Come join me in my quest to live a happier more frugal way of life, while enjoying the more traditional family values.

Monday, May 31, 2010

End of Month roundup

Well how do I feel after being on my budget for 1 whole month, because after only a very few short weeks I really did,nt expect to feel any different, but surprise surprise I actually do feel in control for the first time in years I now feel as if I can accomplish things make plans and live like a normal person. I was feeling really depressed and suffering from low esteem with all my zest for living gone. One of my main fears was that one day my beloved Grandchildren would find out that I was financially a complete failure, I,ll never have a lot of money to spare but I will be more organised in the future to cope with what life throws at me.
I,m sitting down tonight and getting my budget ready for June, I still have a way to go with a backlog of bills before I actually see savings, but I am starting to see big changes, will post it tomorrow.
After all my spending this week I have $35.00 to carry over into next month.

Sunday,s spends $00.00
Monday,s spends $00.00

Saturday, May 29, 2010

I was almost seduced today

I was almost seduced today, but not in the way your thinking, come on now a happily married Granny like myself, no my seducer was a clothing and accessory shop. Not a high end fashion shop but a Red Cross pre-loved Charity store. So armed with the notion that not only was I going to get something new but I was also going to be doing it for a good cause, I picked out a beautiful new bag for the princely sum of $17.00. I was on a high by then the one you get when you find what you want in a store and you can,t wait to have it put in a nice shiny new carrier bag ( a biodegradable one of course ) and to pay for it with your shiny piece of plastic. I had even decided to treat my MIL to a nice top she had admired for $12.00 so I opened up my handbag and I had no purse with me, a picture flashed across my brain of it still sitting on my kitchen workbench. Drat I was going to have to go home collect the purse and come back for the bag and top, well my budget won and back went my almost new bag and my MIL,s almost new top and we left the shop. Was there a lesson to be learned from this ? Probably but I still want that bag.

Spends for today
  • Groceries $135.00 ( I,d be rich if we did,nt have to eat )
  • Incidentals $11.85 ( needed bits for making place cards tomorrow )

Saved today $29.00 because I,ve brains like a sieve, still want that bag LOL

Friday, May 28, 2010

Paying cash did,nt work

Every frugal website and budgeting blog will tell you that paying by cash is the only way to go in this present economic climate, and that most business,s nowadays offer money off incentives if you splash the cash. Well it,s about time somebody told my local Garage owner about the offers, after going to the bank to make sure I had enough cash in my purse, I walked along to pick up my car, it was about a fifteen minute walk in the rain, but with my cold and feeling as weak as I did I thought it was going to be worth it to get the expected discount, oh boy was I let down when he refused to budge on the price. He even made me feel guilty about insinuating that an honest business man "overcharged" ( his words not mine ) And so I forked out the full amount of the repair. So where did I go wrong, was I not strong enough ?? Or can you only do this in a situation where you can walk away without buying anything ?? Or has he got his words down pat as he is asked so often ??

Payday today
  • $ 397.00 car repair ( as stated no discount given
  • $ 4.50 Groceries ( bread and cat food ( ran out before tomorrows shop )
  • $10.00 Fish & Chips ( my share of tonights meal

Already I know there will be none of my wages left to save, I am getting impatient to see some progress, I,ve seen all the areas in which I went wrong, but I am so far behind with everything I,m constantly catching up. Still I can see the wood for the trees, and it will happen.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I love Champagne

I have the Mother and Father of all colds, yesterday I slept more or less from 10.30am until this morning at 7.00am with a few breaks for sustenance and the toilet. So I am sitting here at the Computer with Paracetamol, paper tissues and fluids. Yuk.

One of the few luxuries I enjoy is a glass or two of Champagne, and it has to be a reasonably good bottle, not a Moet I can,t afford to run to that kind of expense, but definitely not a cheap bottle either, I hate those sparkling lolly waters. So I picked up a book to read from my local Library called Vintage and as the front cover was a bottle of bubbly I took it home. In the Prologue I discovered something about my favourite tipple that I had,nt heard before so I thought I would share it.

" Without dirt, there would be no Champagne. As you hold your glass to the light and admire the pale golden fizz inside, consider this: a perfectly clean flute and your bubbly would not bubble. There would be no sparkle to your sparkling wine. Each glittering chain that rises to the surface originated from an inperfection; a minute blemish on the crystal, a fibre from a tea`towel or a tiny speck of dust. I,m thinking that people are like Champagne our flaws are what makes us sparkle. "

I love that it makes me feel better about my flaws, and imperfections, what do you feel ? These are the things which make us individuals.

I have been too unwell to pick up my car yet, but the rest of my spends for the week were.

Tuesday : $100.00 ( owed this amount to a dear friend so it,s coming off my debt total )
Wednesday : No spending day
Thursday : No spending day ( too unwell to spend )


Thank you too the Girls who let me know that I am not alone out here, your imput is more than welcome, and I really enjoy your blogs.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Am I a blogger

A blog is a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs are defined by their format: a series of entries posted to a single page in reverse-chronological order.Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the Web site that hosts the blog. Topics sometimes include brief philosophical musings, commentary on Internet and other social issues, and links to other sites the author favors, especially those that support a point being made on a post.
The author of a blog is often referred to as a blogger.


I read this definition of a blog on a website today, and at the end of reading it I was left wondering if I really am a blogger, I don,t think my blog represents my personality, my musings are more financial ( or my lack of finances ) than social issues. Nobody follows my blogs so maybe I would be better off using a personel diary. Yet after saying all that I am enjoying my time spent typing out my expenses for the day and holding myself accountable, and I will continue to be a BLOGGER

This turned out to be a no spending day although I am still waiting on a quote from the Garage to fix my little old car fortunately Hubby works near me and we have almost the same hours so we are travelling to work together until my car is back on the road.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Wedding Invitation Day

Most of today has been spent with my Daughter making her Wedding Invitations, as I work for a medium sized printing firm getting the paper cut to size as well as getting the paper itself cost us nothing, the envelopes we bought from Ebay and the ideas were all our own. We used three different types and colours of paper and layered them with black at the back, next was gold about 2 1/2 cms shorter, and then a final layer of cream again 21/2 cms shorter which had the formal invitation wording on it. We then decorated the top of the invitation with some 20 gauge gold wire and twisted it with a jewelery making tool, into a scrool. I think they look fabulous, and very typical of my quirky Daughter. Plus they were cheap as chips, the biggest expense was the hot glue gun for the gold wire.

A no spend day for me today but as my Grandchildren decided to eat me out of house and home I may have to buy more Groceries later this week.

I am now back to using my budget book to record all my spends and it is keeping me honest, plus I add everything into my blogs, so there is no excuse for overspending.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

A Glorious Weekend apart from the cold

The sun has been shining all day in my neck of the woods, but inside the house we 3 have the cold, the three of us consist of my Hubby, myself and my MIL, and we are all streaming with it, so it,s paper tissues and Panadol for us.

Did a fairly large Grocery shop this morning, I find food shopping to be one of those areas where you can be frugal one week and the next you have to pay more to catch up. My MIL keeps all her own money and never finds the need to budget, not that she has a lot of money only her pension but rather that she has no financial commitments, and so I can never get away with buying cheap while she is watching and as our weekend trip to the supermarket is something she looks forward to I end up giving in. Grrr

I have been checking out other blogs lately and have picked up a lot of tips from some highly motivational bloggers, I am new to all this and not being really computer literate find even the simplest of tasks difficult. But I,m finding the whole blogging world such fun that I,ll be around for awhile.

Spends for today
  • Groceries $120.00 ( food only I did,nt need any household cleaners )
  • Clothing $20.00 ( 10 pairs of socks $10.00~ 8 pairs of knickers $10.00 for my Grandchildren )
  • Storage containers $10.00 ( reduced from $19.95 )
  • Salt and peppers $5.00 ( Maxwell Williams reduced from $ 19.95 )
  • Morning Tea for 2 $6.95 ( 1 muffin shared and 1 free coffee )

Friday, May 21, 2010

A penny for them

I had an epiphany today, it,s been years in the coming but at last I have worked out that my spending is an addiction. I always just thought that I was silly with money but last night I lay in bed and worked out in my head exactly what I was going to spend my money on and I managed to get rid of it down to the last cent. I was feeling really pleased about how I thought I was managing it when all of a sudden a lightbulb went on, and I realised that this happened every single pay day and had been how I viewed my money as something to be gotten rid of as quickly as possible before the next wage came into my bank. Why I do this I have no idea, maybe I,ve managed to convince myself that I dont earn enough for it to allow me savings and so to prove myself correct I spend it all. In my head you cant save odd sums of money or amounts less than $100.00 and my list goes on and on, one excuse after another, from now on that all changes. I do deserve to have financial security and all the negative notions I have are behind me, it,s going to take me another few weeks to get my bills paid off and start saving but I am going to manage it this time, wish me luck.

Today I spent
  1. $322.05 Electricity Bill
  2. $20.00 petrol
  3. $10.00 entertainment
  4. $5.00 morning tea

I,m still waiting to find out how much the meccanic is going to charge me for my car repair, I also have a phone bill and car rego to be paid.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Another no spend day

Another day without spending a red cent yippeee, just another million more of these and I,ll be rich. LOL

Payday tomorrow and the Electricity bill the Groceries and of course my car repair still waiting so no chance to save.

Not happy on the home front just now as I asked both of my kids to help out with moving my little car to the repairers, but as usual everyone is too busy, and then later in the day my DD asked to borrow some money from me until Tuesday, and I said yes I just don,t seem able to say no for no,s sake it just seems so childish and she needed the money for medication for one of my Grandkids, and I would walk over hot coals for them.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The lost weekend

My car broke down today, the poor old banger has been getting neglected a bit lately and it looks like she has retaliated, and on a week when all my money has been accounted for.

I had an expensive week this week I started off well with a notebook and pen when I boarded my flight to south Australia, but I quickly lost control of my spending and arrived home broke with no idea where it all went, so I,m annoyed and embarrassed. I am going to have to keep a tighter rein on where it all goes, and now I have a car repair to budget for.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

A Girlie Weekend

I think the best times we spend are when we are in the company of good friends which is why my weekend away although expensive (as it involveds Airfares) is going to be worth it,s weight in gold and definitely money well spent. And yes I know it,s not going to put savings in the bank but it just might save my sanity. My home live is shared with MM, his ailing elderly Mum (my MIL for future reference) and my demanding cat. There is never a moment of the day when the house is mine and mine alone, so I have developed this habit of waiting until everyone is in bed and asleep before I write my blog and plan my budget, a suppose I am what is termed an insomniac although my habit is formed from my need for time alone.

To get back to my original point my weekend away with a couple of really good mates allows me to be me and not someones wife and someones carer, so let the laughs begin and the Champagene flow!!!!

A reasonable expensive day for me today as I had a bill to pay.
  1. Mobile phone Bill (2 months as I am late with a payment) $ 81.54
  2. 40th Birthday present (for a workmate) $20.00
  3. Fish and Chips ( could,nt be bothered to cook tea tonight ) $20.00
  4. Tin of cat food ( will Grocery shop tomorrow) $1.90

Grand total of $123.44 I could have done a lot better if I had been better organised. I,m blushing as I read these amounts back.

Will be back Wednesday I intend to keep a little notepad and pencil in my handbag, so I can keep track of my spends this weekend, butI know I am doomed to failure as far as being cautious with my money goes.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

An absolute bargain

After my successful no spending day and deciding to have many more of them, I had a huge blow out. Well it could have been a huge blowout only I ended up buying a Top and a pair of sandals for $6.00 ( aussie dollars you do the maths ) The top which will suit my Daughter-in-law perfectly was reduced from $19.95 to $1.00 and the sandals were reduced from $19.95 to $5.00 saving myself the grand total of $34.90, don,t you just love end of season sales.
Spends today were.
  1. Railfare $10.60 ( had to keep a Specialist Appointment )
  2. Petrol $15.00 ( I like to keep my tank topped up )
  3. Magazine and Chocolate $6.00( my splurge for the day )
  4. Top and Sandals $6.00 ( todays bargain )

Not too bad for $37.60 and I will put the top away as part of my DIL,s Birthday present. Got to love a bargain.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Who wants to be a Millionaire ???

I sat last night and watched the U.K.s The Secret Millionaire and aside from applauding the good deeds and the money that they gave to certain communities, I found myself wondering how on earth they managed to make all their money. I suppose I am jealous of their financial success, as I have made such a mess of mine, but how on earth do you start as most of them came from very humble backgrounds. I suppose they saw am opportunity and had the guts to give it a go, or maybe their poor beginnings gave them the extra drive needed to make a success of a new business venture, whatever the answer I hope my Grandchildren give it a good go when they are old enough.

One of the points in particular I noticed last night was the fact that the Millionaires were getting more out of the experience than the recipients, and I,m not talking financially. They were reduced to tears by some of the people they met and helped. I felt really teary myself during the show.

I seem to be at a crossroads just now at work and I may need to change jobs soon, but I,ll come back to that.

The budget is still not done and it,s not that I,m putting it off, I have just been so busy this week. I saw the T.V. advert for mybudget.com.au and considered having someone else draw up a budget for me, what really interested me about it was the fact that they speak to your creditors and arrange the payback amounts, saving you from having to go into panic mode everytime the phone rings, this is something I am very familiar with.

Spent no money at all today I,ll have to start introducing more of these non spending days.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Well as I promised myself I am back although I am nowhere nearer writing a budget than I was yesterday, but today being payday I have brought my bills up to date and next week will register my car and pay of the rest of my Electricity Account. Then and only then will I be able to start putting money away and sticking to a proper budget. I have bought the pens and a budget book and I intend to enter everything I spend. I know that a spreadsheet would make this easier to track, but I, m an old fashioned kinf of a girl and I like to see it written down, whatever works for you.

In the words of Arnie " I,ll be back " and this time I,m b****y determined.

When will I ever learn

It,s been 8 months since I last put finger to keyboard and came into my blog. I actually had decided to cancel it but due to my lack of the necessary skills I did,nt know how to. And so I am back and lamenting about my finances again, as I type this my Electricity Bill is due as is my Mobile bill and my ( Foxtel Telstra and Internet ) package is also due. And I have learned absolutely nothing, my finances are still in a mess and my Daughters Wedding is in 7 Months time and I have promised her money towards it.

Tomorrow is payday and I will come back with a plan of action. Promise !!!!