With sacrifices and less savings, our goal to reduce debt to $8,500 has been achieved. At first it wasn't easy to part with savings only for it to go towards debt payments, but it's part of learning the lesson. Spending cash strictly is still an ongoing challenge for us, but we are doing much, much better.
Our September goal is to reduce debt further to $7,500. I know we can do it with back pays coming soon. That would roughly be $700. I know that I blogged about putting it towards car payments but I'm following Dave Ramsey's 7 Baby Steps so I'll be putting that extra money towards our lowest plastic debt.
I can't wait for our HP loans to be over in September! Really good to start feeling free.
Aug 29, 2008
Aug 28, 2008
Not too organized we are
I thought we had it all worked out, but unfortunately we forgot to include our WOF being due on Sept 3rd in addition to a change of oil filter with our current mileage. Grunt.
I don't know how much both would cost. Our budget only has less than $100 to cover unplanned expenses. This isn't emergency so I don't intend to pull money from EF. The thing that worries me more is the possibility of needing to improve certain things of the car - like tires (or tyres in British english). In July we were told at Beaurepairs that the front tires might not pass WOF, so we are prepared for that although I'm not sure if their advice was motivated by selling. WOF is $50, so that's a bit better to know. I just hope they are not going to tell us we'd rather just get a newer car after inspection tomorrow!
Given the tight schedule, we really need to push for WOF so that we don't have days without a car. The only thing that limits us from taking the bus is taking the baby to day care. It's not bad of a walk from a bus stop but it's very hilly here in Wellington. Oh well, if that ever happens at least we burn some calories.
Weight loss
Speaking of (or typing about) weight, I lost 1.1kg (2.42 lbs) in less than 3 weeks! I have not exercised for a while now but all this baby carrying is just like toning muscles. Our baby is close to 10kg now so imagine our living and breathing dumbbell! :)
I don't know how much both would cost. Our budget only has less than $100 to cover unplanned expenses. This isn't emergency so I don't intend to pull money from EF. The thing that worries me more is the possibility of needing to improve certain things of the car - like tires (or tyres in British english). In July we were told at Beaurepairs that the front tires might not pass WOF, so we are prepared for that although I'm not sure if their advice was motivated by selling. WOF is $50, so that's a bit better to know. I just hope they are not going to tell us we'd rather just get a newer car after inspection tomorrow!
Given the tight schedule, we really need to push for WOF so that we don't have days without a car. The only thing that limits us from taking the bus is taking the baby to day care. It's not bad of a walk from a bus stop but it's very hilly here in Wellington. Oh well, if that ever happens at least we burn some calories.
Weight loss
Speaking of (or typing about) weight, I lost 1.1kg (2.42 lbs) in less than 3 weeks! I have not exercised for a while now but all this baby carrying is just like toning muscles. Our baby is close to 10kg now so imagine our living and breathing dumbbell! :)
Aug 27, 2008
Continue reducing the temptation
A month or so ago, I requested for an increase to my credit card limit. I received the documentation that only needed signing but I kept postponing just because I didn't really need to. I don't know why I even asked. The other day I just requested for a reduction by $2,000.
My plan is to reduce our total credit limit to half by end of the year. Once our balance falls below half of the limit, I will immediately request for a chop off. When all plastic debt is gone, I plan to retain around $1,000 but I've yet to decide on that.
The customer service agent asked the question twice - "You want to reduce your credit limit?"
YES!
That must be a bizarre question from a requesting customer. :) She also told me a standard line that I'm going to receive a letter in the mail that I need to sign to confirm my request. That same letter also states that I have 3 months to reinstate my original credit limit. I must admit that I felt great being tried to be won back, but I will no more fall for the trap that I'm attractive to credit lenders.
But I'm proud that we are taking small steps that have long-term benefits. I think I also posted about getting rid of the overdraft facility we had. All in all, we've gotten rid of $3,000 credit available to us in less than a week and we're not even feeling the loss at all.
I'm such in a happy state these days with the increase in income, consistent reduction in debt and meeting our August goal, and sticking to our budget! It's all falling in place. :) I feel such a functional adult making wise decisions. I'm making mama proud, if only she knew. :)
My plan is to reduce our total credit limit to half by end of the year. Once our balance falls below half of the limit, I will immediately request for a chop off. When all plastic debt is gone, I plan to retain around $1,000 but I've yet to decide on that.
The customer service agent asked the question twice - "You want to reduce your credit limit?"
YES!
That must be a bizarre question from a requesting customer. :) She also told me a standard line that I'm going to receive a letter in the mail that I need to sign to confirm my request. That same letter also states that I have 3 months to reinstate my original credit limit. I must admit that I felt great being tried to be won back, but I will no more fall for the trap that I'm attractive to credit lenders.
But I'm proud that we are taking small steps that have long-term benefits. I think I also posted about getting rid of the overdraft facility we had. All in all, we've gotten rid of $3,000 credit available to us in less than a week and we're not even feeling the loss at all.
I'm such in a happy state these days with the increase in income, consistent reduction in debt and meeting our August goal, and sticking to our budget! It's all falling in place. :) I feel such a functional adult making wise decisions. I'm making mama proud, if only she knew. :)
Aug 26, 2008
Our baby's own savings and retirement
I've been researching for a really good educational savings scheme for our little boy. Unfortunately there's very little of that in NZ.
Bank accounts
Many banks here in NZ offer savings accounts for minors. We are currently saving $50/fortnight to an online account with PSIS at 8.4% but that's under our name, hence taxed at 39%! So, I've decided to open him the same account under his name so that it will only be taxed at 19.5%. This is for his college fund. If I can find or if the Ministry of Education finally announces a tertiary savings scheme, I will immediately move the money there.
Kiwisaver
His retirement is now $1,120 after investing only $100 in addition to the $1K kickstart. Growth of $20 in less than 6 months! Yay! He's only 6 months old! The additional $20 is also from the government but that's still growth. We are not planning to regularly put money in his retirement because he's gotta learn how to do that! We just kick started it for him so that it's growing together with him.
I hope that we'd be able to teach him about proper finance management as he grows older. We have some good ideas on how to do that. I'm excited to become a financially-smart parent.
Bank accounts
Many banks here in NZ offer savings accounts for minors. We are currently saving $50/fortnight to an online account with PSIS at 8.4% but that's under our name, hence taxed at 39%! So, I've decided to open him the same account under his name so that it will only be taxed at 19.5%. This is for his college fund. If I can find or if the Ministry of Education finally announces a tertiary savings scheme, I will immediately move the money there.
Kiwisaver
His retirement is now $1,120 after investing only $100 in addition to the $1K kickstart. Growth of $20 in less than 6 months! Yay! He's only 6 months old! The additional $20 is also from the government but that's still growth. We are not planning to regularly put money in his retirement because he's gotta learn how to do that! We just kick started it for him so that it's growing together with him.
I hope that we'd be able to teach him about proper finance management as he grows older. We have some good ideas on how to do that. I'm excited to become a financially-smart parent.
upped by 5%
My salary was increased by 5%! Yahoo!
Today I had my session with my one-up about my last fiscal year's overall performance. I received awesome feedback and I wasn't surprised when he said I received 5%. I mentioned repeatedly that I'd least get 3% but honestly I knew it would be at least 5%. I was just preparing myself for the worst. I would contest if it were only 3%!
Now our combined gross income is above the $130K mark. The challenge is to show something for it. We're consistently working on it!
Today I had my session with my one-up about my last fiscal year's overall performance. I received awesome feedback and I wasn't surprised when he said I received 5%. I mentioned repeatedly that I'd least get 3% but honestly I knew it would be at least 5%. I was just preparing myself for the worst. I would contest if it were only 3%!
Now our combined gross income is above the $130K mark. The challenge is to show something for it. We're consistently working on it!
Got rid of the extra 9% tax
Yes, I did! I don't know what took me so long to have the light bulb moment I had yesterday.
Saving accounts get taxed based on the account holder's tax rate. J and I fall in the highest at 39%. Blech.
For a couple of months, I have postponed investing in PIEs because I was worried that we might need the money for whatever reason. As per my last post, having all this calm and confidence in our current financial state, I had more opportunities to explore where to put money sitting in savings.
PIE at 30%
So I resumed putting money into our Cash Fund PIE to take advantage of 30%. Huge drop of 9%! Make our money work hard! If only our humble savings could speak, they'd probably say "bring it!". :-P
Maybe it would be a good idea to change our son's college fund to his name to drop the tax rate to 19% because he's still a baby. I wonder if that's possible...I'll run a research on that and let you know.
Salary Update
J confirmed to me tonight that he'll be getting a 3.051% increase backdated to July 1st. Whew! I'll be finding about mine tomorrow morning. I'm pretty confident that I'd get at least 3% but I'm hoping also that after the intensive salary review HR did - comparing our organization's salary to the rest of NZ - I'd be getting as much as those who work in the private sector. I can already tell you're asking why not I move to private sector? I had always wanted to experience being a "public servant" and I must say that I like the work and life balance I have achieved with the public sector.
So far, so good!
*deep, content, happy sigh*
Saving accounts get taxed based on the account holder's tax rate. J and I fall in the highest at 39%. Blech.
For a couple of months, I have postponed investing in PIEs because I was worried that we might need the money for whatever reason. As per my last post, having all this calm and confidence in our current financial state, I had more opportunities to explore where to put money sitting in savings.
PIE at 30%
So I resumed putting money into our Cash Fund PIE to take advantage of 30%. Huge drop of 9%! Make our money work hard! If only our humble savings could speak, they'd probably say "bring it!". :-P
Maybe it would be a good idea to change our son's college fund to his name to drop the tax rate to 19% because he's still a baby. I wonder if that's possible...I'll run a research on that and let you know.
Salary Update
J confirmed to me tonight that he'll be getting a 3.051% increase backdated to July 1st. Whew! I'll be finding about mine tomorrow morning. I'm pretty confident that I'd get at least 3% but I'm hoping also that after the intensive salary review HR did - comparing our organization's salary to the rest of NZ - I'd be getting as much as those who work in the private sector. I can already tell you're asking why not I move to private sector? I had always wanted to experience being a "public servant" and I must say that I like the work and life balance I have achieved with the public sector.
So far, so good!
*deep, content, happy sigh*
Aug 25, 2008
Whew, life's been busy.
It has been a good few days. I have not once worried about money and that's because we still have $55 left until pay day in our current (checking) account. It's not like we always dip into savings but lately I've felt a good sense of confidence on the current state of finances. It's probably because we have seriously considered getting our own home and that brought to me the real indication of our powers to achieve big goals!
Joining the movement
We're in the transition process to make Kiwibank our primary bank. In so doing, we have gotten rid of our overdraft facility with Westpac. We have not been dipping into it and I decided that getting rid of it will only make us focus on living within our budget. I feel good about that! We still have balance in our Low Interest credit card and we're considering transferring it over to Kiwibank as well. They currently offer a 4.99% for 6 months rate on balance transfers. They also have the lowest interest rate of 13.30%.
Some debts almost gone
Some debts almost gone
We have 2 hire purchase loans that will be paid off after 2 more direct debits. I can almost taste it! The total of the payments is around $200/month and once that money's available it'll go to savings. I'm still thinking of putting it towards debt but I'm still waiting on the increases and back pays to make that decision.
Salary ups
Salary ups
J is not getting much because his organization didn't get enough funding from the government. Imagine a 0.51% increase! Zoiks. We're hoping he'd get something more on top of that based on his performance, just like in my organization. But mine would at least be at 3%. We haven't received any confirmation/memo yet, but since I'll have my session with my one-up this week, I'll find out what they think I'm worth for the next year. Fingers crossed that it's a LOT! :-P
House hunting
House hunting
The house we thought we wanted, we didn't really want. It's new and all but I think we struggled a bit with accepting its location and its inadequate insulation. We are now getting more and more set to get a house in Titahi Bay. We actually went to an open home on Sunday and the house sits on some 800sqm section! It's cheaper than the other house but it has got its age. It looks like a cottage from the outside and we like the idea of doing DIY in the next 5 years. We'll see what happens in this ongoing hunt for the house of our own.
Spring
Spring
is coming very soon! I can feel the air getting less and less chilly everyday. I'm just excited! I'm not really a winter person.
Aug 21, 2008
House hunting update
We checked the property that we like twice - first from the outside and then from the inside. Despite being new and never lived in, we found its lack of considerable insulation a negative. It also didn't have railings in the closet spaces for us to put clothes in. So if the new owners moved in shortly after the sale, they'd have to get clothes from the boxes until they sort their closets. We only have a dresser for our baby so that's that.
Nonetheless, we made a conditional offer of $305K. The vendor said that they were willing to wait for our loan pre-approval to come through before they decide. After making an offer, all of a sudden the challenge went pfft from me. It does help to sleep through a big decision because we were able to process our motivation for getting the house. The big selling point of that property is that it's new and relatively modern and has decent space. The downside is that it's 30-minute drive to the city without traffic. There are still road works being done on the way to the area and I don't know how long that slows down rush hour traffic and I don't know when that will be finished. They are widening the roads so that's another plus. With the petrol prices getting people on their knees, that's one of the biggest things to consider.
But it's close to my favorite spot in the Hutt Valley. Sigh. I love that spot, with the river flowing in the middle of the park. Lovely sight! So postcard-like! :)
J had already emailed our landlord about our intention of moving out once we've found a place but they have not acknowledged it yet. We're willing to give our 4 weeks notice.
Okay, I'll keep you posted on this journey towards living in our own home.
Image courtesy of Manpura on Flickr.
Nonetheless, we made a conditional offer of $305K. The vendor said that they were willing to wait for our loan pre-approval to come through before they decide. After making an offer, all of a sudden the challenge went pfft from me. It does help to sleep through a big decision because we were able to process our motivation for getting the house. The big selling point of that property is that it's new and relatively modern and has decent space. The downside is that it's 30-minute drive to the city without traffic. There are still road works being done on the way to the area and I don't know how long that slows down rush hour traffic and I don't know when that will be finished. They are widening the roads so that's another plus. With the petrol prices getting people on their knees, that's one of the biggest things to consider.
But it's close to my favorite spot in the Hutt Valley. Sigh. I love that spot, with the river flowing in the middle of the park. Lovely sight! So postcard-like! :)
J had already emailed our landlord about our intention of moving out once we've found a place but they have not acknowledged it yet. We're willing to give our 4 weeks notice.
Okay, I'll keep you posted on this journey towards living in our own home.
Image courtesy of Manpura on Flickr.
Aug 18, 2008
Spending by collecting points
It was my birthday the other weekend and we spent gifts on each other. I got J a nice, warm sweater for only $30 and he got me a postie sort of bag for $52 from the same shop holding a big sale just like every single shop in NZ! I felt a little unfair on my gift to J but he said that he liked the sweater. I just think it was a mindless present brought by mindless wandering around burning time on a weekend.
But, he took me to a play that Friday night and I took him to dinner. The play was covered by vouchers from my last year's birthday present to him! He didn't use it until this year. Funny guy. Our dinner was a complement from my work for a job well done. I was given $100 for dinner but we only spent $84. Essentially we shelled out $0 on our birthdays date.
Back to that spending weekend... we bought a Fairydown duvet cover using our gift cards from our wedding. The duvet we bought was actually redemption of our Flybuys points. I love Flybuys! That duvet would've cost us some $400 but because we consistently use our Flybuys card at participating companies, we got ourselves a fine duvet. We also bought another duvet cover at Bed Bath & Beyond for only $30. Big sale happening these days!
The duvet redemption put a dent to our total points but that's alright. It was our first after almost 2 years of points collection. We will earn more that's for sure. We also have another points system that we are enrolled in but we have no plans to redeem from that.
Last week J promised that he won't even tell me about a good deal he'd find. He has a consistent habit of looking out for good deals and eventually buying them. We carried on with endless conversations about cutting back on that because it just fritters away our money. So his promise is good for 6 months. That should really help us ensure our future discretionary spending on some level.
We submitted documentation for a pre-approval of home loan yesterday. We checked a really nice house this morning. After extensive searching and driving around neighborhoods, that house is so far the best of the lot. It's gotten cheaper in the last 8 months by almost $100K! We'll see what happens next.
Back to that spending weekend... we bought a Fairydown duvet cover using our gift cards from our wedding. The duvet we bought was actually redemption of our Flybuys points. I love Flybuys! That duvet would've cost us some $400 but because we consistently use our Flybuys card at participating companies, we got ourselves a fine duvet. We also bought another duvet cover at Bed Bath & Beyond for only $30. Big sale happening these days!
The duvet redemption put a dent to our total points but that's alright. It was our first after almost 2 years of points collection. We will earn more that's for sure. We also have another points system that we are enrolled in but we have no plans to redeem from that.
Last week J promised that he won't even tell me about a good deal he'd find. He has a consistent habit of looking out for good deals and eventually buying them. We carried on with endless conversations about cutting back on that because it just fritters away our money. So his promise is good for 6 months. That should really help us ensure our future discretionary spending on some level.
We submitted documentation for a pre-approval of home loan yesterday. We checked a really nice house this morning. After extensive searching and driving around neighborhoods, that house is so far the best of the lot. It's gotten cheaper in the last 8 months by almost $100K! We'll see what happens next.
Aug 13, 2008
We're thinking of getting a house
We have been considering getting our own home. We pay $800 fortnightly on rent and if we get a mortgage we’d be paying around $1200 towards that. We can afford it but that would mean less towards savings. Still good right?
Since we’ve moved to NZ, we have lived in 3 different places where the third being the current one. In our current place, we have gotten a complaint from our downstairs neighbour on our barking dog. The first time was from a different tenant who moved out after 6 weeks because she just wanted a quite cave for herself and living below a family just didn’t work for her. With this new tenant, he works on shifts and so when he spends a work day at home, understandably he wants his peace and quiet. Like the other complaining tenant, he is also 50-something years old. Our small dog only barks when we leave in the morning, for maybe 20 minutes. We can’t do anything about that because dogs are pack animals and he sees 3 of us leaving him for the day 5 days a week. J has started considering giving him away because we might not really be the proper owners for him. I feel bad about that idea because he is a good dog. He doesn’t really bark when there are people around, even if they are strangers. He just does not want to be left alone. We really don’t know how to get rid of his separation anxiety.
Given this situation, we are further and further considering getting a mortgage. We don’t see the value of finding another place to rent. The cost of moving is not cheap. We have a good amount of furniture and belongings. Moving to another place to rent is just not pretty now that we have a kid. At this stage we can afford up to $330,000 and we can’t really find houses on such values within the city. I prefer to live on flat grounds but since Wellington is a hilly area, there are plenty of houses with fantastic views on the hills. Flat areas with plenty of sun are well above $350K. If we consider suburbs farther from CBD, we could get ourselves a good house within our budget. The cost of petrol would just kill us so we might as well stick to the city limits. But who knows, we might change our minds.
We are tired of dealing with complaints about our dog. I know that is not really a perfect reason to just dive into debt but since we’re paying that much on rent anyway, we’d rather own the place he would bark in. I’m pretty confident that we can afford the payments. Despite not having enough to stash into savings, at least we’d be gaining equity on our home. We our putting 4% towards retirement at this time and we’re earning well between ourselves. I can see ourselves affording more in the next 5 years. Currently our combined gross annual income is above $120K prior to this year’s increases. The baby will have 20 hours free early childhood education when he turns 3. That would free up around $200+/fortnight on day care by then. We can use that to put towards our mortgage. We don’t have enough savings despite earning that much. I know it’s just embarrassing. The next few months will be more relaxed as we pay off our hire purchases (in the next 6 weeks!) and when we put our backdated pays towards the car loan.
Now buying a house is a process we’re not keen on expediting. I'm sure there are costs and fees when buying a property. It's really a big decision to make, but come to think of it so is renting. Having a child does change things. What once used to be an easy decision to make is now a factor that consumes me for days. We've just been looking for properties to check. So far we've found cheaper properties in Porirua and in the Hutt areas. Porirua is about 20-30 minutes of drive and that's not bad but as Wellington is small our world adjusted accordingly. So, in my mind, Porirua is far! Sigh.
So what do you think of us buying a house?
Since we’ve moved to NZ, we have lived in 3 different places where the third being the current one. In our current place, we have gotten a complaint from our downstairs neighbour on our barking dog. The first time was from a different tenant who moved out after 6 weeks because she just wanted a quite cave for herself and living below a family just didn’t work for her. With this new tenant, he works on shifts and so when he spends a work day at home, understandably he wants his peace and quiet. Like the other complaining tenant, he is also 50-something years old. Our small dog only barks when we leave in the morning, for maybe 20 minutes. We can’t do anything about that because dogs are pack animals and he sees 3 of us leaving him for the day 5 days a week. J has started considering giving him away because we might not really be the proper owners for him. I feel bad about that idea because he is a good dog. He doesn’t really bark when there are people around, even if they are strangers. He just does not want to be left alone. We really don’t know how to get rid of his separation anxiety.
Given this situation, we are further and further considering getting a mortgage. We don’t see the value of finding another place to rent. The cost of moving is not cheap. We have a good amount of furniture and belongings. Moving to another place to rent is just not pretty now that we have a kid. At this stage we can afford up to $330,000 and we can’t really find houses on such values within the city. I prefer to live on flat grounds but since Wellington is a hilly area, there are plenty of houses with fantastic views on the hills. Flat areas with plenty of sun are well above $350K. If we consider suburbs farther from CBD, we could get ourselves a good house within our budget. The cost of petrol would just kill us so we might as well stick to the city limits. But who knows, we might change our minds.
We are tired of dealing with complaints about our dog. I know that is not really a perfect reason to just dive into debt but since we’re paying that much on rent anyway, we’d rather own the place he would bark in. I’m pretty confident that we can afford the payments. Despite not having enough to stash into savings, at least we’d be gaining equity on our home. We our putting 4% towards retirement at this time and we’re earning well between ourselves. I can see ourselves affording more in the next 5 years. Currently our combined gross annual income is above $120K prior to this year’s increases. The baby will have 20 hours free early childhood education when he turns 3. That would free up around $200+/fortnight on day care by then. We can use that to put towards our mortgage. We don’t have enough savings despite earning that much. I know it’s just embarrassing. The next few months will be more relaxed as we pay off our hire purchases (in the next 6 weeks!) and when we put our backdated pays towards the car loan.
Now buying a house is a process we’re not keen on expediting. I'm sure there are costs and fees when buying a property. It's really a big decision to make, but come to think of it so is renting. Having a child does change things. What once used to be an easy decision to make is now a factor that consumes me for days. We've just been looking for properties to check. So far we've found cheaper properties in Porirua and in the Hutt areas. Porirua is about 20-30 minutes of drive and that's not bad but as Wellington is small our world adjusted accordingly. So, in my mind, Porirua is far! Sigh.
So what do you think of us buying a house?
Aug 8, 2008
August goal with moisturizer
Current plastic debt is close to this month's goal of $8,500. And it's only the 9th! We had to make some sacrifices - using savings to achieve that goal. The Westpac savings is close to depleted but we're better off having less debt than more.
Isn't it funny when you're in the journey towards a goal and something comes up to distract you? Last week I noticed my face moisturizer running low. I knew I had to get one soon but I didn't want to use the same brand. I had been wanting to try Living Nature Nourishing Day Cream since last winter but I held off because it's pricey. This week though, I didn't. I just thought that I waited for a year holding off so this year I will have to try it and if it works for me then good, but I might have to hold off again and try a cheaper brand. A 100ml bottle is $54. I don't regret buying it at all.
I also thought that maybe it was time to change brands because my chin and other areas around my mouth get itchy after using the old brand after an entire year. Figure that! I kind of have this theory that it's when the sun hits my face that does that. I don't know.
So anyway, that's the financial status we have right now. Not a lot of savings but with a little less debt.
Isn't it funny when you're in the journey towards a goal and something comes up to distract you? Last week I noticed my face moisturizer running low. I knew I had to get one soon but I didn't want to use the same brand. I had been wanting to try Living Nature Nourishing Day Cream since last winter but I held off because it's pricey. This week though, I didn't. I just thought that I waited for a year holding off so this year I will have to try it and if it works for me then good, but I might have to hold off again and try a cheaper brand. A 100ml bottle is $54. I don't regret buying it at all.
I also thought that maybe it was time to change brands because my chin and other areas around my mouth get itchy after using the old brand after an entire year. Figure that! I kind of have this theory that it's when the sun hits my face that does that. I don't know.
So anyway, that's the financial status we have right now. Not a lot of savings but with a little less debt.
Aug 2, 2008
Budget and diet
I'm starting off this entry without a particular subject in mind. I suppose I can just type on and on?
I was thinking the other day about not really enjoying pay days because our money is already accounted for. By Friday night, we've only got $200 left, which is also budgeted for groceries. Oh, I had the husband go to the supermarket on his own. Muirie suggested sending a man off to do this work because I said in this post that I have a tendency to stock buy. Actually, he didn't stock buy, he followed the list and more! He bought stuff that were in the backseat of my mind but still needed to be bought sooner than later, like dog food that we're running low on.
So I concluded from his trip that $200 is not a realistic budget for our family right now. Our baby has been eating a lot, solids and formula, that they are enough to get a chunk of that budget. I'm still undecided whether to up that to $250 or just $230. If you think about it $20 isn't big but it would be when totaled after a year's worth of grocery. Due to our healthier way of eating, we only bought veg and fruits and a bit of fish on our recent trip to PnS. It's the baby items that really kill the budget - nappies and formula.
On the topic of healthy eating, I finally fit in my pre-pregnancy jeans! Yay! I've been trying so hard to stick to live food but I still am drinking coffee daily, but there's not a day that I don't eat veg and fruit. J and I have been horrible this weekend, eating Indian takeaways, muffins I baked and cake from a kids' party we went to today. Ugh.
I learnt that fruit is best eaten on an empty stomach, otherwise their nutrients are turned to toxic waste when mixed with dead (heavily cooked, concentrated) food. I'm considering totally getting rid of red meat from my diet just because they offer NOTHING to the body. Not even protein. Yes, no kidding! I would not sacrifice seafood though. They do offer nutrients to the body. So far, I've not eaten red meat for a month now. I don't notice anything negatively happening in my body. In fact, I feel lighter and of course a tad slimmer. :)
One thing I also learnt and doing is not to mix protein and carbohydrates in a meal. All this new information is exciting me and gets my focus away from all this budget, which can be a blah at times.
It's the weekend and I've not done what I wanted to do all week - sort all my dry clothes! I'm really lazy this weekend!
I was thinking the other day about not really enjoying pay days because our money is already accounted for. By Friday night, we've only got $200 left, which is also budgeted for groceries. Oh, I had the husband go to the supermarket on his own. Muirie suggested sending a man off to do this work because I said in this post that I have a tendency to stock buy. Actually, he didn't stock buy, he followed the list and more! He bought stuff that were in the backseat of my mind but still needed to be bought sooner than later, like dog food that we're running low on.
So I concluded from his trip that $200 is not a realistic budget for our family right now. Our baby has been eating a lot, solids and formula, that they are enough to get a chunk of that budget. I'm still undecided whether to up that to $250 or just $230. If you think about it $20 isn't big but it would be when totaled after a year's worth of grocery. Due to our healthier way of eating, we only bought veg and fruits and a bit of fish on our recent trip to PnS. It's the baby items that really kill the budget - nappies and formula.
On the topic of healthy eating, I finally fit in my pre-pregnancy jeans! Yay! I've been trying so hard to stick to live food but I still am drinking coffee daily, but there's not a day that I don't eat veg and fruit. J and I have been horrible this weekend, eating Indian takeaways, muffins I baked and cake from a kids' party we went to today. Ugh.
I learnt that fruit is best eaten on an empty stomach, otherwise their nutrients are turned to toxic waste when mixed with dead (heavily cooked, concentrated) food. I'm considering totally getting rid of red meat from my diet just because they offer NOTHING to the body. Not even protein. Yes, no kidding! I would not sacrifice seafood though. They do offer nutrients to the body. So far, I've not eaten red meat for a month now. I don't notice anything negatively happening in my body. In fact, I feel lighter and of course a tad slimmer. :)
One thing I also learnt and doing is not to mix protein and carbohydrates in a meal. All this new information is exciting me and gets my focus away from all this budget, which can be a blah at times.
It's the weekend and I've not done what I wanted to do all week - sort all my dry clothes! I'm really lazy this weekend!
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