Tweaking the Budget

Things started off well with the food. We have spent very little on actual food, and have managed to reduce our takeaways down to practically nothing. However, there have been a few expenses not allowed for.

Week One saw us spending money on postage and getting a bigger bill for the chemist than anticipated. We also needed to spend some money at the hardware store for small things like screws and seeds. Overall we only went over our budget by $10.60

Week Two also turned out to be expensive, with food coming in just slightly over budget, but that did include stocking up on cat food. Main expense was alterations for clothing I bought for the upcoming trip. As I haven’t sewn in a lot of years, I did not feel that I had enough experience to do the alterations in a professional enough manner. Budget blew out by $69.40, otherwise it would have come in under budget.

I went back and re-tweaked the budget to reflect a more reasonable expectation of what we could achieve. Looking at coming expenses, I am sure that the new budget will be achievable.

Am currently spending time helping Mum to make some new clothes for the coming cruise. They have 8 formal nights and 8 semi-formal nights, as well as 17 casual nights. At 88 years of age, Mum does not have a lot of these sort of clothes. So far, with my daughter’s assistance, we look like getting everything ready in time.

Our visa has arrived for China, our tickets are all printed out, just the transport to and from the airport left to arrange. Mum and I are so looking forward to this trip. Our trip of a lifetime!

Starting Right in 2011.

Now that our trip to New Zealand was behind us, and with our big trip to Asia coming up soon, it was time to re-assess priorities. The solar energy was now up and running, we were making inroads on the water bill, as well as changing to another internet/phone plan to reduce costs. The Simple Savings site had a new challenge for the year – no spend/low spend. We talked it over and decided to give it a go!

The Plan.

Reduce unnecessary packaging.
Grow our own vegetables from seeds instead of plants.
Do minor repairs ourselves, utilising Bunnings free classes where applicable.
Join a free walking group, run by the Heart Foundation.
Use pensioner access for the local Council run pool.
Borrow books/magazines from the library instead of purchasing new. Use voucher given for buying used books.
Use up the stock in the pantry and freezer.
Make home-made gifts where possible.
Sew my own clothes from materials stock piled.
Reduce car trips by combining tasks.
Make a list of free, or low-cost outings we could do.
Do regular $21 Challenges (using food already in house and substituting for items NOT buying from shop).
Use assets (wish cards, vouchers, pre-paid credit card gifted) to defray unexpected costs.
Only use the Credit card to pay essential bills.
Use Bpay where possible instead of credit card.
Use cash or assets to purchase groceries.
Make freezer meals instead of buying takeaway, or have tinned, packaged meals in pantry.
Use the Clothes Dryer only in emergencies.