Selling our house

After firmly deciding we wanted to reduce our mortgage we have listed our house for sale.

We engaged a number of local agents. Taking the best offered price to the best presenting company, and they accepted! We have a top quality agent for a flat rate fee. Very good.

I rang the mortgage broker to see what we had to do and it turns out our mortgage is portable. Meaning we have pre approved finance as we are downsizing and that there is no early exit fee to pay (as we won't be exiting). How good is that? If we dont find somewhere to move to that lines up we can put a term deposit in with them & keep our mortgage open, then buy.
It is all new ideas to me but it is good news, I think, especially for the bank.

My grocery bill was under $200 this week. I am planning on starting a price book as suggested in the Tightwad Gazette, it is such a good idea. May take a while to get it all working properly, but that sure will help me spot a real bargain! I shall continue to keep a watchful eye on spending in this process so we are getting the most out of our dollars that we can.

Happy saving.

Buying Local Art

My birthday is coming up, so in thinking of what I would ask DH for I asked for local art!

I love art but am just an admirer, not an expert.

When our boys were away for the weekend we went & browsed some local galleries. I found lovely art but at prices beyond our meager budget.

Then I was reading, The Tightwad Gazette!, she mentioned making your own artworks. I mentioned this to DH but wasn't really happy about this option. I may end up with a cut out picture from a magazine in a frame. Don't get me wrong, the picture may be perfectly charming and the price wonderful, but I wanted art! Original local art!

So I began looking in op shops. They have loads of original art, not sure about local though but some fine pieces.
I found a still life one, that DH purchased for my birthday and it was framed locally so that fits the bill of , "Original Local Art!". Woo hoo! Success at only $15, how cool is that?

Then today I was browsing an op shop after my second errand of the day & I found another. It was $3 and is a painting of a local beach. It is a "Local original Artwork", also fitting the bill and the budget. This one is more of a landscape but I really like it.

I also picked up a pair of footy boots for DS5 and shoes for DS7, I got me a couple of books to read and a puzzle to do! There was no price on one item and I baulked at the offered price, so I got the footy boots for $5. I bought a necklace also and another one in an op shop at Balnarring, I have my quota of art & necklaces now!

I made my $100 birthday money go a fair way and, unlike previous years, I do have something to show for it!

Happy saving!

Yesterday!

I neglected to post yesterday, doesn't matter I can do it today!

yesterday I did the grocery shopping & even with a little bit of stockpiling on specials I still spent under $250! I am amazed as I was always spending $300 not that long ago & I think prices have gone up! We are still eating the same and the cupboards are just as full, so what happened?

I got smarter & only buy what we need, being a mindful NOT to add extra items to the trolley, that has helped.
Using up what is in the pantry & garden. I have been eating a lot more silver beet & even started to eat the stems as they are good for food too. So that is a small saving. I have been mindful not to over do the vegetables as I can just fo crazy on the at times, this has saved us money!

I have told the kids to eat more toast and sandwiches, as bread is cheap! This has saved us money too. Our chooks are laying well, that helps, and I have cut way down on my coffe & choclate consumption. I actually bought my own chocolate yesterday, making sure to get it on special. Coffee is expensive, I was buying a pack of decaf a week at one stage, I drink more hot/warm water these days & I like it.

I read in the tightwad gazette about "The Art of Negotiation" last night. I am thinking i could do this a whole lot more & have a go (as it suggets) at teaching it to my kids. I have actually tried to teach them before but the didn't grasp it, I think my method was lacking not their intelligence!
Kids can benefit from learning this early I believe, so I shall try again & use the book method this time!

I'll see how it goes.


Happy Saving!

Indulged my kids with $36!

What could I have done with $36?

Food, I think I could do a few days on $36.
Given it to charity!
18 Lindt Chocolate bars, but only when they are on special for $1.99.
bought them a toy each.
Had a haircut.
Posted a gift to someone.
Bought a book I fancied.
Had a meal or snack out.
2 water aerobics classes.
bought a bunch of flowers for myself.
Bought a cupboard full of mugs from the op shop.
Bought plants for the garden.
Had a browse & done some buying at the market on any given Sunday morning.
Bought 3 bags of chook food.
Put it in the emergency fund.
give it to a stranger, anonamously!
Make someones day with flowers.
Buy music.
Buy food with all of it & then give that food to charity.
turn it to gift cards & then give them away.
Put it in the boys money box.
Make it a donation to the school or a local kinder, special school etc.
buy ingrediens & bake give all the goods away.
Buy my husband a box of beer or sone nice wine.
Buy myself some seafood & gobble it all up!
Put it in an envelope until I forget about it!
Buy me an item or few of clothing, in a color I love.
buy a fancy necklace.
Buy a beautiful & useless item....now I talking nonsense!


So I spent $36 indulging my boys on the final day of school holidays, they had a great holiday period, I need a rest.

Reduce Mortgage!

I sat down & had a talk with DH this afternoon. I had an idea about the problem of too much house & mortgage, I can't help but try & come up with answers to unresolved. We chatted a bit & tossed around ideas, and came to the conclusion and goal of "REDUCE MORTGAGE". Simple.

The whole selling & moving idea had been put on the back burner when DH didn't have much work, it just seemed too hard! It was too hard. Our goal was too vague & and our next step undefined. Now we are somewhat clearer and will sell & then buy, so we move only one. We may well have to ask for a temporary loan from relatives for the deposit on the new place. We shall attempt to negotiate a 5% deposit to help keep this workable.

Then there's the mortgage broking. I shall ring whom we are with now & see about negotiating a one off fee, rather than ongoing kickback for them for the life of the loan, I gotta aim at something.

We shall hope to move around the same time as a neighbor, whom our boys play with often, which may be less of an upheaval to them (here's hoping).

Buying this house was not a failure on our part, just an expensive case of trial & error. We have discovered that we like to raise chooks, DH got into his aquaponics, the boys have settled into a local school and we like the area. So no failures here only people making mistakes and learning from them. Our choice to sell sooner rather than later should help us be totally debt free sooner, waiting longer would only serve to keep us stuck. I think a new house (again) is a positive move and think we will be more discerning and smarter purchasers.

Happy Saving!

Take away food!

Today I treated the little boys to lunch out!

They had a $20 budget, which I thought was ample as they are 5 & 7!

Their food was $6.40 but the drinks, WOW, were $7.60. I was flabbergasted and felt like I had been living elsewhere for years, decades even. I can't recall the last time I bought them food & drink out, we so seldom do it ithese days.

Then my year old wanted sauce with his chips & by the time he had how much he wanted it was $1.20's worth of sauce. Even ice creams were cheaper than them drinks!

They did really appreciate it, well DS5 said "Thankyou, that was great!".

When we used to spend like money was going out of fashion, he would not have been so appreciative. I read about it when i got home in the Tightwad Gazette, she (Amy Dacyczyn) called it "Creative Deprivation". Each time a want is catered to it then takes more to satisfy each time. A period of deprivation leads to one being grateful again, even for small things. She even suggests we try it on ourselves.

Very interesting!

Todays wrap up!!
Today I went to the library while the boys were at sculpture, I also went to the supermarket where I knew chocolate was on special to buy some. It was but the specific one I wanted was not to be seen. So I stood there wondering what to do. I looked at another brand, but it was flavoured & had dairy & soy that I didn't really want to ingest. So I looked at the ones I usually buy, then I moved the top one and 'tada' the one I usually buy was hidden behind one block of chocolate. Celebration time! I found it!..then I ate it & took the rest home. YUM, I do like it but it gives me heartburn.

So I spent about $20 on boys, and some of my money & got chocolate & a nice leather belt, $4.

I also found an original still life painting for $15. I had asked for local art for my birthday & after browsing some galleries on Sunday with DH I came home & read in the tightwad gazette about making your own art. Yeah, I didn't want to pay lots of money but I did want an origianl still life painting, and hopefully it will still be in the op shop tomorrow when DH & DS7 go there tomorrow. I did think op shops were my best bet! Yee Ha!!

Tired!

Well a batch of fatigue or extreme tiredness has hit me this last few days & I have gone to bed when I would have been blogging. That said, onto a new post.

Golf.

My husband plays golf and has had a membership at a local course for about 3 years. Last year we moved. Then we realised we needed to be smarter with our money. That same 'local' course is now a 30 minute drive away and the membership is about the dearest bill we have, so it got cut. Ouch. He mourned & moped but after some time without golf at all, about 10 days, he is joining one that is about 10 minutes away that is about half the cost of the other one.
Worst of all he got a speeding fine on his way to his final game at the (not so) 'local' one. Double ouch!

This way I can give him his golf money monthly and he can pay it when it is due, without putting us into budget stress. Phew, all it took was nine months of him agonising over it and endlessly talking about it to finally come to a decision.

Nuts & Bolts
I have been reading the Tightwad Gazette, the ocomplete one that is almost a thousand pages! I have gleaned a few tips but mostly I feel encouraged in my frugal lifestyle, its good to know that I am not alone.

I didn't venture out today, though I was tempted to go & get some chocolate that I saw on special. I didn't... I ate the remaining fruit rings instead, but I still want chocolate, I think I can make a dairy free hot choc from the pantry!
I made a big batch of Molly stew, I vacuumed (in attempt to distract myself), I did the ironing and surfed the net!!
Am heading out tomorrow, will go to the library while the boys at sculpture lesson I have DVD's to return.
I also gave something away on Ziilch, a website that is similar in concept to freecyclye. Google it!

Happy saving!