No. 5 Money saving efforts!

This week is a short week due to Easter & Anzac Day here in Australia

Its also been busy with back to school, appointments & errands.

There has also been a new baby in the family & my sons birthday!

Phew that is busy.

Efforts this week include;

 

Returning unwanted grocery items to the supermarket. 

 

Sounds pathetic really but I had some random items in my pantry & was feeling shy about returning them, then I just did it.

My return list is;

1. bag of 25 polystyrene cups leftover from a party.
2. bag of bird seed that I got to make a Christmas gift for my sons that just didn't happen.
3. can of coconut milk bought for Dh to make Thai green curry & it didn't happen.

Grand return was $6.50 (I'm sure got duped on the bird seed)

Is there anythiing lurking in your cupboard that could be returned? Mine were store brands & didn't even require receipts, I simply said they were unwanted. Easy.

Next item was onselling an item we bought in January that proved unsuitable. 

 

It was DIY double glazing and I had bought it for $190 & managed to sell it on ebay for $125. which I was pretty happy with.

Overall I am please with onselling this item, small ebay fee involved & it took some time but little effort & the buyer collected it so I didn't have to repost.

Anything you could onsell about your place?

 

Thirdly my son turned 10!  

 

I made cupcakes for him to share with his class using excess easter eggs as decoration (& removing the temptation for myself to eat them).

I spent minimally on him finding books he likes at the opshop & giving him a voucher for a day at a Museum and a magazine subscription in an area of interest.

Worst part was the magazine is one we are not yet familiar with & it comes out next month. I'm sure it will be great so its more something to look forward to than it was exciting for him on the day.

The fun will last though as they arrive throughout the year!

We also did a special dinner at home for the birthday. He wanted Calamari & they were on special, we also had a lamb rack roast for mains. It was so good!

Worked out to under $10 a head all in the comfort of our own home. Worth the extra $$ spent and he even said thank you for the dinner, so it must have been good. Very satisfying to have the effort & dollars spent appreiciated.

We could not have eaten out or had take away for 6 for anywhere near what I spent, which was around $40!

Not sure how that compares to what others give their kids yet my son was happy & commented that he recieved more than he normally does. I did put $10 in the envelope with his voucher & subscription notice and he banked it immediately. He is a good saver!

I am very proud of my son and we all enjoyed his special day!

 

Petrol savings!

 

Over Easter we stayed home & my car was in the garage from Thursday to Wednesday when i drove the boys to school. We biked the previous day & I had cakes to deliver for sons birtday that would have been spoiled if carted on the bike.

I usually set aside $50 a week for fuel & managed to spend $37 for the fortnight!

I was very pleased with that. I think it may even see me through the month.

Goals hit this month;

 

• Catch up Christmas club. Done with ebay sale.

•  Extra payment to mortgage. Done by reducing fuel spending.
  
  
  
  Happy Saving!
  
  
  
  
  

No. 4 Efforts in money saving aka Non Spending!

This week has been busy.
Kids are home on holiday from school & we have had rain! Lots of rain.

My efforts this week includes;

Staying with relatives for a short break!
It sure was cheap, I didn't open my purse at all! Yet it meant we all came home really tired due to the sleeping arrangements. No complaints though as our hosts were so generous.

Hubby sourced a free sewing machine. He mentioned to friends that he was on his way to buy a new machine to replace my broken one & they gave us their extra one. Bonus! Now I have a functional sewing machine again at no cost.

I was given some postage stamps, a lot of them. This shall save me on writing letters, which I love to do, & have numerous penpals around the place. I may need to spend 10 cents instead of 70 to post each letter, but how good is that to get a free roll of stamps!

Bacon! It was on special while I was away so hubby bought us 10kgs to last a while. I'll portion it out & freeze it Sunday, I love bacon.

Now to keep the birthday party on budget this week & get the house in order, again. I'd like to do some more decluttering as my Aunt had loads of clutter about & being in a cluttered environment always makes me crave clear space.
I love counters with nothing on them, what do you love in your home environment?

Happy non spending!

No.3 Money saving efforts

This year & I shall attempting to be diligent in practising money saving strategies. 
All the little bits add up & shall see us debt free sooner. 

1. Laundry savings. I wash the boys school clothes weekly. Seems harsh yet unless they haave been playing in a wet school yard they don't really come home dirty. We have more than one set if they do & I check it, work on any marks & wash it (inside out) once a week. My hope in doing this is that the uniform we have shall see son 1 through primary school and son 2 most of the way, without having to buy anything else. Our school has also began a regular stall of 2nd hand uniform, which is awesome. That means anything we no longer wear can be donated & I can buy what we need cheap. I also wash everything else in 3 loads a week. Prevously I was washing about 10 loads a week & would look for things to fill the machine. I'm hoping that I have effectively cut my laundry work in half! I only line dry & use our home heating to finish off clothes in the Winter, no clothes dryer unless it is absolutely necessary.

2. Appliance replacement. Our home is older & we are 14 years married this year both of which mean things shall need replacing now or soon. This last month we replaced our dishwasher, we bought a $299 one from Aldi & it works well. Then our oven element burnt out & we have replaced it with a $150 2nd hand one from Gumtree. I replaced our electric frypan yesterday, ours died when we moved here just over 2 years ago. I expect to have to replace more items & had begun saving for them this year.

3. Turning everything off or unplugging it. A seemingly small thing that can save us lots! We have a pedal switch on a powerboard that hubby uses in his office yet the TV & set top box need to be done manually. So I walk around each evening (or morning) & unplug, pick up (off the floor so things are not broken) and turn off.

Just looking back to June 8 2012 from my New Direction post.

I had the following goals 

1. Build our emergency fund of 10K  done October 2013, it took longer than expected yet it is such a huge acchievemnet for us & I have great pride in saying it is still intact.
2. Have a buffer amount in our offset account. Finished 2013 with one & it has gone to already in 2014, hence the strict refousing on 2014. We have had some health challenges that keep on costing $$.
3. Throw all extra cash at the mortgage. Begun this in January 2014 & though it hasn't been smooth it is definately priority. I have redirected the payments from the surveys to go to the mortgage, its something every month & makes a difference.
4. Keep up the house maintenence & repairs, but delay all else. This is where we are at right now!

This means we are on the right track & need indeed to "keep calm & save money". I'm tracking the progress we make with our mortgage each month and keeping myself alert to anything else we can do to save a little here & there. 

It is tiresome at times not to have any spare funds for impulse buys yet I enjoy the forced creativity of working on a goal and we sure do appreciate what we do & have. 

This month we are taking the family to see a production, that will be a treat for the whole family.

Week 2 Money Saving Effort

Ok Ok I know its not been a week since the previous post, its been longer, but here I am. Again.

This week was the start of April & as we get paid monthly I budget monthly.
April's budget is tight!

Yesterday I;

Did week 1 of 5 food shops for this month & came in under budget by $4.90

Got my son new shoes for $30, under budget by $60

Re-balanced the budget today, which I have never done, in attempt to stay on track!

And finally we collected our eye glasses today & were out of pocket $0! Yay

Goals this month;

Find $50 for Christmas fund & then another $50 for last month's contribution which we didn't make.

Find $100 to start May's sink (or bills) fund start off well.

Add some extra, no matter how small, to the mortgage.

Every dollar brings us closer to freedom!

Enjoy the journey!