It was a happy time tonight, where I got to pay bills and there were savings galore! It was time to pay the phone bills for B & for home. B's phone bill was the big saving because the new plan has officially kicked in, there was a saving of $88.02 there, and the home phone had a saving of $12.71 (only because I am now in the habit of paying on time, thus avoiding their exorbitant $15 late fee), so total banking the difference deposit today was $100.73. I forgot to add the business insurance savings of $9.68, will need to do that next time.

I notice that Banking the Difference has now clicked over to $1,535.75 so adding that to the $5,512 52 week challenge money, I am now anticipating by mid-January $7,047.75! We've just clicked over into the $7k zone now, happy times

But to bring the happy times down a notch, we had a kind of expensive day today. Hubby found out the whipper snipper was broken and since we have had it since we moved in 14 years ago, the part needed to fix it is no longer available. $190 for a new whipper snipper. Then I noticed that my car central locking has been making a weird noise so when B went to look at it, he found that the driver side passenger door lock is broken. This is the fourth time we have this lock problem, it happens on various doors. B knows how to fix it which is good, but parts will be around $150.

So some great things, some speedbumps. We can afford the whipper snipper and door lock, so there is not much stress there. They are just things which need attending to.

I also got a rewards card in the mail for Safeway/Woolworths (supermarket). As I have credit card debt, I am not interested in a rewards credit card until the debt is paid off, but I see no harm in earning rewards from supermarket shopping (this is not a credit card at all). I also got a Dan Murphys rewards card, and I am still using my Priceline rewards card (I get about $5 a quarter, but I would shop there anyway so enjoy receiving the money).

I wanted to see my credit card owing $4999, out of the $5+ region, by March 31, to see a bit of progress. I made the $29 deposit required to do so (this has been added to the Banking the Difference challenge) but because we had a really expensive week it was a struggle to pay it.

With buying things for Easter plus a birthday plus big night out, we overspent. I'm not going to feel guilty about overspending because we've been good otherwise. We have a savings account with about 2 weeks bare necessities money in case B doesn't get paid, so we paid the overspent amount plus the $29 from there. (There's now $290 there so will need to go back to topping it up).

But- it was really nice to see $4999! I feel like that's a big accomplishment and that this debt will be going downhill from there.

On another note, work is crazy busy. I did something rare and took work home. (Really needed to). Had a problem and realised I'd need to spend some time reconciling, which I don't really have at work. I need to do some iPad updates etc so will spend some time on this job while it's happening. (And if I find the problem, it's one less stress in a stressful day).

Onward and upwards

Well we got B's car serviced and looked at after the electrics failed for the second time. They couldn't give an explanation why it happened but it was time to adjust the V-drive belt (like a timing belt I guess). $450 it all came to, so we knew it would be more this time so we're ok with that.

My car insurance bill came in last week- payable April 7. My car's now 12yrs old so when the insurance was higher than last year (only by $20 but it is the principle- the car is ageing and dropping in value, so really should insurance be going up?) B decided to shop around. While I deal with the financial side of things, B deals with anything to do with the cars.

So he called up another company and looked into prices for both of our policies. Because it is our first time with this company they offered a 15% discount for both cars. The net result works out to be $333 less than what we normally pay, so we agreed to move over to them. The only thing is they are all due and payable in full so we are getting $2142 withdrawn from our accounts today.....

I looked at our finances the night before and realised we can do afford to do it. Need to slow down the outpouring of money after this though!

While it is a lot of money (thank goodness for high season!) it solves a continuing problem we have. My car is generally $700-$800 which we usually pay outright. B's car being newer however (4yrs old this yr) is generally around $1300-$1500 which is too much for us to pay outright so then we have to resort to direct debit monthly which incurs an $145 administration fee (highway robbery).

Even though we have saved money I'm not going to count this in Banking the Difference (I think we have outlaid enough at the moment), but instead starting next month I will save a monthly instalment (what we just paid divided by 12) into our mortgage offset account. So one year later we will have the full insurance amount and goodbye sky high direct debit fees, hello mortgage interest reduction!

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!

Our mortgage came out today (instead of in February we are having two withdrawals in March? Usually it's the 28th of every month? Anyway) so there was a saving of $149 compared to this time last year, so sent that straight to the mortgage.

I also received a snowflake of $37.05 into the EF account courtesy of a Medicare rebate (government rebate from the doctor's fee), so added that to the challenge.

I actually want to do a variation of the Banking the Difference challenge too. Imasaver gave me this idea from when her football team The Braves wins she deposits to her challenge then. Australian football has just started this week, which runs to August-September (August if the team is unlucky and doesn't get into finals, September if they do get into finals). My team, St Kilda, is a pretty on-off team. They have had some spectacular years and some miserable years. While I might not be an avid football follower, they will always be my team. My variation is $1 per point they win by goes to the EF (we will see how this goes! they finished bottom of the ladder last year). Last weekend they lost by 3 points so no addition to the EF then.

Our low-spend week ended up being us overspending by $20, which while not being wonderful is a definite improvement on the last two weeks. B wanted some alcohol for his poker game, which turned into me getting some too, which caused the blow-out (can never resist good sav blanc!).

This month we go away on a short cruise for my friend's wedding. The cruise got booked and mostly paid for before B broke his wrist which is why we decided to still go. We knew if we didn't go we would have lost the $540 we paid on plane fares which really wasn't a nice thought. It's going to be our last holiday for a while, really excited about it. It also works out well that B is doing so well at the moment now that we don't have any money stresses from his business. Now to just get through the pre-holiday stresses of getting everything organised!

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.

By paying with gift cards.

A friend of mine did that last year or the year before and put a picture up on Facebook of all the cards she bought, and I thought that was such a wonderful idea.

I figured if I divide the Christmas spend by 10 and buy 1 card per month from February to November our Christmas spending will be taken care of, and not only will one headache be taken care of, but it should add to the enjoyment of the season. (Sure I could save the monthly instalment into the EF and withdraw at Xmas but I want the EF to be a place where money floods in erratically & often and dribbles out only in the event of a true emergency, no transfering between accounts willy-nilly).

Gift cards have a 1 year expiry date so I will buy first the ones I know I will be shopping with and last the ones that we will be giving.

Last year because we were so broke our Christmas shopping was phenomenally low - $180 and we only bought for the niece and nephews. We felt bad, it's not really the meaning of Christmas to make other family members miss out because of our money dramas. It sucked.

So as it's the 27th of February I thought I'd better get card number 1 and bought one for $50.. 1 down, 9 to go!

I got invited to go to a lingerie party tomorrow night. Kind of like Tupperware but instead, lingerie. I ummed and ahhed because this is so not my thing but I felt bad saying no. Then I thought of what I said Sunday "if it involves money or energy this week that is not needed then the answer is no", and sent off a text nicely explaining that this is not really my thing but have a lovely time. My SIL who was having the party was nice about it which makes me happy.

So it's Tuesday and the week is so far so good. I'm at 2 no spend days, have avoided a big spend (that lingerie would not be cheap) and am creatively aiming this week to avoid spending as much as possible. 2 down 5 days to go!

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!

My husband B is self-employed so it is important to keep up to date with his tax Withholdings in order to avoid being in a world of financial pain when it's time to lodge the tax return!

We had money problems while he was off work but now he is back working and we are recovering, he has a lot of work at the moment.

Now that we have money again a friend has offered to sell him a camper trailer for $2000 which is in pretty good condition and would be a valuable purchase for us, we would get a lot of use out of it. I told him I would let him know this week if we are able to get it.

The Australian tax year starts on July 1 and ends June 30. The way I look at his tax is to pay instalments towards his tax as the government advises for the first half of the year, and then between months 6 & 8 start looking at his profit & loss to see have we paid enough tax? If not, we have a few months to get things back in order by year end. (If he was making way more money than usual I would be checking earlier).

So I had the family banker hat on this week and have found that he is doing ok. He hasn't earned much this year ($27000 so far), tax payable is $1300, tax we have paid is $1700. So it works out I have over saved for tax so we can use that money to buy the camper trailer. It's nice to know that we're on track and won't get any nasty surprises in the form of big tax bills. Really hoping B will make a taxable income of over $40000 by year end (which will be an improvement on the $37000 he earned the year before).

Oh, and once I start checking at months 6-8, I continually check at the end of each month to keep a clear picture of where he's at. (As a salaried employee I don't need to do this for myself, there's not a lot to report and tax is withheld at the right level).

It's the end of our big weekend, it's Sunday night. We had a mini-date night the other night for Valentine's Day, ate our chocolates, went to three birthdays yesterday, two of which were out at a restaurant. It was nice to go out to dinner for once but if turned out to be expensive. We took $120 thinking it would be fine but everything cost more. As soon as we ordered I had to tally up how many drinks we could afford to have so we wouldn't spend over the $120! We ended up spending $104 and while the entree was nice, the main wasn't worthy of the charge. I love marinara dishes and you can usually expect 2-3 each of prawns, scallops, fish pieces, mussels and a couple of other fish things. For $25 I got 2 scallops, 1 prawn, 1 mussel and a lot of cheaper fish pieces and a lot more pasta. If I wanted mostly pasta I would have spent $10 less & got a pasta dish! They did have a nice band though which made it a fun night.

I got a text from a very good friend the other day to meet for coffee this morning, which was a really nice catch-up. We have a lot of the same values and I trusted her enough to tell her about my blog (the only other people who know are my sister and B, who has no interest in the blog anyhow). She is currently going through hard financial problems and hopefully everything will change for the better soon. We had lots to talk about.

I bought a pair of work shoes for $50 and B went out and spent $29 - both things were from our spending money for the coming week so will need to adjust accordingly.

Meal plan:
Sunday- we were bad & had steamed dim sims!
Monday - omelette
Tuesday- chicken sausages, mashed potatoes & veggies
Wednesday- pork chops, mashed potatoes & veggies
Thursday- steak & chips

Both my doctors visit and the dog's trip to the vet cost more than expected, especially the dog. We had to buy antibiotics and other bits and pieces for her, costing a whopping $174 (and my doctors visit ended up being $115). We already see an improvement with the dog so we're happy about that.

While I was killing some time before the doctors appointment I decided to buy a Valentine's day card & chocolates- got a big $15 box of Cadbury Roses for $7.50 so was really happy.

Then afterwards didn't feel like having the curried sausages so we just had something little. We decided that because the appointments cost more to save money instead of going out for tea we will have the curried sausages followed by the Cadbury Roses for dessert. I'm not even bothered, I'm just looking forward to the chocolates