September 2009 Goals

Financial Goals:

1. Savings of $1000 into personal ING account - J & I are back to paying $450 a week rent starting this week so fingers crossed I can still save $1000 a month.
2. Pay off $292 in university debts (to tax office) - already included in my budget. The tax office has given me coupons to take to the post office to pay every fortnight so I don't conveniently forget.
3. 10 NSD Challenge(No Spend Days) in conjunction with High Class, Low Income - as long as I have breakfast & lunch during work days, I don't really need to spend.
4. Don't use the Credit Card - highly unlikely since J hid it (but I think I know where!). Anyway I really want to pay this sucker off so I can save the $100 I'm allocating to it per fortnight. $487 to go plus interest!
5. Fill out green form and send it off to work's Financial Services so my HECS debt can be automatically taken off my tax each pay - if I don't do this, I would be continually paying the tax office and not getting a major return at the end of financial year!
6. Record every spending for the entire month

Other Goals:

1. September is No Sweets Month except for 1 day of the week - stick to it! J & I have been exercising but our diet is shite so we're not losing any weight.
2. Exercise 3 times a week including PT session - I have a lot of credits on my PT sessions so I should really try and sign up for more classes
3. Drink alcohol only 2 nights a week - I've been having a lot of wine lately. Not good.

My Weekend Recap

I have 4 days off this week from Friday to Monday - so good!

Here are my expenses for the last 3 days:

Friday:
$25 - dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant - Sushi Samurai
$2.99 - Knowing DVD

Saturday: NO SPEND DAY - J bought me lunch and we had a BBQ dinner at J's parent's house.

Sunday:
$35 - groceries at the markets

Total: $62.99

Not bad. I did make a massive change to my budget though. I don't think the categories are working out for me because I just end up substituting the shopping money, for example, for entertainment and everything just becomes one big blur. At the moment, I'm over in the Groceries, Entertertainment, Misc and Gifts category and I've had to use my Shopping money for that. I'm re-doing my budget for the next pay and instead of categories, I'll just use a weekly tally and I can pretty much spend on whatever I want as long as I have the cash for it (no more credit cards!).

September 2009 goals coming soon.

Market Haul

J & I went to the markets in the city today since we're already headed there for lunch. Can you believe we bought all these vegetables for only $7.80? If we bought it at our local supermarket, it would probably be around $20! Avocadoes in our supermarket are on average $2.50 EACH! In the city markets, they're .60!!

The breakdown:

2 x pakchoy baby = $1
2 x avocado = $1.20
1 lettuce = $1
6 tomatoes = $.70
half pumpkin = $1
sweet potato = $1
2 x green capsicums = $1.20
1 x eggplant = $.70

We also got some cheap meat from the butchers ($24) that will probably last us a few days for dinner for three people and maybe some work lunches. We still don't know if it's worth it travelling to the city every week or every other week to go to the markets. The prices are 50% off and the vegetables and fruits are fresh however, we need to travel to go there. It's not very far but parking is already $10 on Sundays and a bus there would be $16 both ways for the both of us and $8 if I'm going by myself which I don't really want to because the haul is heavy! We need a strategy so we can shop there maybe every week - maybe I can do the shopping myself and J can pick me from a corner or on Saturdays we can pay $5 in parking but we have to do the shopping in an hour. We'll see but so far, we're very happy with what we got today and for a very cheap price.

10 Things Challenge

This challenge was actually harder than I thought - I definitely had more crap lying around than this but I finally assembled 10 Things to either throw out and give away.

1. Old Grazia magazines from 2008 - instead of putting this in recycling, I'm taking it to work so it can be read a couple more times before being recycled (better their trash than mine).

2. Yellow and white knee-high socks with pom poms - free from a magazine. To be donated. Someone will be happy with this.

3. An inflatable plane pillow. Painful and ineffective.

4. Gift boxes that were given to us on our engagement party. I was saving them up to used for Christmas but I don't think I'll be using them. Straight to recycling.

5. Three CD's that comes free from the newspaper - a pasta recipe one, a space 3D and some classical stuff. To be donated.

6. Tofu toys. My friend got me these from Japan. To be donated.

7. White pillowcase with MOULD! To be thrown out.

8. Bangles. Nothing wrong with them, I just don't like them anymore. To be donated.

9. Scraps of fabric from Cambodia. To be thrown out.

10. Some paper & magazines that are just plain clutter. Recycling!

I'll be doing this challenge again next weekend until we're just left with the bare essentials.

Article: Things we've ditched since the financial crisis

According to this article, " AUSTRALIANS have taken the financial knife to dry cleaning, expensive dinners and donations to charities – and it’s all thanks to the global financial crisis."

Apparently, shoppers are shopping more in Target than high-end boutiques, they're ditching fine dining restaurants in favour of eating at home, taking domestic holidays rather than international ones, opting for cheaper brands of wine and are foregoing expensive dry-cleaning costs.

Here's my take on all of those (True or False):

1. I've always shopped at Target and K-mart. Although I can drop $300 for a dress, I'm not a shop snob. But now that I have a shopping budget, I'd probably go for more good quality items say a $50 top that I would wear for a year compared to three $15 tops that will probably disintegrate after 3 or more washes. FALSE

2. I don't think I've ever finely dined actually and I'm thinking of restaurants like Tetsuya's ($195 per person for a degustation meal), Aria, Pilu or Quay which would probably be around $150 per person for a three-course meal and not including the wine for which the cheapest bottle would be around $80. So no, I'm not a fine dining person.

J & I don't mind having a good meal out though for about $50-60 per person if there's a special occasion. Lately though, we have eating at home a lot. Just a year ago, we would probably eat out 3 or 4 times a week but that was probably because we didn't have a proper kitchen. We had 2 burners on top of a table where we also ate but now that we have a good kitchen, we cook more and eat out only once a week (around $25 each). TRUE-ish

3. Travelling in Australia is expensive! It's such a big country that is far remote from anywhere else. That being said, if I was going travelling for 2 or more weeks, I'd rather go to Asia or any of the other Pacific Islands. Three weeks in an Asian country (not Japan) would probably be comparable to one week of travelling in Australia. In other words, travelling here is a rip-off! And the service overseas is also a lot better. FALSE

4. We're not big wine drinkers and we only get a bottle when we're going out for dinner with friends or visiting someone else's house for dinner. We do have a friend that can give us a dozen wines for $30 and they are high quality wines worth $25+ each. He gets them from an auction site. FALSE

5. Coats and blazers and sometimes pants are the only things I take to the dry cleaners and that's probably a once a year occurence. After winter, I get all my coats drycleaned so I can store them for another year, that would probably cost around $50. FALSE

I guess we're not the average Australian then! Probably because the average Australian is broke!

Mid-week Budget Update

A quick update of where I stand in my 2-week budget with 8 days to go until the next pay day!

Remaining monies in my variable categories:

Gifts - $0 (over $10)
Groceries - $13.60
Entertainment - $29.30
Personal Items - $20
Shopping - $50
Misc - $8.85

Depending on what the weekend will bring and J & I are going to have a 4-day weekend (Friday to Monday off!!), I think I will be short in the Entertainment section. Since I'm not planning on buying any personal items, I might transfer my $20 over plus I still have the $8.85 in Misc. I don't really want to touch my shopping budget if I don't have to. I'm in dire need of black work shoes but I'm looking at buying an $80-90 pair so I might add this week's shopping budget to next week's which will also be $50. As for groceries, I'll probably buy lunch stuff with my $13.60 for next week (Mon - Fri), J still has to do a mini shop for the weekend and remaining days.

No Spend Day tomorrow - I have a bus ticket to go to work and I have breakfast & lunch (and I'll rummage around in the cupboard for snacks). J will pick me up from work tomorrow as well!

To Do: 10 Things Challenge

I just saw this 10 Things Challenge in the Simple.Organized.Life blog and it's such a good idea. I have so much clutter at home that I would probably need to do this challenge every week for a year. This is on my to-do list for Friday! Pictures are forthcoming.

Cheap & Easy: Mango Curry Wings with Vegetable Rice

I made this easy chicken recipe for dinner last night and had the leftovers for lunch today.

Ingredients with approximate cost (bear in mind that food prices in Sydney are probably twice more expensive than other cities):

1.5 kilo chicken wings - $4.15
1/2 cup mango chutney - $3.30 (there's quite a bit in the bottle - maybe enough for 2 cups)
1/4 cup raisins - $1.99 (only a big bag is available - will have the rest as a snack)
2cm fresh ginger, grated - $.20
3 tsps mild curry powder - $1.75 (in a medium tin - this will be used for a long time)
salt & pepper to taste
rice (should be on your cupboard)
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables - $2.20 (again, there's a lot in this bag)

Total: $14.00 - serves 4 but most of the ingredients can be used three or more times

1. Place chutney, curry powder, raisins & ginger in a large bowl. Stir. Add chicken. Toss to combine. Season with salt & pepper.
2. Place chicken mixture in a single layer in a large baking dish.
3. Cook in a hot oven (200C) for about thirty minutes, or until lightly browned and cooked through.
4. Cook rice in a pan of boiling, salted water for 7 minutes. Add vegetables. Return to boil and boil for a further 5 mins until cooked.
5. Divide rice among four bowls. Top with chicken and cooking juices.

This will be a staple part of our menu!

Weekend Recap

I had a very eventful weekend with a lunch and dinner with friends on Saturday and a kids birthday party today. I also had a farewell lunch for a work colleague and friend on Thursday. Here's a recap with their respective categories.

Thursday:

$5 - Breakfast (entertainment)
$10 - contribution for friend's farewell gift (gifts)
$15.20 - Lunch at cafe (entertainment)

Friday:
$20 - Aldi (groceries)
$30 - gift card (for 1st birthday present - gifts)

Saturday:
$5 - The Big Issue Magazine (misc - I would soon put a category under Charity - more on this magazine later)
$7 - Drinks for friend & I in the city before lunch
$7.50 - share for lunch (both entertainment)

Sunday:
$5.20 - Boost Juice (entertainment)
$4.60 - McDonalds Mcmuffin & hash brown (ent - I don't usually eat McDonald's apart from sundaes. This is probably my first McDonalds breakfast for the year!)
$3.20 - Bus to party (ent)
$34.90 - Groceries
$9.25 - Magazines (misc)

Total : $156.85

Not bad at all considering I went out 3 times over the weekend. J bought me dinner on Saturday which was very nice or that would have been another $25 and I still had left over bus tickets so the fare wasn't as bad as I thought.

19 Days and Counting

These earrings were the last thing I bought and that was on the 1st of August (and for a reason, our engagement party). They were $29.95 AUD. I haven't bought anything since, not a piece of clothing nor any accessories. I gave myself a budget of $50 for two weeks and I'm maybe hoping to get some spring/summer sandals or maybe a spring top for going out. I think having a budget actually helps me to pick and choose more carefully.

Before this, my last purchase was a $390 dress that I've only wore once so far! And I used to shop maybe every other week, spending about $100 to $150 per fortnight. Not buying anything new for two weeks is kind of making me nuts but I think I'm on the right track so far.

Positive Net Worth!

I did a Networth IQ entry around August last year and it was definitely negative. I'm surprised to see that I'm not in the red anymore! At least not until we buy our unit but then that would be classified as 'good debt', right?

Hopefully, my Net Worth will go up to around $8K at the end of the year while I save some more and pay off firstly my credit card and my student loans slowly.

See graph permanently on the right side bar...

August 20 Budget

My first attempt at a specific budget. I usually budget for the fixed items and then with my remaining $300 or so, it's usually whatever goes and most of the time, I'm out of pocket a week before the next pay day.

A brief description of each category:

1. Rent - this is going to be the last fortnight where we have to pay $250 for rent. In my next pay, it will go up to $450.

2. Jumpstart - is a personal training service I started two months ago. At the moment, I go to two classes per week. This is a direct debit that gets taken out of my account every fortnight. I enjoy the classes and this is my main motivation for exercise. If I haven't paid, then I just won't go.

3. Uni Loan Payment - long story cut short. I have about $13K+ uni loans (HECS). Usually, an amount gets deducted off the person's salary once they earn over a certain threshold. I certainly have been earning over the threshold for two years but they haven't been deducting it from my pay. So instead of getting a refund back with my tax return, I have to pay instead. I owe the tax office around $4K+ (including interest) and I've made an arrangement with them to pay $146 per fortnight until next year. They've sent me coupons in the mail as well with due dates so I don't forget!

4. Credit Card - I have $597 debt on my CC and I'm not going to be using it for a while. I'm hoping to pay this off very soon.

5. Home Deposit - self explanatory. Where the bulk of my moolah goes!

6. Gifts - I usually prepare in advance for birthdays and anniversaries. I have a birthday party to go this fortnight so I've budgeted a bit for that. But this would usually be $0.

7. Groceries - includes dinners & also lunches for work. I have a feeling that I will fall short on this one. We'll see.

8. Entertainment - includes dinners out, travel (public transportation is very expensive in Sydney!), movies, etc.

9. Personal Items - mostly beauty items & services

10. Shopping - no explanation needed!

11. Misc - this is not really earmarked for anything special. I think this will just be a back-up just in case I need more cash for the other categories.

$12 = 4 meals

Here is something simple I made tonight that was enough for 4 meals and cost only $12.

Ingredients:

1 big eggplant - $1.80
750g chicken breast - $7.00
Chinese marinade - $3.20

We already had some essentials at home like rice, soy sauce and brown sugar to add to this dish.

I cooked 4 small cups of rice. I marinated the chicken breast and left it for an hour or so then fried it. The marinade is a bit expensive for only one use but it really is quite tasty and don't need any more spices. I then cooked the eggplant with a little bit of oil until it's soft then added some soy sauce and a little bit of brown sugar. That made 4 meals all up and they're quite big servings.

J had dinner tonight for his night shift. I had mine for dinner too then I divided the rest in two more containers to bring to work for the next two days. If I'm this disciplined every Sunday afternoon, I wouldn't have to spend anything for lunches for the whole week!

My Weekend = $60

It's the middle of August, the last month of winter in Australia and it's 28 degrees outside. No wonder I'm sweating! Our summers can go as high as 40 degrees. At this temperature, people start fainting, the trains stop working because the train tracks are scorched, half the city is burning with bushfires and majority of people are in the cinema. I'm dreading summer already.

I spent a solid $60 this weekend and I didn't even have a night out. Saturday, I spent $12 hiring 5 new weekly DVD's from Blockbuster (half of Heroes Season 1, Penelope & Nights in Rodanthe) and the rest I contributed to J's grocery for lunch.

Today, being the beautiful day that it is, J & I went for a walk and had lunch in a cafe ($20). I also spent another $20 for groceries for my work lunches for the whole week. At this point, and because I only work 4 days a week, I have lunch for every day of the week. There's also no need for me buy coffee in the morning as I still have a tub of flavoured coffee which would probably still last two weeks and also a small tub of hot chocolate which would last another two.

I have $25 left until Thursday (pay day!) and I only have to cook for one night of dinner until then for 3 people which I'm budgeting $15 for. My goal for this week is to also walk home everyday. Sometimes I get really lazy and either catch the bus ($1.90) or have J pick me up when it's only 25 mins. walk away.

Savings Fund update:
Emergency Fund - $2800
My savings (home deposit) - $2236
J's savings fund (home deposit) - $3000 approx.

I think we're closer to our goal than we think which is $18,000 by June 2010. At this rate, we might have around $14,000 before 2009 ends.

Our Living Situation

At the moment, J & I are living in a 2-bedroom apartment with J's brother. He's moved in with us in February 09 but he's moving out again in September 09. J & I moved in this apartment at the end of June 08.

At the moment, J & I are paying $125 a week each which is $250 per fornight. And J's brother is paying $200 a week. This is fair because we pay the electricity and the internet and J's brother also has the use of our garage. Also, he doesn't like cleaning that much (that's another long blog vent in itself).

When J's brother moves at the first week of September, we're going back to paying $450 each per fortnight. Of course, this is going to impact on our savings but I think it's going to be worth it in the long run. Am I willing to pay another $200 for our privacy and my sanity? Yes!!

Another option would be is to move to a smaller 1-bedroom apartment whilst we're saving for our home deposit. We've thought about doing this but decided on just staying at our current apartment which we love for the following reasons:

1. It's a great area, it's only 7 minutes approximately to Sydney CBD (Central Business District). There are lots of cafes, restaurants and supermarkets within walking distance. Our local supermarket is actually just 3 mins walk away.

2. It's a safe and friendly area. I know literally every crime, every accident and every incident that happens in this area. Just call it perks of the job.

3. I can walk to work. My work is approximately 20-25 minutes walk and it's a very good walk through the park and the main road. This is handy because I don't have a car (because I can't drive, yet). J has a car and his work is around 25-30 mins drive away, less when not in peak time.

4. We really like this apartment. It's cosy and it's comfortable and we've arranged it around to suit us because we're more homebodies than extroverted party-goers.

If we move out to a smaller 1-bedroom unit in this area, our rent would not be reduced as much because the minimum rent for a 1-bedder is now around $330. Then there are the hassles of the moving, the lease-breaking, the actual looking for an apartment, etc.

We've paid off $450 before without any hassles before J's brother moves in, we'll just budget better than before and have a few more stay-ins instead of night-outs.

Less than a week until payday

J & I get paid on the same day fortnightly (every two weeks) specifically on Thursday! At the moment, I have $125 until the next pay day with a looming weekend and 3 work days to go. I think I'll definitely make it without dipping into savings or using the Black card which I will now hand to J to hide away from me.

So far, I don't have any upcoming plans for the weekend. I was supposed to go out with a friend for lunch tomorrow and go half on a birthday present for a party we're going to next Saturday but those plans fell through. J is working tomorrow at 2pm so I'll probably just stay at home and watch a movie and do some reading.

On Sunday, J & I might go out somewhere for a walk and a cheap brunch. I might get out and get some groceries for my lunches for the next week as well and some bread for breakfast.

If I'm budgeting $40 for dinner tonight then I would only have $85 to spend on the weekend and my lunches and also one night of dinner before payday. It's going to be a tough challenge!

Food at Work

I didn't quite succeed with my challenge of not buying lunch at work this week by one day! I need to be more prepared getting my lunch ready and packed during the night as I start very early in the morning. This will be another interesting challenge for next week. I'm getting more essentials such as tuna and salad and hard-boiled eggs and just have them in the fridge as well for back-up.

So today, I bought a sweet chilli chicken burger and a drink for $9.90 which is my only expense of the day (so far). I did manage to make a PB&H sandwich for breakfast before I left for work and instead of buying $3.20 skim capps everyday, I buy a pack of flavoured coffee and have that. If it's on sale, the $2.99 small tub usually lasts around two and a half weeks.

J & I are going out to dinner tonight with J's family to celebrate his mum's birthday. His parents always pay for our dinners when we go out but tonight, we're going to insist that it's going to be our treat (J&myself plus his two siblings). I'm budgeting around $40 for this. J has already bought a cake for $30.50 which we're also splitting 4-ways. It should be a good dinner to finish off the week!

Put that Black card away!

The only way I can manage my finances is to do this daily:

$10.00 - breakfast (very naughty, I know but it's the first breakfast I've bought in the whole week at work. It was a work colleague's last day and our team went out for coffee and B&E rolls. So damn delicious!)
$2.00 - Freddo frogs
$13.60 - new notebook & paper from Eckersley's (black*)

Total: $25.60

*Black refers to my black Visa card which I'm trying to pay off and I should really NOT be using!

Shared Finances

J & I don't have a joint account, per se. He gets paid into his account and I get paid in mine. Although we do have a say so in our finances, we're not in each other's pockets all the time so to speak. We do have a joint savings account we've christened the Dulux Dog account (got the cute reference?) but I think I've contributed very little to this account so far.

At the moment, I earn just a little bit more than J does. But he's definitely a better saver. I'm still learning although I'm getting better.

We both get paid every two weeks (or fortnightly). On my last pay, I saved $600 which I've put into my own ING Direct account bringing my total to $2236. Not bad at all for a person that can't really save. It will be very tight but I hope to have $3000 in that account at the end of August 2009.

What is Generation Y?

According to this article, "they're between 17 and 28 years old and comprise the most influential generational group since the baby boomers".

Australia has a habit of defining individuals in their generational gaps such as The Baby Boomers (your parents), Generation X (30-year olds) and of course, Generation Y, those that are born between 1979 and 1990. After that, we have Generation Z, the newest generation of brats which is another story altogether.

For the most part, Gen Y-ers are known to be technically savvy, has very high expectations, are impatient and most of the time, lazy. At least that's the bashing that Gen Y is regularly getting from the media. And I have met ones who would definitely fit the bill.

I am, however, trying to break the mold.

I'm M, in her mid-20's (higher half), a full-time worker, a renter and very independent.

J is my soon to be other half. We got engaged a few months ago. J is also in his mid-20's, also a full-time worker and we live together.

At the moment, we are trying to save up for a home deposit. Our goal is to have around $18,000 by June 2010. This blog would hopefully keep us in line and encourage us to save more.