. (All the time is unrealistic)

So now I am planning on having a low-spend week this week. If it involves too much energy or money it's not happening, it can wait! This week will be the week of no. It has to be said now and then.

Meal Plan:
Tonight: chicken drumsticks, roast potatoes & veggies
Tomorrow: fried rice with chicken as the meat portion
Tuesday: steak with mashed potatoes & veggies
Wednesday: schnitzel with mashed potatoes & veggies
Thursday: spaghetti bolognaise

Hoping you all have a lovely frugal week!

The fifth week of the 52 week challenge came out on Friday but rather than update on the weekend I really wanted to wait until exactly 1 month from the challenges start date, which was January 16th.

For month 1 of the 52 week challenge, approximately $533.00 has been saved/repaid against the various places.

For month 1 of the Banking The Difference challenge approximately $331.32 has been saved/repaid against the various places.

For both a total of $864.32 has been saved/repaid. Total current goal $5512 + $331.32 = $5843.32. This makes progress of having saved 14.79% of the total goal.

The result so far for each account / card is:
EF = $478 saved
CC 1 = $145.46 repaid
CC 2 = $92.60 repaid
Mortgage = $149 saved

This has been a good month and we are in the better times of the year. (October-December is never good for example) I'm pretty happy with the result, it's nice to have a little bit saved away.

Our debits for 52 week challenge came out on Friday, this is now Week 4 (yay!). Sidebar is updated and next week will have saved/repaid over $100 on 2 out of 3 items. Getting there.

I received onFriday a $50.32 snowflake which was a credit from my old phone company for an overpayment (I paid the bill, then 2 days later got the final bill showing a credit of $50.32 but as it got paid in full I needed a refund). Amazingly the phone company did it within 2 days which was really good service for a now ex-customer!

I sent this over to Banking The Difference challenge in various places, sidebar is updated.

Now looking at $5512 52 wk challenge + $331.32 = $5843.32 anticipated savings at end of challenges.

I'm looking forward to recording at exactly 1 month from the start dates of the challenges exactly how much has been saved and how far along we are

Another lot of payments have now come out and the sidebar is updated!

Small accomplishments

The second lot of payments for the 52 week challenge have been deducted, so we're over the $100 mark for the EF now.

I had a look at what the repayments for each will be by the end of the month and found that with my credit card I will fall short by $1 of having $100 available, so added $3 to even out this amount. It always feels better to see that extra digit paid/available, so wanted to see that as at the beginning of February there will be $100 available there.

In time it will add up and we will really see results, looking forward to that.

I set up the direct debits, and they came out straight away, so every Friday is the day they come out of the account.

Worked out the percentages, 67% goes to EF, 20% goes to my CC, 13% goes to B's CC.

Such a good feeling to tick off Week 1 and begin the challenges!

While I love the idea of paying a different amount each week and ticking it off against the appropriate week, the reality is to really make the 52 week challenge work I think it would be best to simplify it by dividing up the payments equally and setting up an automated direct debit, that way there is less leeway to shift amounts and shift weeks when it is an expensive week.

The reality is we need some savings, so I don't really want to have any excuses for delays/reductions, whatever.

I read something a while ago which said "save first, then spend what is left over not the other way round" and I think there's way more than a grain of truth there.

So tomorrow I am setting up a weekly debit for a total amount of $106 to be withdrawn weekly from our bank account, with the end goal being a minimum of $5512 saved up by the middle of January next year.

Let the 52 week challenge officially begin!