BF just finished doing a floor for a lady in her house, and when he finished she gave him and the other worker $50 cash (ontop of the $5000+ for the floor) for doing such a good job!
i thought that was very nice of her.

With the money Bf treated me and him to a movie 'date' and dinner, which was nice. We haven't been on a 'date' for over a month, and then before then it would have been about 6 months... The movie was $8 a ticket (saved $6.80 each by using a club card) and our meal came to $38.60 and we had a drink to take in to the movies (mine was $2.40 and BF's was $2.90). I gave BF $10 for the extra money. (It came to $59.90).

I am adding $6.80 to my challenge money for using our cinebuzz club card and getting a discount on the movie ticket. I am also adding 78c for buying an extra bottle of tomato passata sauce when it was on special saving 33c, and the ricotta cheese was on special from $4.09 to $3.64 saving 45c. Also my automatic payment to my Uni/House Fund went through yesterday, so that is another $20 to my challenge fund!

New Challenge Total: $56.28

I am also adding $5.44 to the Stupid Vault as BF and I did not really need to buy desserts for the week but we bought some gourmet icecream and some others. Although we saved around $1.50 as they were both on special! It is still going to the Stupid Vault though!!!

New Stupid Vault Balance: $9.24

BF and I were watching A Current Affair the other day and they had a feature on the 'Top 5' money saving tips. Of course, we watched it. I laughed at the tips:

-Sell things you don't need.
-Get a second job.
-Put your money in an interest earning account.
-Get an investment property.
-Ask for a payrise.


I regularly sell things on auction sites, and we plan to have a garage sale. BF makes furniture from scratch. I have two jobs, and a new third income source. I have had ING accounts for three years and a Bankwest Account (which they revealed as the Top Interest Earning Account @ 8.25%) for two and a half years. I also set up a Bankwest Account and automatic payment for BF. Our ultimate goal is to own investment properties, and we will probably start with our foot in the door by buying a unit which we will then use to buy another home. BF just got a payrise to nearly $30 an hour, and I too will be getting one in a few months.

They say these are the top 5 money savings tips, but I bet any money that most people on this site have already applied atleast one or two of these tips (and probably all) to their daily lives, and long ago. So my question is, how can I save money? I am always disappointed by saving tips, because most of them I already know and/or realise and apply them to my life.

-I don't drink often (once every six months on average - yes I said not often!)
-I don't smoke.
-I have curbed my magazine addiction quite significantly, and my book buying has decreased (to zilch) since I joined the library).
-I have also curbed takeaway and dining out to a maximum of one meal a week out.
-I stopped buying so many takeaway beverages - I wait til I get home for a coffee now, and make my own juice.
-I don't wear expensive brand clothes.
-I don't drive a gas guzzler - it's a 1998 4-cyl nissan pulsar.
-I don't go out regularly at all - maybe once a month.
-We always go for the cheaper option of everything when we do go out - the 'cheap movie' of the week, coupons for bowling, discount cards for most things, etc.
-I have the lowest possible mobile bill and the lowest possible internet bill.
-I pay extra on my loan, and am attempting to pay it off in half the loan term.
-The only splurges I have seem to be music festival weekends or bands, however I save for these events in advance. See below:
-My recreational use of drugs is quite limited, planned and saved for (yes, it's probably the oddest thing you've heard - and no, I don't need a lecture, how many of you have a glass of wine after work? i won't lecture you about that, even though I rarely drink and have my own opinions about it)
-I don't give a lot of gifts to people.
-I don't pay for others.
-I don't have a gym membership.
-I get a lot of music for free because my dad has an awesome job
-One expense I seem to have is purcahses of dvd's and movies, but even then it is not overboard.

On my budget analysis, the sections that I overspend on are my personal allowance/fun money, however in the past few months it has decreased significantly. Looking closely at it, there are no amounts that stand out either. I may spend $50 on clothes one week, but then nothing on clothes for a couple of months after that. I think my main problem is those 'stupid purchases' for which I've come up with a plan to stop, anyway. (see the stupid vault). So is this the only option I have to save money? Obviously the one thing I am doing to EARN more money is to study at university so I can get a higher earning job, but that still doesn't help with the 'saving of money'.

Well today I completely cleared the balance of CC1, so I won't have to worry about that for awhile. I paid some off CC2 (anz) and have $121.20 to go. Once that is cleared I will be making sure that everything I charge to that card is paid pretty much straight away (I use it for the rewards scheme, but it has a 20% interest rate). CC1 (Virgin) has a lower rate of 14% and is my favourite card (I know it's terrible to have a favourite credit card - but I do!). It is mainly the excellent customer service I get from the company and the flexibility they have, and basically how everything always goes so smoothly - there are never any hickups. Does anyone else have a 'favourite' CC?

Well today I spent $4 on a coffee with a friend, $3.25 on a recipe magazine, and $4 on Vitamin E Cream (it is what I use as moisturiser - best I've ever used). I also went to the library and picked up four books, so they should keep me busy for awhile.

Unfortunately for my savings (or debt) I don't regard any of those purchases as stupid enough for the Stupid Vault (see previous entry if you have no idea what I'm talking about). My reasoning is that a magazine I would normally buy (but have not been lately) is around $8, and my buying a recipe magazine is a closer step toward saving as it advocates cooking for yourself, and is more than half the price of a regular fashion magazine. The coffee, while sort of avoidable, is a small price to pay for catching up with a friend (ok, we might work together... but still).

I am adding the savings of buying the recipe magazine instead of the fashion magazine to my $20 challenge ($4.70 saving), as well as 50c for drinking 1.5L of water today. That brings my total up to $28.20

I was naughty and bought a muffin for morning tea. That will teach me for not putting something healthy in my bag this morning! $3.80 - gone!

I have decided to copy Amber (www.veronak.savingadvice.com) and add the same amount to my debt (only it will be my personal loan, not my credit card debt).

From now on, any stupid purchases (yes, I said stupid) will be added to my Personal Loan. I'm going to try and keep a running tally, like the $20 Challenge, only I will call it the Stupid Vault.
Any pro-activ choices, purchases etc will be added to the Challenge money.

It makes more sense really:

Challenge Money = Savings = Good
Stupid-ness = Debt = Bad

Challenge Balance: $23.00
Stupid Vault: $3.80

Now only if the rest of our lives where that simple to work out, eh?!

I am trying to really get on top of my credit card usage. While I've never actually not paid the whole balance by the due date, it's usually a rude shock to see my CC balance at the end of the month and I find myself scrambling around to pay it. So I have been trying to transfer the money onto it from my main bank as soon as I charge something to it (like a visa debit card i guess). While some people will say this is silly as I'm missing out on interest accruing, it's a small price to pay for peace of mind, and the main reason I use the CC is for the reward scheme.
So today I charged a 2gb USB Flashdrive stick for $14.95 and an Invoice & Statement Book ($5.29) for my contract-cleaning job. Yesterday I charged the petrol ($23.17) and milk ($2.39) expense to my CC, and last week I paid for the electricity bill ($277.07 shared by 3).
I transfered $230 to the CC today, and will transfer another $93 when my BF transfers his portion of the electricity bill to my account.

Whew! It's hard being organised sometimes, but worth it all the same.

Does anyone else do this, or am I just insane?

Yesterday I only spent money on petrol ($23) and milk ($2.39L) so I am adding 50c to my challenge money as I see it as a partial NSD - as in I only spent money on neccesities.

A friend of mine took me and my little brother and sister to a resort near our house where her friend works, and we snuck in and had a go on the resort lagoon's catamarans (we actually got stuck in the middle of the lagoon as there was no wind and then the friend had to come out in her boat and push us back in), fed some fish, and then jumped on this giant trampoline in the middle of the lagoon. It was heaps of fun, and FREE!

We went to the market on Sunday and BF and I spent $35 on veges for our week. ($17.50 each). Then so far at the supermarket my portion of spending has been $16.55.
Our estimated extra expenses will be lamb, coconut milk, rice noodles, rice wraps, 2 x chicken breast.

so that should cost under $20 for the lot ($10 each). and that brings my total grocery expenses in at $44.05, which is nearly $6 under budget. yay!

meal plan:

tuesday: steamed veges and rice
(carrot, zucchini, capsicum, sweet potato, brocolli)
wednesday: lamb korma (lamb, brocolli, pumpkin, potato, capsicum & zucchini)
thursday: roast chicken & vegetables
(pumpkin, sweet potato, green beans)
friday: fresh spring rolls (non-fried)
(grated carrot, capsicum, lettuce, cucumber with a freshly made thai coriander dressing)
saturday: spaghetti bolognese
(already prepared in freezer from previous week)

Short Term:
- Track my loan payment progress in $250 goal increments
- Track all expenditure and endeavour to stick to or under my budget.
- Get my car serviced.
- Completely pay off all cc balances.
- Start my $20 challenge
- Start transfering money to my cc as soon as I make the purchase, so I don't get a nasty shock at the end of the month.
- Eat less meat and make my boyfriend enjoy meatless meals more.
- Start cooking healthy meals and then freezing them in bulk lots.
- Exercise 6 days a week.
- Make an appointment with my parents' naturopath/homeopath

Long Term:
- Completely pay off my loan.
- Reach my target amount for my Emergency Fund ($1200).
- Maintain a gifts/holidays account where money is drawn out of for days off & gifts purchased for others.
- Save a lump sum for university (current goal: $10 000) by January 2010.