It hit me today how much I am tackling this year and how far I have come in my thinking over the last 1 – 2 years. A few years ago I wanted my life to be better but wasn’t actively doing anything about it. I did try to do what I could to save money and made sure everything was paid on time, but really I felt we were in limbo with no direction.
When I first started this blog I really had no idea how I would achieve my goals, but I knew if I put it down on paper and worked towards it things would happen. I knew our income was not enough to make $1,000,000 let alone save it, so I knew I needed to think outside the square.
When I started this challenge the thought of $1,000,000 in cash and assets blew my mind. I knew it was possible, I mean lots of people had done it, but I did not know if it was possible in the timeframe I set.
As I have gone along in my journey I have discovered something that really helps. 2 things actually.
1.) Believe in yourself
Many people might not believe you can achieve what you set out to do. People might make fun of you and put you down. You need to develop a totally belief in yourself, full confidence that you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
This can be really hard. I know. I have often had negative self talk and feelings and struggle immensely with believing in myself but I have found the more I trust myself and open myself up to new ideas and possibilities the more confident I am. The more confident I am the more open I am and the more possibilities that present themselves and so on. It is an excellent little cycle.
Obviously there are things which do not work as planned and we all have bad days, but it is a matter of brushing yourself off and continuing on when those things happen.
2.) Get good friends
I have some really helpful people who love and support me which really helps. We discuss ideas, what we are planning and offer advice and suggestions to each other. On days when I have felt overwhelmed I can reach out to my support network and they encourage me, lift me up and show me I can do it.
We do not talk bad about each other, we do not delight when one of us is struggling. Instead we delight in each other’s success and do what we can to help.
My support group consists mainly of family. We live in different areas but with today’s technology you can email, facebook or even have private blogs for each other, so distance is not an issue.
How successful you are and how far you push yourself to make things happen really comes down to believing in yourself or at the very least your product. You are the only one who can make things happen for you. Others can lead the way or open the door, but you are the one who has to take the step through that door and back yourself the whole way.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Revisiting my vision board
Back in May 2010 I wrote a post How to create a vision board and included things I had on mine. More recently I turned the walls of my office into a continuous vision board at eye level running around my room. It is about 60cm wide and broken into categories. I am inspired every time I step in there.
Today I achieved something big to me from my vision board, which prompted me to look closer at my boards and the one I did back then to see exactly what I have achieved or what has come to me from my boards.
I was really surprised at just what has come to fruition in this time.
1.) A Toyota Camry – This happened today and was so incredibly exciting. We have wanted one for years. I started researching and focusing on them properly after doing my vision board last May. We narrowed it down to wanting a 2005 Toyota Camry Ateva. We weren’t going to buy a brand new car, this was as much as we wanted to spend at this time and the newer models seem to have lots of issues (especially 2007!) Anyway, the way it all came to happen, it was definitely meant to be our car and it is better than we thought. The one we got is top of the range and perfectly looked after. Love it.
2.) Some electricals such as a smartphone (I had iphone, but after researching decided to get the HTC Desire HD and love it), a hair straightner, Bio Ionic one to be exact. Whilst it may not seem that much coz anyone can get these, I got the phone for almost half RRP with bonuses too and am not on a contract to anyone, and the hair straightner is $210 at my wholesaler, $299 RRP, but I got one, brand new for $50! I have never seen it at that price.
3.) Random furniture such as my dream lounge and a swing set for my daughters. The lounge we found (and have not seen a similar one since) was $600 off and $1000 less than our original budget, so perfect and the swing set was free.
4.) Growing my wealth – this is happening on such a fast scale. I have my book coming out and quite a few other things on the horizon that look to boost me forward faster than I could have imagined when I started this blog.
5.) Increasing my properties – whilst this is not happening at the moment, my husband and I discovered that through some of our connections we have found an excellent way to have property virtually worry free. Not something everyone can do and very hard to get into if we didn’t know who we do.
6.) Storage and everything in its place – we have just had the kitchen renovated and are having wardrobes installed next week, so everything is beginning to have a place and it is all coming together. This is not my dream home, but at least it is happening.
There are so many more things, but these are the main ones that stood out to me. I just didn’t realise how far I have come and how much is coming true on my vision board.
Do you have one? Do you believe in them?
One thing I want to point out. A vision board won’t make things happen magically for you. You need to focus your energy on the things you desire and work towards them. Some things will just come to you randomly, but your mind needs to be open and aware of what you want. If you are open to it, you will see more opportunities than if you are not focused.
Today I achieved something big to me from my vision board, which prompted me to look closer at my boards and the one I did back then to see exactly what I have achieved or what has come to me from my boards.
I was really surprised at just what has come to fruition in this time.
1.) A Toyota Camry – This happened today and was so incredibly exciting. We have wanted one for years. I started researching and focusing on them properly after doing my vision board last May. We narrowed it down to wanting a 2005 Toyota Camry Ateva. We weren’t going to buy a brand new car, this was as much as we wanted to spend at this time and the newer models seem to have lots of issues (especially 2007!) Anyway, the way it all came to happen, it was definitely meant to be our car and it is better than we thought. The one we got is top of the range and perfectly looked after. Love it.
2.) Some electricals such as a smartphone (I had iphone, but after researching decided to get the HTC Desire HD and love it), a hair straightner, Bio Ionic one to be exact. Whilst it may not seem that much coz anyone can get these, I got the phone for almost half RRP with bonuses too and am not on a contract to anyone, and the hair straightner is $210 at my wholesaler, $299 RRP, but I got one, brand new for $50! I have never seen it at that price.
3.) Random furniture such as my dream lounge and a swing set for my daughters. The lounge we found (and have not seen a similar one since) was $600 off and $1000 less than our original budget, so perfect and the swing set was free.
4.) Growing my wealth – this is happening on such a fast scale. I have my book coming out and quite a few other things on the horizon that look to boost me forward faster than I could have imagined when I started this blog.
5.) Increasing my properties – whilst this is not happening at the moment, my husband and I discovered that through some of our connections we have found an excellent way to have property virtually worry free. Not something everyone can do and very hard to get into if we didn’t know who we do.
6.) Storage and everything in its place – we have just had the kitchen renovated and are having wardrobes installed next week, so everything is beginning to have a place and it is all coming together. This is not my dream home, but at least it is happening.
There are so many more things, but these are the main ones that stood out to me. I just didn’t realise how far I have come and how much is coming true on my vision board.
Do you have one? Do you believe in them?
One thing I want to point out. A vision board won’t make things happen magically for you. You need to focus your energy on the things you desire and work towards them. Some things will just come to you randomly, but your mind needs to be open and aware of what you want. If you are open to it, you will see more opportunities than if you are not focused.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
$10,000 Challenge, week 4
Firstly thank you everyone for your suggestion with my last post lack of financial education today, I will be looking into your ideas once I am qualified.
So this week I have not done much on the earning side. We have been pretty busy but the challenged has remained in the back of my mind. I have been presented with some opportunities which could prove to be quite financially beneficial and have had a few ideas for things I could do which won’t earn me money right now, but will later.
Overall our $10,000 challenge has been travelling well. Since in the beginning I stated that I would be including any savings as well as earnings to make the total our current total stands at $8,637. I need $1,363 in the next 2 weeks, which I think is doable. I would love it to be more, but we’ll see.
Also, my kitchen has the cupboards and bench in now, so it is just a matter of the splashback and it is pretty much done. I have a few more things being done in the next week which will add value to my home. Whilst I won’t see this money right now, it will benefit me when I plan to sell (hopefully within 12 months).
This week has also brought me closer to finishing my diploma as I passed and exam and it saw my husband getting a call for a job with a higher wage he really wanted, so hopefully that all works out too. I had a job interview as well, but now it looks like I may have some big projects coming up, so will have to juggle things and see if it is still possible if they want me that is!
So all in all this challenge is travelling along very nicely.
So this week I have not done much on the earning side. We have been pretty busy but the challenged has remained in the back of my mind. I have been presented with some opportunities which could prove to be quite financially beneficial and have had a few ideas for things I could do which won’t earn me money right now, but will later.
Overall our $10,000 challenge has been travelling well. Since in the beginning I stated that I would be including any savings as well as earnings to make the total our current total stands at $8,637. I need $1,363 in the next 2 weeks, which I think is doable. I would love it to be more, but we’ll see.
Also, my kitchen has the cupboards and bench in now, so it is just a matter of the splashback and it is pretty much done. I have a few more things being done in the next week which will add value to my home. Whilst I won’t see this money right now, it will benefit me when I plan to sell (hopefully within 12 months).
This week has also brought me closer to finishing my diploma as I passed and exam and it saw my husband getting a call for a job with a higher wage he really wanted, so hopefully that all works out too. I had a job interview as well, but now it looks like I may have some big projects coming up, so will have to juggle things and see if it is still possible if they want me that is!
So all in all this challenge is travelling along very nicely.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Lack of financial education today
Today I was on the train coming home from an exam (which I passed by the way! Yay) and I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation going on behind me. I think the entire train could hear this conversation; it sure was not a private one.
There was a group of teenagers, that I think looked around 16 (they looked younger than my almost 17yr old sister, but a lot more street wise than her, she’s pretty innocent). It was a mix of boys and girls, one of them had a child, aged 1 or so. They were discussing money. More correctly they were discussing loans.
One of the boys had just got a $600 loan to get a tattoo. This made me feel sick, what was worse was before he even finished the one with a child pipes up ‘na na na na, I got more than you! I got a $1,000 loan!” I am feeling sicker.
Next they proceeded to discuss the tattoos they will get and how they’ll have to borrow more money to finish them. This sort of talk went on for a bit until half the group left at the next stop.
I watched them leave, as they all pulled out their smokes and I genuinely felt sad. I felt like that little child has a rough start and those poor kids have either not been taught or did not pay attention to anything about budgeting or handling money.
When I was in year 6 we did an exercise where we were give a set amount of money, had to rent somewhere, furnish it and our income was set at a certain amount and we also had to pay certain bills etc... Basically we had to learn to budget and live. I also did this at my high school, in a different state with different teachers. Interestingly enough when speaking to those where I currently live no one did anything like that.
I am not saying it is the teacher’s responsibility to teach kids about money, but in maths or social science practical lessons like these can be very effective.
I know where I live there is a very high rate of teenage pregnancies, very few people finish high school, most people are in receipt of Government assistance and very few people have any ideas about how to budget or handle their money.
That conversation I heard made me want to do something, but I don’t know what. I want to help, teach people where I live about money and how to take control, but I don’t even know where to start. I also don’t plan on staying here.
I have so many reasons to not help, but really, I can’t leave it alone. I really feel I need to look at doing something, anything. I am studying financial planning and once I am qualified I want to look into ways I can help. Any ideas?
There was a group of teenagers, that I think looked around 16 (they looked younger than my almost 17yr old sister, but a lot more street wise than her, she’s pretty innocent). It was a mix of boys and girls, one of them had a child, aged 1 or so. They were discussing money. More correctly they were discussing loans.
One of the boys had just got a $600 loan to get a tattoo. This made me feel sick, what was worse was before he even finished the one with a child pipes up ‘na na na na, I got more than you! I got a $1,000 loan!” I am feeling sicker.
Next they proceeded to discuss the tattoos they will get and how they’ll have to borrow more money to finish them. This sort of talk went on for a bit until half the group left at the next stop.
I watched them leave, as they all pulled out their smokes and I genuinely felt sad. I felt like that little child has a rough start and those poor kids have either not been taught or did not pay attention to anything about budgeting or handling money.
When I was in year 6 we did an exercise where we were give a set amount of money, had to rent somewhere, furnish it and our income was set at a certain amount and we also had to pay certain bills etc... Basically we had to learn to budget and live. I also did this at my high school, in a different state with different teachers. Interestingly enough when speaking to those where I currently live no one did anything like that.
I am not saying it is the teacher’s responsibility to teach kids about money, but in maths or social science practical lessons like these can be very effective.
I know where I live there is a very high rate of teenage pregnancies, very few people finish high school, most people are in receipt of Government assistance and very few people have any ideas about how to budget or handle their money.
That conversation I heard made me want to do something, but I don’t know what. I want to help, teach people where I live about money and how to take control, but I don’t even know where to start. I also don’t plan on staying here.
I have so many reasons to not help, but really, I can’t leave it alone. I really feel I need to look at doing something, anything. I am studying financial planning and once I am qualified I want to look into ways I can help. Any ideas?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Exciting news - A publishing contract
Something amazing happened to me last year, but I couldn’t share it until now. I signed a book contract with Wiley Publishers and it was they who approached me, I didn’t even have a full manuscript at the time.
How did I get a publishing contract without even trying? Well, I signed up to attend the Aussie Bloggers Conference, the first ever to be held in Australia, so very exciting! Then one day I got an email from the acquisitions editor saying she saw my blog name, which sounded interesting, checked it out, and saw a post of mine that would be perfect to turn into a book. She didn’t even read the whole thing, she just wanted to contact me straight away!
I thought it might be a scam of some sort at first, but my sister pointed out it is costing me nothing and they were offering an advance to write the book, so really I had nothing to lose. (Wise words from a big sister!)
So with some back and forth we (editor and I) hashed out the sort of book it should be and she presented it at a meeting to see if they would publish it and they agreed!
Then it was a matter of me turning the post into a book and now we are at the editing/formatting stage which they are doing. It has been so exciting and I have been wanting to tell you all, but wanted to hold off a little, until it was a sure thing and really happening.
It won’t be out for a few months yet, as we still need to finish editing it and things, but I am so excited I just wanted to share.
As we go along, I will share more details with you about it, but since it is still early stages I can’t say much.
Oh, and the post has been removed from the blog now, so I can’t direct you to it.
What’s amazing to me about this whole thing (beside the fact that I have never heard of a publisher approaching someone like this, with no manuscript or anything) is that I nearly didn’t attend the blogging conference. In fact, I nearly pulled my blog altogether last year. I was having a hard year emotionally and it was becoming all too much.
This just goes to show that you never now what’s around the corner and if you just push through amazing things can happen.
I was really lucky to have a really supportive family who encourage me to keep going (even my husband who thought blogging was stupid) and thanks to their support I did.
So you see, anything is possible.
How did I get a publishing contract without even trying? Well, I signed up to attend the Aussie Bloggers Conference, the first ever to be held in Australia, so very exciting! Then one day I got an email from the acquisitions editor saying she saw my blog name, which sounded interesting, checked it out, and saw a post of mine that would be perfect to turn into a book. She didn’t even read the whole thing, she just wanted to contact me straight away!
I thought it might be a scam of some sort at first, but my sister pointed out it is costing me nothing and they were offering an advance to write the book, so really I had nothing to lose. (Wise words from a big sister!)
So with some back and forth we (editor and I) hashed out the sort of book it should be and she presented it at a meeting to see if they would publish it and they agreed!
Then it was a matter of me turning the post into a book and now we are at the editing/formatting stage which they are doing. It has been so exciting and I have been wanting to tell you all, but wanted to hold off a little, until it was a sure thing and really happening.
It won’t be out for a few months yet, as we still need to finish editing it and things, but I am so excited I just wanted to share.
As we go along, I will share more details with you about it, but since it is still early stages I can’t say much.
Oh, and the post has been removed from the blog now, so I can’t direct you to it.
What’s amazing to me about this whole thing (beside the fact that I have never heard of a publisher approaching someone like this, with no manuscript or anything) is that I nearly didn’t attend the blogging conference. In fact, I nearly pulled my blog altogether last year. I was having a hard year emotionally and it was becoming all too much.
This just goes to show that you never now what’s around the corner and if you just push through amazing things can happen.
I was really lucky to have a really supportive family who encourage me to keep going (even my husband who thought blogging was stupid) and thanks to their support I did.
So you see, anything is possible.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Morrissey Sunglasses Winner!!
We have a winner! I added up all the comments, plus for those who said they tweeted/put it on facebook, added a savings tip etc... I put in your extra entries, then put the numbers into a random number generator at random.org and got a winner!
But first I wanted to share the awesome money tips everyone shared.
Alicia of alogabby manor and Our journey with hemihypertrophy shared “If you have a savings goal, add every leftover amount from your everyday bank account to your savings account. For example if after paying your bills you have $134.60 in your account, transfer the $34.60 into your savings account then at the end of the pay period transfer whatever is leftover as well. You will reach your savings goal in no time!”
Miggles of Miggles Masterpieces and Mission 101 in 1001 shared “My Money savings tip is don't go shopping with your DH LOL No my serious tip is budget for 10% less than you earn and budget your bill 10% higher so you will always have room to move if you need it.”
Scather of Scathing Weekly shared a load of free and cheap ebooks as her tip, you can check them out here. It must have taken a while to compile these and it is a great resource, so have a look.
Acting like a mama of acting like a mama shared “Mmm my best money tip is to sit down on the weekend and prepare (financially) for the week. I need to pay for parking for 3 days (that $21 of coin I need) and I like getting a coffee on those days too. If I don't have the right amount of coin, I always end up at the local corner shop buying $10 worth of crap just so I can get some change. By not planning ahead I end up spending up to 4 times as much money as I actually need.”
Happy Harris from Simple Savings shared “Saving tip - probably heard it before but it works for me is to Menu plan what you want for the next 3 weeks and then shop accordingly.
Plus never shop with kids, one it saves money but also saves the insanity with children whinging”
So thank you everyone so much for contributing and here is our winner...
Miggles!!!
(I’ll email you privately)
Thank you for helping me get to 400 followers. I have another big give away planned at 500 followers, which I think you’ll all be excited about!
But first I wanted to share the awesome money tips everyone shared.
Alicia of alogabby manor and Our journey with hemihypertrophy shared “If you have a savings goal, add every leftover amount from your everyday bank account to your savings account. For example if after paying your bills you have $134.60 in your account, transfer the $34.60 into your savings account then at the end of the pay period transfer whatever is leftover as well. You will reach your savings goal in no time!”
Miggles of Miggles Masterpieces and Mission 101 in 1001 shared “My Money savings tip is don't go shopping with your DH LOL No my serious tip is budget for 10% less than you earn and budget your bill 10% higher so you will always have room to move if you need it.”
Scather of Scathing Weekly shared a load of free and cheap ebooks as her tip, you can check them out here. It must have taken a while to compile these and it is a great resource, so have a look.
Acting like a mama of acting like a mama shared “Mmm my best money tip is to sit down on the weekend and prepare (financially) for the week. I need to pay for parking for 3 days (that $21 of coin I need) and I like getting a coffee on those days too. If I don't have the right amount of coin, I always end up at the local corner shop buying $10 worth of crap just so I can get some change. By not planning ahead I end up spending up to 4 times as much money as I actually need.”
Happy Harris from Simple Savings shared “Saving tip - probably heard it before but it works for me is to Menu plan what you want for the next 3 weeks and then shop accordingly.
Plus never shop with kids, one it saves money but also saves the insanity with children whinging”
So thank you everyone so much for contributing and here is our winner...
Miggles!!!
(I’ll email you privately)
Thank you for helping me get to 400 followers. I have another big give away planned at 500 followers, which I think you’ll all be excited about!
End of week 3 and plans for week 4 $10,000 challenge
This week has been all over the place in regards to my $10,000 challenge. Since the challenge for us was inclusive of savings on any quotes or things we had to pay for we have had some surprising results this week.
Firstly I got a $1,000 cheque which I had been waiting for, so was really happy to get. Straight into the bank with it!
Secondly I finally managed to get another quote for our driveway. I had tried 6 times to get people out, but most did not turn up so we had 1 quote which was $9,000 plus excavation which would be $400 - $1,000. So up to $10,000. It was a lot, but the current dirt situation is not working and looks awful. During the week our neighbour a few houses up was getting theirs down so we watched and waited to see how they did, how they worked etc... and we really happy with what they did, so I got my husband to run up and ask for a quote. They came down, quoted us and I nearly fell over.
The quote was $5,300! It didn’t include council fees, but they are only $120, (other concreters told us they were $300 and included in their quote, but I checked with council). So we booked them. They turned up when they said they would to sign papers, they return phone calls and do the job nice and quick, so I am really looking forward to getting it done.
Also this week I bought a couple of things which were on our list and saved another $55 there, plus we paid off the kitchen, put a deposit down for the built in wardrobes and will be paying a deposit for the driveway this week.
This week my husband’s wage was not as high as usual due to not getting as many shifts (casual worker) but we still did incredibly well. We also had a wedding which cost slightly more than expected (reception was pay your own, which we were fine with) and a few other things, but hey, that’s life!
So we have $2533.78 in the actual account (as we had the money already for the deposits and things paid) and with the savings we have made this week we really only need to find another $1,000 total for everything, which is very exciting.
Obviously we are still aiming for more, and have some plans in place, but that’s where we are at right now.
As for week 4 our plans are this:
1.) List stuff to sell (did some and already sold some last night, but waiting til all sales are finalised and the money is in my account before counting it)
2.) Photograph more stuff to list
3.) Deposit coins I have found
4.) Hopefully get my husband to sort his stuff to see what he wants to get rid of.
Our new kitchen goes in this week, then the bench next week and once that happens I will organise my house better and will have a few more things to get rid of. I’m so excited!
Firstly I got a $1,000 cheque which I had been waiting for, so was really happy to get. Straight into the bank with it!
Secondly I finally managed to get another quote for our driveway. I had tried 6 times to get people out, but most did not turn up so we had 1 quote which was $9,000 plus excavation which would be $400 - $1,000. So up to $10,000. It was a lot, but the current dirt situation is not working and looks awful. During the week our neighbour a few houses up was getting theirs down so we watched and waited to see how they did, how they worked etc... and we really happy with what they did, so I got my husband to run up and ask for a quote. They came down, quoted us and I nearly fell over.
The quote was $5,300! It didn’t include council fees, but they are only $120, (other concreters told us they were $300 and included in their quote, but I checked with council). So we booked them. They turned up when they said they would to sign papers, they return phone calls and do the job nice and quick, so I am really looking forward to getting it done.
Also this week I bought a couple of things which were on our list and saved another $55 there, plus we paid off the kitchen, put a deposit down for the built in wardrobes and will be paying a deposit for the driveway this week.
This week my husband’s wage was not as high as usual due to not getting as many shifts (casual worker) but we still did incredibly well. We also had a wedding which cost slightly more than expected (reception was pay your own, which we were fine with) and a few other things, but hey, that’s life!
So we have $2533.78 in the actual account (as we had the money already for the deposits and things paid) and with the savings we have made this week we really only need to find another $1,000 total for everything, which is very exciting.
Obviously we are still aiming for more, and have some plans in place, but that’s where we are at right now.
As for week 4 our plans are this:
1.) List stuff to sell (did some and already sold some last night, but waiting til all sales are finalised and the money is in my account before counting it)
2.) Photograph more stuff to list
3.) Deposit coins I have found
4.) Hopefully get my husband to sort his stuff to see what he wants to get rid of.
Our new kitchen goes in this week, then the bench next week and once that happens I will organise my house better and will have a few more things to get rid of. I’m so excited!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Menu Planning
I have spoken about how I do menu planning a few times on here but it only recently dawned on me that not everyone will know what I am talking about. A menu plan is basically where you plan what you will eat for the week/fortnight/however long you choose, then you can shop accordingly.
This is how I do my menu planning, but there are other ways.
Firstly I go through our cupboards, fridge and freezer to see what food we have.
Next I work out what I can make out of that and what I would need to buy to create meals.
To do this you can sit down with a calendar and work out which days you need quick meals, which days you can cook and freeze some or which days you have time for meals that take longer preparation.
Once I know what we will eat and when, I write my shopping list of the extras I will need to buy to make my menu plan. I include everything, breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts and snacks.
I then take my list to the shops and buy only what I need.
Sometimes I do it slightly differently and will see what is marked down at the store first and plan my meals around that. It’s easy to do when you are used to planning meals and know what food you have at home.
That’s all there is to it. It doesn’t take long but can save you a lot of money by only purchasing what you need and minimising waste.
So this week my menu plan looks like this:
Breakfast options – cereal, yoghurt, fruit, toast, eggs, pancakes. (I don’t tend to plan breakfast for a specific day, I just have a variety of options)
Lunch options – sandwiches, fried rice, sausages and salad, pasta, platter with fruit, boiled eggs, sliced meat, cheese etc...
Dinner – Marinated ribs with coleslaw, spinach ricotta lasagne, quiche, lamb curry, minestrone soup, paprika chicken, pasta bake
Dessert – fruit salad, chocolate cake, icecream
Snacks – boiled eggs, fruit, vegetable sticks, yoghurt, biscuits, cake
Since I buy things in bulk and on special all I needed to buy this week was some milk, fruit and eggs. I keep a variety of herbs, spices and sauces in my pantry to make my own seasonings and sauces at a fraction of the cost of store bought ones. This helps keep my grocery bill down too.
There are many ways to help keep your grocery costs down and I find menu planning helps me a lot.
This is how I do my menu planning, but there are other ways.
Firstly I go through our cupboards, fridge and freezer to see what food we have.
Next I work out what I can make out of that and what I would need to buy to create meals.
To do this you can sit down with a calendar and work out which days you need quick meals, which days you can cook and freeze some or which days you have time for meals that take longer preparation.
Once I know what we will eat and when, I write my shopping list of the extras I will need to buy to make my menu plan. I include everything, breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts and snacks.
I then take my list to the shops and buy only what I need.
Sometimes I do it slightly differently and will see what is marked down at the store first and plan my meals around that. It’s easy to do when you are used to planning meals and know what food you have at home.
That’s all there is to it. It doesn’t take long but can save you a lot of money by only purchasing what you need and minimising waste.
So this week my menu plan looks like this:
Breakfast options – cereal, yoghurt, fruit, toast, eggs, pancakes. (I don’t tend to plan breakfast for a specific day, I just have a variety of options)
Lunch options – sandwiches, fried rice, sausages and salad, pasta, platter with fruit, boiled eggs, sliced meat, cheese etc...
Dinner – Marinated ribs with coleslaw, spinach ricotta lasagne, quiche, lamb curry, minestrone soup, paprika chicken, pasta bake
Dessert – fruit salad, chocolate cake, icecream
Snacks – boiled eggs, fruit, vegetable sticks, yoghurt, biscuits, cake
Since I buy things in bulk and on special all I needed to buy this week was some milk, fruit and eggs. I keep a variety of herbs, spices and sauces in my pantry to make my own seasonings and sauces at a fraction of the cost of store bought ones. This helps keep my grocery bill down too.
There are many ways to help keep your grocery costs down and I find menu planning helps me a lot.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Give Away - Morrissey Sunglasses
Who likes free stuff? Well, Spring Valley gave me some juice to try and 2 pairs of Morrissey Sunglasses, one for me and one to give away. Instead of keeping one though, I decided to give both away, one on each blog! They are also giving them away on their site here. (You’ll have to go there to check out the sunnies too.)
I’ll be giving the red pair away on here and the blue pair away on my other blog Savvy Mumma.
It’s really easy to enter and you can do different things for more entries. Each thing here is worth 1 entry
- Leave a comment
- Tweet about this (leave a comment to let me know)
- Put this on facebook (leave a comment to let me know)
- Follow me (if you already do, just say so in your comment, if your new, hi!)
- Plus for an extra entry leave a comment with a money tip. It can be a way you save money or make money, budget, anything to do with money!
If you want more chances, enter on both my blogs and check out the Spring Valley Page for more ways to win!
The giveaway will be open for entries until Wednesday 16th February, at 5pm. I'll draw the winner then using a random number generator.
This is only open to Australian residents due to postage. Sorry.
I’ll be giving the red pair away on here and the blue pair away on my other blog Savvy Mumma.
It’s really easy to enter and you can do different things for more entries. Each thing here is worth 1 entry
- Leave a comment
- Tweet about this (leave a comment to let me know)
- Put this on facebook (leave a comment to let me know)
- Follow me (if you already do, just say so in your comment, if your new, hi!)
- Plus for an extra entry leave a comment with a money tip. It can be a way you save money or make money, budget, anything to do with money!
If you want more chances, enter on both my blogs and check out the Spring Valley Page for more ways to win!
The giveaway will be open for entries until Wednesday 16th February, at 5pm. I'll draw the winner then using a random number generator.
This is only open to Australian residents due to postage. Sorry.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Sanity Money
Last night my husband sat down and discussed our current budget and reworked it. I had been wanting to do this for some time, but he did not. Lately there had been a few things happening which had been blowing our budget out of the water and they needed to be addressed. Things such as take-away, junk food and drinks that I did not want. They are a waste of money and do nothing for your health.
Anyway, we discussed different things, then I simply showed him how I thought it should be done and if he thought it was fair, including our sanity money.
What’s sanity money? Basically it is an agreed amount you can spend on whatever you like. So if you like magazines, but they are not included in the budget, you can buy them from this. Or if you want a $500 pair of shoes, you can save your sanity money and buy them with no guilt, as they are from your sanity/splurge money.
Sanity money helps stop a lot of people from overspending and is often a great way for the non-budget minded partner in a relationship to learn a bit about money management.
Back to our sanity money.
You see, my husband likes Maccas. Yep, gross to the max, but he loves it. He goes through stages where he has it heaps, then nothing for a month, then blows $70 in a few days there. This cannot continue.
We have tried sanity money before but it never worked. Now, he has lost his card and instead of ordering a replacement we are going to try a cash system. We have an agreed amount for sanity, which he can buy all the junk he wants from and that is all the cash that will be out. I will still have my card for the groceries, but essentially, thats all we really pay for with it.
Now at first, to some, this might seem unfair, but he has been doing the cash thing for a while now, since he lost his card, its just the cash has been increasing and its not good.
So we agreed on an amount and what do you know, he wants to come grocery shopping to buy his things with his sanity instead of buying maccas or drinks and chocolate at the service station. We’ll see how long it lasts, but I am hoping this will help restore order to our budget.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Results of week 2 and plans for week 3 - $10,000 Challenge
Last week was not a huge money earner as I was unwell and my husband took time off work. Since he is casual time off work means no pay. But we went from $648.07 to $1533.48 which is a pretty good effort. This is mostly from my husband’s work and cutting back where we can.
We still need $8,467 in the next 4 weeks to reach our goal, but we are on track.
I have still been going through all our stuff, getting rid of what we don’t need or use and am amazed at how much we have to get rid of. I knew we had a lot but I had no idea it was this much. I am looking at everything and thinking “Do I really want to move this again?” And most of the time the answer is a big fat NO!
Over the next few weeks we have a bit on, but that won’t deter me from doing what I can for this challenge. This week we have a wedding and I was going to buy a new outfit, but will have a go at making one first, since I have fabric that has been sitting there waiting for me to turn it into a skirt.
I have done a menu plan for this week. Last week was harder as we had extreme weather with 40C+ temps all week (ok, 1 day it was 39C, wow). This week is cooler which is much easier to cook and save money in. We have all our meat plus a fair amount of veg, so our grocery shop should be low.
So my plans for this week to make and save money for our challenge are
1.) Make my skirt for the wedding
2.) List a few things for sale on eBay/oztion/gumtree/somewhere
3.) Stick to my grocery list and menu plan
4.) Transfer all excess after mortgage and bills
5.) Continue to de-clutter and put things aside for our garage sale
All very doable, so hopefully next week I will have a good report!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Going for my dream home
About a year ago (I think it was a year, it could’ve been more) my sister in law and I were discussing homes and dreaming big/aiming high. She told me about her dream house and I in turn had a look at real estate and found my dream house. I watched that house for months. It wasn’t sold, but it went off the market.
Yesterday I was thinking about where I wanted to live. We know that in 12 months time we won’t be living here, but have been undecided about where to go. We love the Northern Beaches and would love to be on the water but lately that idea has not been feeling right. That might sound a little crazy, but as much as it was my dream to live right on or near the beach in Narrabeen, it doesn’t feel like the right thing for us.
We had discussed it and despite wanting to live on the beach we were pretty sure we knew the area we wanted to live in, sort of. He wanted to be near the city and would prefer to be on the outskirts with a decent amount of land. I want to be sort of self reliant with chickens and fruit trees. I’d love to have cows too, for our own meat, but we’ll see.
Anyway, I decided to jump back on and have a look in both areas, the city and the outskirts of the state we feel we should live in. I found a few ok homes in ‘his’ suburbs, but really I would want to do xyz before I would consider them dream homes to me. My suburb was a complete different matter.
I got on and there it was. My dream home. It was back on the market again. It had come on just yesterday. To me, it is perfect beyond belief. It has everything I want and more. What is even more amazing was my husbands reaction. He, who does not want to live ‘that far away” saw it.
“Wow. Thats perfect!”
YES IT IS!
There are certain things I have wanted in my dream home. I wanted an ensuite, I wanted a pizza oven, (I was going to make one myself), fruit trees with irrigation, acreage, 5 bedrooms (or more) a studio for myself a 3+ car garage, a few bathrooms, not just 1 plus and ensuite, a walk in wardrobe, a private courtyard area for the main bedroom, open plan kitchen/living area, a separate lounge area for the kids... The list goes on.
The point is this house has everything on my list and more. I literally could write up my list and check everything off with this house.
I can hardly believe it is back on the market. It is now the home I am aiming for. I can’t get it right now, but I plan to get it.
In The Answer John Assaraf talks about looking at his vision boards. He opens a box after he has moved house to find old vision boards of his. One in particular has a home on it that he wanted to live in. What he realised looking at the vision board was the home on it was the home he had just moved into. The vision board was a few years old.
I have found this with other things on my vision boards, so I am going to put a picture of this home, my dream home, on a vision board in my room. I know that through being smart with my money I will get it.
You have to believe to achieve.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
February - Being Organised
Continuing with my New Years Resolutions this month will be based on getting rid of anything I do not need or use, sticking to a proper cleaning schedule and setting up my life to have proper routines and to run more smoothly. I have been de-cluttering really well and cleaning things up to sell which was my first step. Why organisation? Well the more organised you are the better everything runs and since time is money, if you can save time you save money or have more time to devote to making money.
My second step was getting quotes and arranging my new kitchen and built in robes. With these in the house I will finally be able to organise all our rooms and our rumpus room can go back to being a rumpus room instead of a kitchen/dining/storage space. With all that sorted I will have a place for everything and won’t waste time looking through boxes for stuff I need.
Another thing high on my organisation list is planning the use of my time better. You see I have quite a few things going on in my life, which I am fine with, but I try and do them all at once, when really I should focus on one thing and then the next as I will achieve more this way.
Being more organised with things like groceries, menu planning, having cool drinks in the fridge and packing food when we go out will save us a lot too.
But my main reasons for wanting to get more organised are to study, I have a test for my diploma this month, and to work on my big project, which I will reveal soon. I promise. I need all the time I can get for these things.
What helps you be more organised?
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
January NYR recap
Well, it has not gone as well as planned. I did ok, but could have done much better. It has been so hot so I ate more ice cream than I should have and with my husband’s work schedule and a few things I have had to do going to a gym has not happened. I have 3 weeks worth of free passes to gyms in my area now!
I didn’t get to the sugar free attempt, but cut back a lot. I cannot believe how many things have sugar in them. It has made me start checking labels more because it seems to be in virtually everything.
I did cut back on rice/pasta/bread and felt much better. Even though what I ate was gluten free, it just doesn’t sit as well as having fruit, veg, meat and less heavy carbs, so I will definitely continue with that.
I did manage to lose 3kgs, but I am not sure if that was a result of anything I did or the fact my air conditioner broke and I have been dying in the plus 40C weather we have been having.
So basically I did not do that great, but did a few things and am slowly working on others, so the weight should continue to go down.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)